EU : directive to protect whistleblowers adopted

On 7 October, the Council of the European Union adopted the draft directive on whistleblower protection, thereby closing the legislative procedure. The aim of the directive is to afford better protection to whistleblowers, who report illegal activity or activity that runs contrary to the aims or purposes of EU law. Under the text, the directive should be transposed by EU Member States within two years of its publication in the EU’s Official Journal. All organisations with 250 employees or more will have to provide staff with a channel through which they can report breaches (organisations with between 50 and 249 employees will have two extra years to comply). This channel for whistleblowers will have to satisfy certain requirements, such as in terms of security, response time and data security. For more information on this topic, read article 11044 on the directive. See the text itself attached.