Source: rekonstrukcestatu.cz
The Czech Minister of Justice has recently pledged to introduce a legislative draft on whistleblowing protection by September 2020 in response to the civil society campaign. The commitment follows an appeal and joint statement of Rekonstrukce státu in coalition with other NGOs to support whistleblowers and to speed up the legislative process with the adoption of safe and effective internal whistleblowing channels.
The Ministry of Justice has however promised to present the legislative draft since November 2019 and again in February, April and September of this year.
An English translation of the Reconstruction of the State article reads:
‘The newly proposed Anti-Corruption Whistleblower Protection Act should soon enter the interdepartmental round of comments. In response to a recommendation of the Rekonstrukce státu (Reconstruction of the State) initiative, the Justice Minister Marie Benešová promised to speed up the implementation of the European regulation.
The new law should protect and support public administration staff who encounter wrongdoing in the workplace and are willing to blow the whistle. This anti-corruption measure could significantly improve the protection of the public interest and prevent uneconomic behaviour. Speeding up the adoption of the law that would protect whistleblowers reporting corruption was recommended to the government by Rekonstrukce státu in its Nezhasínat! (Don’t Switch Off the Lights!) project launched in early May.
In order to address the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the state is spending hundreds of billions of public money and quickly buys protective equipment. That is why it’s now particularly important to strengthen transparency and prevent corruption in public administration.
We made an appeal to the government to improve whistleblower protection as soon as possible and provide a tool that would make it possible to report corruption behaviour securely.”
“There is currently no Czech law to comprehensively address whistleblower protection. Potential whistleblowers currently have no channels to report wrongdoing that would provide a guarantee of anonymity and prevent the risk of them being identified and retaliated against. That’s one of the reasons why employees as well civil servants blow the whistle only very rarely,” explains Marek Zelenka from the NGO Oživení who is Rekonstrukce státu’s expert on this issue.
Justice Minister Marie Benešová has promised to speed up the discussion in response to our recommendation, committed to try to submit the whistleblower protection bill as soon as possible.
“I agree that a regulation on the protection of whistleblowers who report corruption and other wrongdoings can save public money, prevent damage to the environment and protect other public interests. This regulation must therefore become part of the Czech legal environment as soon as possible” she said in a letter addressed to Rekonstrukce státu.
Following the adoption of an EU Directive on whistleblowing, the government is required to transpose whistleblower protection legislation into Czech law by December 2021.
So far, the process has been far from smooth. Even though the legislative plan expects a draft Bill to be submitted before September this year.
“Given the expected length of the legislative process in the Parliament and the necessity of this legal regulation, I can promise that I will attempt to submit the bill earlier,” said minister Benešová. She also added that in the coming weeks, the draft proposal should be sent to the other ministries for comments.
“We appreciate that Minister Benešová considers the whistleblower protection act a priority. Anti-corruption organisations will be ensuring that the state establishes a trustworthy body that whistleblowers will be able to turn to and that will effectively protect them against retaliation,” said Věnek Bonuš, an analyst at Rekonstrukce státu, in response to the letter.