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Following the whistleblowing Bill to transpose the EU directive on Whistleblowing into Bulgarian national law being outright rejected late last year in Parliament, the Chairman of the Legal Committee has now asked its members to begin discussion as to whether to again proceed with a new dedicated whistleblower protection legislation (a single Act) or instead opt for piecemeal reforms of the existing national legal framework on whistleblowing, to bring pre-existing rules in line with the minimum standards of the Directive.
This question of approach had already been decided in the first session of the official working group which was established to prepare a draft law early on in the transposition process, following the adoption of the Directive in December 2019.
Whistleblower protection advocates have said this is a huge step backwards for the legal reforms sorely needed to strengthen whistleblower protection in Bulgaria. Further, the legal competence of the Legal Committee to take this decision at this stage has been called into question.
There have been several political developments in Bulgaria that have affected the transposition of the Directive. There are also concerns about the lack of political will to properly implement the EU rules.
The official deadline for all 27 Member States of the EU to transpose the EU Directive into their national legal systems was 17 December 2022. Several states are still delayed in the process, which should have been completed over one year ago.
The European Commission has already begun infringement proceedings against Bulgaria for failing to fully transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing. A letter of formal notice to initiate the action has been sent to many of the 27 member states.