In short - What is the Whistleblower Act?
The Whistleblower Act (Act no. 1436 of June 29, 2021) is the Danish implementation of the EU Whistleblower Directive. The Act requires public authorities and private companies with at least 50 employees to establish an internal or external system for secure and confidential reporting of serious wrongdoing. The purpose is to ensure that employees and others associated with an organization can safely report serious matters - without risk of reprisals - and that the reports are handled responsibly and in accordance with applicable rules.
The Whistleblower Act came into force on December 17, 2021, which means that employers with more than 50 employees must ensure that their employees can confidentially and safely report serious or illegal matters without negative consequences for their employment relationship, and that the employer as a result must establish a whistleblower scheme.
Employers with +250 employees are already obliged to establish an internal whistleblower scheme, while employers with between 50 and 249 employees must establish an internal scheme by December 17, 2023.
However, it is important to note that all employers with +50 employees are obliged to provide a confidential and secure reporting channel for their employees already now and that - until you establish your own whistleblower scheme - you should refer your employees to use
Datatilsynets whistleblower scheme.
There are therefore many good reasons to establish an internal scheme now!
If you are considering getting help with external administration of your company's whistleblower scheme, or if you are unsure what requirements you need to be aware of when implementing a whistleblower scheme, read on!
What is a whistleblower?
A whistleblower is a person who draws attention to unethical, illegal or other serious matters. This could be an employee, a business partner, a shareholder, etc.
The purpose of the new Whistleblower Act is to strengthen the protection of whistleblowers against sanctions of any kind, such as threats, demotion, discrimination or dismissal.
Would you like to hear more about setting up a whistleblower scheme? Contact us >>
Key points of the whistleblower law for private companies
- The Whistleblower Act applies to employers with 50 or more employees.
- The employer must establish an internal whistleblower unit to handle and manage reports in accordance with the Whistleblower Act, and which is subject to a special duty of confidentiality regarding, among other things, the identity of the whistleblower (including towards management). However, this task can be entrusted to an external supplier, including Attorney or similar
- Through the whistleblower scheme, you should be able to report violations in areas such as GDPR, consumer protection, financial services, money laundering, product and transportation safety and occupational health and safety.
- The whistleblower scheme must ensure confidentiality, anonymity and active follow-up towards the whistleblower.
- A whistleblower must be protected against sanctions of any kind, including threats or dismissal. Read our article: "New rules on whistleblower schemes"
Who is protected by whistleblower law?
The new whistleblower law protects employees, candidates in recruitment processes, interns, shareholders, suppliers, volunteers and former employees, among others:
- Private companies with 50 or more employees.
- Private companies in the financial sector.
- Private companies at risk of money laundering or terrorist financing.
- Public authorities.
What illegal activities and violations can be reported?
The Whistleblower Act covers areas such as public procurement, financial services and product safety, tax violations, money laundering and violation of data protection rules, environmental protection, food and feed safety and public health.
In addition, the whistleblower scheme must be reported so that violations, discrimination, bullying etc. can be reported.
Comprehensive requirements for a secure whistleblowing system
The Whistleblower Act contains a number of provisions on how an internal whistleblower scheme must be designed.
The Whistleblower Act states, among other things, that:
- A whistleblower must be guaranteed protection against retaliation including, for example, salary reductions, changes in working hours, dismissal, demotion and threats.
- a whistleblower must have easily accessible information about the procedures for reporting, follow-up and whistleblower rights.
- Employers covered by the legislation must establish internal and secure reporting channels to handle whistleblower reports.
- The reporting channels must ensure that a whistleblower's identity is kept confidential and must allow for full anonymity.
- Receipt of the report must be acknowledged to the whistleblower within seven days of receipt.
- All reports must be processed within a reasonable period of time, not exceeding 3 months.
- The employer must appoint an impartial person to handle the reports. This can be an employee of the company, an external Attorney or similar.
In addition, it is of course very important that the company's whistleblower scheme meets the requirements of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act.
Read the entire Whistleblower Act here:
DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/1937 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of October 23, 2019
Should your business have a whistleblower scheme?
The Whistleblower Act applies to all companies with 50 or more employees, regardless of whether the company is already obligated to establish an internal solution or whether the deadline is December 17, 2023.
The fact that the company does not have to establish an internal scheme until 2023 does not mean that the company does not have to ensure that employees can report matters in confidence and without negative consequences for their employment relationship until the internal solution is established. The company is therefore obliged to refer its employees to the Danish Data Protection Agency's external whistleblower scheme until the company establishes its own whistleblower scheme.
There are therefore many good reasons to establish a whistleblower scheme now, even if your company is not required to do so until December 2023. CLEMENS has extensive experience in the establishment and ongoing administration of whistleblower schemes and handling reports. With our help in establishing and managing your whistleblower scheme, you can quickly and easily implement a ready-to-go whistleblower scheme that provides your company with a number of benefits and long-term savings.
With CLEMENS' whistleblower scheme you get:
- Ensure that your company is compliant without using internal resources for training, implementation and maintenance of the whistleblower scheme, among other things
- High security that ensures the anonymity of the reporter and that all reports are handled legally and reported back to the company
- a ready-to-run cloud solution tailored to your organization
- A standard whistleblower policy that can be easily implemented in the organization and meets the disclosure requirements of the Whistleblower Act
- short time from agreement on a whistleblowing solution to start-up and implementation.
The user-friendly platform requires no IT skills or external consultants. You receive a web link and are ready to go.
We offer a competitive and transparent pricing structure with low set-up and operating costs.
If you have any questions about the article, CLEMENS' whistleblower scheme, or if you are considering external administration of your whistleblower scheme, you are always welcome to contact our whistleblower team.
