European Union: By When Must We Have A Whistleblowing Solution Up And Running?

QUESTION 3:

There is no single response to the question, by when must we have a whistleblowing solution up and running? The answer depends on the size of your organisation and where you operate, but you will have somewhere between two years and four years to comply with the EU Whistleblower Protection directive.

Within two years of the directive being approved, which was October 7 2019, each EU country must transpose and apply it nationally. What this means is that each country will interpret the directive and make it law in their own way and at different speeds during the two years. National authorities will also be required to inform citizens and provide training for public authorities on how to deal with whistleblowers.

How does your size impact your deadline for compliance? Both public authorities and private companies with 250 employees or more must comply within the two years. Other public and private organisations with between 51 and 249 employees will have an additional two years to comply.

For many organisations then, there are less than two years to go, and we believe that our customers are ahead of the curve. The EU Whistleblower Protection directive requires organisations to appoint a person or persons with the right competence to manage reports professionally. It requires processes that include prompt response, diligent follow-up and timely feedback. It requires a secure system to handle the reports, prevent access to non-authorised staff members and retain the confidentiality of both the whistleblower and anybody mentioned in the report, throughout the entire case. It also requires organisations to inform employees clearly about their rights and options for external reporting.

Whistleb's customers already have a whistleblowing solution in place that largely complies with all of these requirements. It is also fully GDPR compliant with data stored in Europe, as required by the new EU directive. Read more about the functionality of the WhistleB solution in our blog How does whistleblowing work.

By when must companies have a whistleblowing solution up and running? With so little time remaining, perhaps the more relevant question is, which ready-to-use whistleblowing solutions exist already today, that propel your organisation faster towards complying with the EU Whistleblower Protection directive?

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.