The European Whistleblower Protection Directive (EU Directive 2019/1937) was voted in December 2019 to provide and promote a safe and secure way for people to speak up and report any kind of violations or misconduct in their work environment. The types of concerns that may be raised under the Whistleblowing Scheme, relate to serious and sensitive matters that could have an adverse impact on the operations of the company. The above mentioned matters may refer -among others- to money laundering, bribery or corruption, any type of fraud, serious violations of internal company policies and procedures including data protection and generally speaking the life or health of individuals as well as serious forms of discrimination or harassment.
Companies with more than 50 employees should have rendered compliant with the Directive by December 2021 and also smaller-size companies may adopt such schemes to promote transparency and accountability.
DLE, thanks to its experience handling human rights cases and public consultation on the subject matter, is in a position to help all businesses set up whistleblowing schemes and draft code of conducts.