Source: public.psp.cz
Legislative progress of a draft law to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing has failed in the Czech Republic.
The necessary parliamentary discussion of the law in the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs has not been timetabled on the agenda. The Committee on Public Administration and Regional Development has supported the draft since 15 July 2021 but without approval of the law in the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, the law cannot be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies. The legislative process will have to start all over again with the upcoming parliamentary elections in early October 2021. The newly elected Members of Parliaments will not be able to progress the draft legislation before the deadline for transposition.
The development is a disappointment to whistleblower protection advocates who have been campaigning for an effective and timely transposition of the Directive which must be fully implemented before the 17 December 2021. The Czech Republic was one of the first EU member states to introduce a draft law into parliament and was found to be the only country to have made โsignificant progressโ in a Progress Report published earlier this year. ล รกrka Trunkรกtovรก, vice-chairman at NGO Oลพivenรญ said:
“The Czech Republic is failing to adopt the law by 17 December 2021, the deadline imposed by the EU. We will enter a state of legal chaos. Whistleblowers will be able to demand rights granted by European legislation, but with no framework for how to treat whistleblowers.”