Are you Prepared for the EU Whistleblowing Directive

If you missed our event on Tuesday where we discussed the EU Whistleblowing Directive. You can watch it now.

Join Erika Percival, CEO & founder of Beyond Governance and Simon Rowse, Strategy Director at Safecall where they discuss their co-authored whitepaper on the implication of the EU Whistleblower Directive

The EU Whistleblowing Directive is a significant step in the international effort to improve whistleblower protections and fight corruption and misconduct. Join us to find out what this might mean for you.

Live Q&A - EU Whistleblowing Directive

We had some really great questions from the audience that we think you will find interesting. You can find these at the bottom of this email. If you would like to discuss any of them in more detail, please feel free to contact Erika and Simon directly erika.percival@beyondgovernance.com and simon.rowse@safecall.co.uk

How likely is that the UK will adopt the EU whistleblowing directive?

There are currently two bills passing through the UK parliament focused on improving whistleblower protection. While these do not align UK legislation with the EU Directive, they do move us closer. We suspect in time the UK will have a broad alignment with this EU Directive.

Many PIDA claimants would disagree with the notion that the UK has good protection for whistleblowers. Do you agree with them?

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that the UK would benefit from strengthening whistleblower protections. The All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) on whistleblowing https://www.appgwhistleblowing.co.uk/ is actively researching this matter.

How will this impact EU / UK companies which have US subsidiaries - do their US companies have to meet the EU standard or the US... or both!

The EU Directive applies to legal entities registered in EU jurisdictions. There could therefore be a situation where a multinational has legal entities in an EU jurisdiction and is required to align with the local implementation of the EU Directive. Implementing best practice should allow an organisation to operate its whistleblowing arrangements in the same way across jurisdictions as international legislation on this topic is rarely contradictory.

Is the EU directive also applicable for NGOs?

Yes, the EU Directive applies to all organisations.

Do you need to include in your internal policy to which authority they can go to in case they don't feel comfortable reporting internally?

No. There is no requirement to explicitly nominate an appropriate competent authority - indeed this could create a conflict of interest. You should however make it clear that reporting externally is a course of action available to the whistleblower.

How should we calculate the threshold number of employees? i.e. per member state or by the organisation

You should make the calculation based on the headcount associated with the legal entity in the EU jurisdiction.