Source: whistleblower-net.de
A draft Bill to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing (EUDir 2019/1937) is reportedly being progressed in Germany.
The draft Whistleblower Protection act was submitted by Federal Justice minister Marco Bschemann (FDP) to the departmental vote on the 5 April 2022, business newspaper Handlesblatt published a report.
Whistleblowing NGO whistleblower-Netwerk e.V. stated:
“Unfortunately, the draft for a whistleblower protection law that Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) submitted to the departmental vote this week (and which we published) falls short of our expectations.”
The government approach to extend the scope goes beyond the minimum standards required by the directive however reports of wrongdoing that are not clearly breaches of law would not be protected, nor would anything considered a matter of national security or essential security interests of the state.
The deadline for fully transposing the EU Directive has already passed with the official deadline being 17 December 2021. The German federal government is under pressure to speed up the process, particularly as the EU Commission have already begun infringement proceedings against member States who are delayed.