Source: bundesrat.de
The Federal Council of the German Parliament has rejected the draft whistleblowing law to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing.
Germany is already over a year delayed in transposing the Directive as the official deadline for all 27 Member States to meet the new standards was 17 December 2022. The Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against many delayed member states including Germany.
The draft law was approved by Federal Cabinet in July last year. The proposal was revised following criticism in the Legal Affairs Committee and then approved by Bundestag in December. The law cannot enter into force in April, now that it has been rejected by the Federal Council.
The law will now be passed to the mediation committee to make amendments to the law to reflect a compromise agreement.
NGO Whistleblower-Netzwerk e.V. issued a press release on the developments, stating:
“CDU/CSU are once again letting whistleblowers down with their blockade attitude in the Bundesrat, as in all previous attempts for a whistleblower protection law. Not only the whistleblowers have the damage, but also democracy, the rule of law and the economy itself….The arguments just presented in the Bundesrat against the present bill because of a supposedly too high burden on the economy in times of crisis are the same old wine in new bottles.“