The EU Whistleblowing Directive: Is it meeting expectations?
TThe UK was the first European country to introduce whistleblower law; The Public Interest Disclosure Act in 1998. Since then, only a handful of EU countries have followed suit and, like the UK with limited success. The EU directive 2019, hailed a new era and was eagerly anticipated. The transposition deadline was 17th December 2021. Only 4 of 27 countries met the deadline, with 8 having transcribed so far. Of those who have introduced the new law, Denmark has exposed the frailty by not only dismissing the first case heard since the introduction of the law but through the exposure of problems arising from the absence of clear statutory guidance and mechanisms. The sting in the tail for the whistleblowers is that the court determined that her actions were ‘unnecessary’, and went on to uphold a criminal conviction relating to the release of ‘confidential information’.
