EU mulls better protection for whistleblowers
Vera Jourova - 3 - Photo EC.
(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission launched a public consultation on whistleblower protection Friday
"Whistleblowers can play a crucial role when it comes to fighting money laundering, fraud or corruption," said the EU's Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova: "We have to weigh carefully what is the best way forward and on which level we should act to better protect them. This public consultation will be valuable for the Commission to make well-informed choices. This is an important issue and we have to get it right."
The protection of whistleblowers can contribute to safeguarding the public interest, says the EU executive, promoting good governance and strengthening the rule of law, as well as our core democratic right to freedom of expression.
The consultation will enable to collect information, views and experiences on the benefits and drawbacks of whistleblower protection; on the elements that are important for effective whistleblower protection; on problems arising both at national and EU level from gaps and weaknesses of existing whistleblower protection and from the divergences of protection across the EU, as well as on the need for minimum standards of protection.
There are already strong protection mechanisms built into EU law in certain key areas, ranging from audit and money laundering rules to trade secrets, market abuse, capital requirements and other instruments regulating financial services.
The public consultation seeks to collect views from a broad range of stakeholders, as well as the general public, on the issue of whistleblower protection at national and EU level.
As announced in the Commission's 2017 work programme, the EU executive is currently assessing the scope for horizontal or further sectorial action at EU level to strengthen whistleblower protection, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity. The results of the public consultation is expected to feed into this work.
The consultation will be open until 29 May 2017.