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In a recent Baker McKenzie global survey, 87% of senior lawyers expressed concern about facing an internal investigation in 2023 – a 22% increase from last year. At the same time, data privacy concerns, new regulations – including the EU Whistleblowing Directive – and a rising focus on ESG considerations are further compounding the challenges for organizations in this space. Explore the drivers for whistleblowing and investigations activity, key regional trends and steps to overcome common compliance pitfalls.

We provided an overview perspective on EU Whistleblowing Directive: Local Implementation which includes updates on the latest EU employment and compliance developments.
The European Whistleblowing Directive was supposed to be implemented by the European Union’s 27 member states by no later than 17 December 2021, impacting employers with operations in those jurisdictions.

On March 15, the Law Decree No. 24/2023 (so-called “Whistleblowing” decree) has been published in the Italian Official Gazette. The decree enhances the principles of transparency and accountability in reporting and applies to all private companies that (i) employ an average of more than 50 employees or (ii), regardless of the number of employees, are active in sectors deemed particularly “sensitive” or (iii) already have in place an Organizational Model for the prevention of crimes (so-called “231” model). The new decree introduces the obligation to set up adequate reporting channels and whistleblower protection systems.

The Financial Conduct Authority has recently reiterated that its new Consumer Duty represents a significant shift in its expectations of affected firms. Good customer outcomes must be at the heart of firms’ business strategy and objectives. In an article for Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence, Annabel Mackay and Kimberly Everitt provide an overview of the employment law implications of the Consumer Duty and lists next steps firms should take to ensure compliance.

On 23 October 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, informally referred to as the “EU Whistleblower Directive”.
Belgium has implemented the EU Whistleblower Directive separately for the public and the private sectors, with the Act of 8 December 2022 on reporting channels and protection of whistleblowers in federal public sector bodies and the integrated police, and the Act of 28 November 2022 on the protection of whistleblowers of breaches of Union or national law established within a legal entity in the private sector, published on 15 December 2022, which came into effect on 15 February 2023.

The European Whistleblowing Directive (WBD) was supposed to be implemented by the European Union’s 27 member states by no later than 17th December 2021, impacting employers with operations in those jurisdictions.
This article looks at what those key challenges are and the unique support we can offer in helping global employers harmonize their global approach to managing whistleblowing reports within the prescriptive requirements of the WBD.

The Belgian act implementing EU Directive 2019/1937 (“Whistleblower Act”) requires legal entities in the private sector to establish channels and procedures for internal reporting and follow-up of reports in specific areas. In this context, the Whistleblower Act established a particular method to calculate the employee headcount within the legal entity with reference to the Belgian legislation on the social elections. However, there has been some uncertainty about how this reference should be applied in the context of the Whistleblower Act.