The Whistleblower Protection Directive

The ‘Whistleblower Protection Directive’ sets minimum standards at EU level, aiming to guarantee a high level of balanced and effective protection for persons reporting on breaches of rules (e.g. on public procurement, financial services, anti-money laundering, food safety, transport safety, consumer protection,  protection of the environment, or public health).

The Directive requires Member States to ensure, amongst others, that:

• whistleblowers have at their disposal effective channels to report breaches of EU rules confidentially, both internally (within an organisation) and externally (to a competent authority)
• whistleblowers’ reports are properly investigated and acted upon by the organisations and competent authorities
• whistleblowers are protected from retaliation