Last week we published an article summarising the progress of a number of EU countries in transposing the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into new national law. As the compliance deadline approaches, now only 14 months away for organisations with 250 or more employees, we will update you on significant movements across the EU. What will the new law mean in your country and how will this impact the whistleblowing system you need to provide? We start with France.
France stands out amongst most of the EU member states in that it already has a national law, Loi Sapin 2, which requires organisations to have a whistleblowing channel in place. So, the trick for lawmakers and organisations is to harmonise the existing obligations with the new directive.
The jury is still out on exactly how the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive will affect Loi Sapin 2. However, in two recently published articles, WhistleB Senior Manager Jan Tadeusz Stappers along with Ethicaline Director Jean-Jacques Quang analyse the EU Directive and how well it maps onto the existing French Loi Sapin 2. If you would like to read the article in English, click here, or to read it in French, click here.
Remember though, if you are an EU-based organisation with 50 or more employees you will need to provide some kind of whistleblower system within the next few years as well. You can start to make progress on this already now, irrespective of where your country is in the transposition process. Go to the WhistleB resource centre on the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive for our top tips on compliance readiness. Then why not sign up for a free trial of the WhistleB 'Ready-to-Launch' system, which is compliant with the core requirements of the new 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.