The EU Whistleblower Directive and Dutch Whistleblower Code

Implement the EU Whistleblower Directive

Financial crime and misconduct seem to be on every organization’s radar, and everyone is asking how they can design and build work environments that are free of harassment, discrimination, fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and destructive workplace conduct. Issues of workplace culture and misconduct cut to the heart of an organization, its leadership, its structure, and its culture.

A critical element in such an environment is having proper reporting mechanisms in place. Whistleblower protection legislation, such as the Whistleblower code has been effective since July 2016. And in December 2021 the new EU Whistleblower Directive (the “Directive”) need to be implemented.

It provides obligations for organizations with 50 employees or more to have an stringent internal procedure for reporting misconduct. It will include explicit requirements against retaliation and safeguarding of reporter identities.

With this Directive the EU aims to make sure that individuals seeking to expose misconduct will be protected and will not have to fear retaliation. The scope and applicability of the Directive is therefore very broad: all private and public organizations with 50 or more employees must adhere and take measures to appropriately protect persons reporting (suspected) misconduct. The specific requirements in the Directive can have serious implications on how organizations have organized their internal whistleblower mechanisms, including how they respond to and investigate whistleblower reports. Based on the Directive the Netherlands are now updating the Whistleblower code.

The accompanied factsheet and upcoming articles provide insight in the requirements of the Directive and provides practical guidance on the implementation of these requirements. This helps you to comply with the Directive but more importantly, it helps your employees to speak up on workplace misconduct.

Misconduct issues touch everyone and every organization—so the time to start talking and acting is now. Contact us to learn where to begin and how we can help with incident response and investigation, program development, governance and oversight, and culture and training.

More information?

Do you have any questions about the EU Whistleblower Directive and Dutch Whistleblower Code or how we can help your organization adapt? Do not hesitate to contact us via the contact details below. You can download our practical guide here.