On 6 March 2024, a new draft law on whistleblower protection was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre, replacing the previous draft law on whistleblower protection. Along with the new draft law, the Ministry also presented a draft regulation of the Council of Ministers on the model form of the report containing statistical data on external reporting.
In the latest version of the draft, the Ministry has introduced a number of key changes – both from the point of view of whistleblowers and those investigating them. One of the most important changes is the expansion of the catalogue of reportable violations of the law. In the new version of the draft, behaviours relating to human and civil liberties and rights, corruption, human trafficking and labour law are additionally recognised as such, which means that a whistleblower will be able to report i. a. mobbing, discrimination, harassment or working time violations.
In addition, the new draft also specifies the minimum amount of compensation for a whistleblower against whom retaliation has been committed. According to the draft, the compensation will amount to no less than twelve times the average monthly salary.
Another important change is the possibility for entities to accept anonymous reports from the whistleblowers. According to the wording of the draft, both internal and external reports will be able to be accepted in anonymous form. At the same time, we note that this is an optional solution. Entities handling whistleblowing will have the possibility to decide whether they will accept anonymous reports or not.
In the new version of the draft, whistleblowers have also gained the possibility to benefit from free legal assistance and counselling.
Importantly, it was also decided to extend the deadline for the law to enter into force. Entities will have 3 months from the date of publication of the law to implement the system for receiving internal reports and 6 months to implement the system for receiving external reports. The bill is expected to reach parliament by the end of March 2024. According to the announcements, the law should be enacted in the first quarter of 2024.
Expanding the catalogue of reportable breaches, allowing the processing of anonymous reports and the risk of high compensation can raise many challenges for organisations. It is therefore worth to start planning to implement appropriate solutions to protect whistleblowers, including implementation of a adequate notification system.
Author
Zuzanna Chudzia
Lawyer