How are companies preparing for the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive? This wide-reaching directive that places new legal obligations on all EU organisations with 50 or more employees was passed in October 2019. Since then, WhistleB has seen a marked increase in enquiries from companies looking to find out what the directive means for them and their whistleblowing solutions. Based on these enquiries, it appears that Compliance and Legal departments are leading the compliance project, with representatives from Human Resources, Business Ethics/Sustainability and Internal Audit departments also contacting us with questions.

At the broadest level, the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive is catalysing a shift in the perception of whistleblowers that, to some extent, was already underway. The value of the whistleblower in preventing harmful behaviour is now gaining traction. Which is why the new directive has come into existence, to encourage people to blow the whistle and protect those that do.

WhistleB and our customers are used to thinking in this way, but for many organisations the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive is causing them to assess how they approach whistleblowing as part of their business conduct and ethics work. Perhaps they too will soon realise that having a robust whistleblowing solution is not a nice-to-have, it is a must-have, for any businesses that want to demonstrate that they mean what they say in their codes of conduct.

Below are the most frequently asked questions we are receiving about the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive and how our whistleblowing solution helps companies comply.

  1. What are our obligations under the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive?

If your organisation has 50 or more employees, you must provide a whistleblowing channel. But this is not enough...

  1. What kind of misconduct can our employees blow the whistle on and be protected by the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive? Is harassment and discrimination included?

Under the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive, whistleblowers will be able to sound the alarm on a broad range of issues and remain protected from recrimination when they do so. Issues include the environment, public health, consumer safety, public finances, anti-money laundering, corporate taxation and data protection...

  1. By when must we have a whistleblowing solution up and running?

It depends on the size of your organisation and where you operate, but you will have somewhere between two years and four years to comply...

  1. We are a multinational organisation; how can we best stay up to date with the national interpretations of the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive over the next two years?

One way for you to remain updated is to check out the WhistleB information centre on the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive https://whistleb.com/eu-whistleblower-protection-directive/ ...

  1. What kind of whistleblowing solution do we need to implement to comply with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive? Must it be both web-based and telephone-based?

The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive does not stipulate whether the reporting channel should be web-based or telephone-based...

  1. Will we need to dedicate a lot more resources to managing the whistleblower solution?

The new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive says that organisations must designate an impartial person or department with the competence for following up on and managing the whistleblower reports. What does that really mean? ...

  1. How can the WhistleB solution help us to comply with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive?

WhistleB's whistleblower solution has deep functionality that helps organisations go a long way towards complying with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive...

  1. Is the WhistleB whistleblower solution compliant with all relevant laws?

Yes, WhistleB's solution complies with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive and more...

  1. Can the WhistleB solution be used by our external stakeholders?

Yes. The new directive doesn't only protect your employees who blow the whistle, it also covers external whistleblowers who report concerns related to any illegal actions by members of your organisation...

  1. How fast can the WhistleB whistleblowing solution be implemented?

WhistleB has a ready-to-launch solution that can be implemented quickly if that is what the customer requires...

  1. Does the WhistleB whistleblowing solution support a telephone hotline?

Yes. While our solution is predominantly a web-based solution, telephone-based whistleblower hotlines can be selected as part of the system...

  1. How much does the WhistleB whistleblowing solution cost?

Our solution is scalable, and customers can select from a couple of different plans, completely depending on the needs of their organisations...

  1. We have already implemented the WhistleB whistleblower solution, are we compliant with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive? How will WhistleB help?

The good news is you should already have almost everything you need to comply with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive, apart from some additional uncomplex measures...

  1. How you have helped other companies comply with the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive?

Since this directive is so new, we cannot make specific reference cases available. However, you can go to our website to read other reference cases from some of our customers...

Further, if you want to find out more about the specifics of our system, such as how landing pages work or examples of questionnaires, we would be very happy to provide you with a free demo...

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.