As of December 17, 2021, the deadline for transposing the EU Whistleblower Directive into national law across member states had passed. However, it's notable that not all countries have completed the process of adopting specific national whistleblowing laws, signalling a variance in the implementation progress across the European Union.
The Austrian Parliament (‘der Nationalrat’) approved new legislation to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing on 1 February 2023. The law enters into force in the end of March 2023.
Legislation to protect whistleblowers in the private sector was adopted on 28 November. For the federal public sector, legislation was adopted on 8 December 2022. The whistleblower law entered into force on 15 February 2023.
The National Assembly of Parliament adopted whistleblowing legislation on 27 January 2023. The law aims to transpose the minimum standard requirements of the EU Directive, and will enter into force after 6 months.
On 20 January 2022 the Cyprus Parliament passed a bill transposing the EU Whistleblowing Directive into national law. The ‘Protection of Persons Reporting Breaches of Union and National Law of 2022’ (‘the Whistleblowing Law’) was published on 4 February 2022.
A new whistleblowing law in Croatia ‘The Act on the Protection of Persons Reporting Irregularities’ entered into force on 23 April 2022, replacing the Whistleblower Law from 2019.
The ‘Whistleblower Protection Act’ which passed on the 24th June 2021 made Denmark the first EU Member State to adopt new legislation to implement the EU Whistleblower Directive after 17 December 2021.
France adopted the national whistleblower law in March 2022. The law came into force on 1 September 2022. Before the new law, France was actually a pioneer in whistleblower protection with its Sapin II law of 2016.
Finland adopted a new whistleblowing law to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing on 20th December 2021. The Whistleblower Protection Law entered into force on 1 January 2023, making Finland the 12th country to implement the Directive.
On 15 November 2022, the Greek Parliament voted for the new law ‘Protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law’. Law 4990/2022 made Greece the eleventh country to implement the Whistleblowing Directive.
On 21 July 2022 President Higgins signed the ‘Protected Disclosures Act’. The new, amended Irish whistleblower law entered into force from 1 January 2023.
A new law on the protection of whistleblowers has been approved by the Italian government on 9 March, 2023. The law will enter into force four months after its publication in the official Gazette, on 15 July 2023.
The Parliament in Latvia (‘Saeima’) approved the new ‘Law on Raising Alarms’ on 20 January 2022. The Latvian Whistleblowing Law came into effect on 4 February 2022.
Lithuania adopted a new whistleblowing law, one day before the deadline for EU Member States to transposed the EU Directive on Whistleblowing. The ‘Law Amending the Whistleblower Protection Act No. XIII-804’ entered into force on 15 February 2022.
Malta became the first EU Member State to transpose the EU Whistleblower Directive with the national law ‘Protection of the Whistleblower (Amendment) Act 2021‘.
Published on December 20, ‘Law No. 93/2021’ transposed the EU Directive in Portugal. The law entered into force on 18 June 2022.
Romania adopted new legislation for the protection of whistleblowers when the improved version of the law was signed by the President in December 2022. The law entered into force on 22 December 2022.
The Slovenian Parliament has adopted the Whistleblower Protection Act, which entered into force on 22 February 2023.
The Spanish Senate has approved Law 2/2023 on the protection of persons who report breaches of the law and combating corruption. The law was published on 21 February and entered into force on 13 March 2023.
Sweden On 29 September 2021, the Swedish Parliament ‘Riksdagen’ approved new legislation to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing into Swedish national law from 17 December 2021.
A new Whistleblower Protection Act was adopted on 24 January 2023, making the Netherlands the 14th country to transpose the Directive. Further details about the law and its entry into force are yet to come.
For organisations with 250+ employees and municipalities with 10,000+ inhabitants.
For organisations with 50 – 249 employees.