What type of protection is offered to whistleblowers?

The new law obliges Member States to prohibit any form of retaliation and to provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties against those who take retaliatory measures against whistleblowers.

If whistleblowers do suffer retaliation, the law provides for a set of measures to protect them, including:

• Legal advice: whistleblowers will be given access to comprehensive and independent information and advice, free of charge, on available procedures and remedies.
• Remedial measures: whistleblowers will be given recourse to appropriate remedial measures against retaliation, such as:
• No liability: whistleblowers are not to be considered infringing any restriction on disclosure of information imposed by contract or by law (so-called “gagging” clauses) and will not be held liable for disclosing information;
• Protection in judicial proceedings: If legal actions taken against whistleblowers outside of the work-related context (such as proceedings for defamation, breach of copyright or breach of secrecy) whistleblowers will be able to rely on the new EU law as a defence.