DID YOU KNOW THAT… The transposition of the (EU) Whistleblowing Directive will lead to new employer obligations?

In a press release dated 9 December 2022, the Italian Council of Ministers announced the approval of the draft Italian legislative decree transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. The new legislation extends the obligation to establish reporting channels to all private sector companies with more than 50 employees.

The main measures introduced provide, among other things, that:

• reports of breaches must relate to national or EU regulatory provisions that harm the public interest or the integrity of the private entity;
• in addition to employees who report breaches, the extension of protection was confirmed to collaborators, consultants, volunteers or trainees, shareholders and those with administrative, management, control, supervisory or representative functions, as well as to ‘probationary’ or former workers, if information on breaches was acquired in the course of the employment relationship;
• private sector companies will have to ensure internal and external reporting channels that ensure the confidentiality of whistle blowers and any processing of personal data will have to comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (the ‘GDPR’);
• retaliation includes, but is not limited to, change of duties, dismissal, change of workplace, reduction of salary, change of working hours, non-renewal or early termination of a fixed-term employment contract;
• the application by Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (Autorità Nazionale Anti-Corruzione, ‘ANAC’) of administrative fines of up to EUR 50,000.

Other related insights:
Whistleblowing: la nuova scadenza per il Governo italiano  

Il commento di Vittorio De Luca sul tema Whistleblowing e tutela della privacy