Ministry of Justice will send the transposition of the “Whistleblower” directive to the Council of Ministers for approval to protect 36% of whistleblowers

The whistleblower directive in the general codification commission passes the baton

The mission of the previous minister of justice, Juan Carlos Campo and his public law section of the general codification commission’s work team, has passed on to the current minister the task of handing over to our legislative body the transposition of the text of the directive on whistleblowers, which the ministry of justice says must be completed before 2 December 2021, however, Spain has until 17 December 2021 for the whistleblower regulation to come into force.

The approval of the European Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of whistleblowers, which was published on 26 November 2019 in the Official Journal of the European Union, is close to being approved in Spain.

According to information obtained from Confilegal, the text is ready and will be sent to the Council of Ministers for final approval.

This directive comes into force in the 27 countries of the Union without exception from 17 December 2021, in which the channels are established in a protected and anonymous way and that in víadenuncia we can put into operation to meet the requirements of the EU law.

36% of whistleblowers have suffered retaliation

Víadenuncia‘s anonymous whistleblowing mailbox complies with the directive prohibiting any retaliation against those who dare to expose wrongdoing in private companies or official public bodies.

According to Global Business Ethics, which conducted a survey in 2016, 36% of workers who disclosed wrongdoing reported suffering various types of retaliation, including, according to whistleblowers, victimisation at work, damage to their reputation and health problems. This directive protects them since its implementation.

The whistleblower protection mechanisms provided by víadenuncia are in line with this directive. The confidentiality of organisations and their employees is guaranteed at all times in our whistleblowing channel.

Corruption in public procurement generates losses of up to 9.6 billion euros

The pandemic of corruption in the EU is a cause for concern

The commission is aware that there is a drain on public procurement resources and wants to put an end to this in a decisive manner and without delay.

According to the commission’s 2017 study, the lack of protection and anonymity measures to protect corruption whistleblowers has stimulated losses ranging from €5.8 billion to €9.6 billion, according to the commission’s estimates in the field of public procurement.

The role of whistleblowers who have knowledge of acts of corruption is vital, as they help in the investigation and punishment of those who break the union’s laws, as well as helping journalists to obtain valuable information to carry out their journalistic work on these facts.

How is the whistleblowing process set up?

Spain has been a member of the Open Government Partnership since 2011, with the organisation’s main objective being to strengthen ties between government and citizens, explained a Spanish government statement from its ministry. This resource promotes the principles of open government and encourages transparency, accountability, as well as citizen participation in a more active way and enriches the practice of open data and transparency.

The 3 essential levels in the reporting process:

•  First in the internal channels of the organisation.
• Second with the competent authorities.
• Third through the media.

By addressing these needs, Víadenuncia enables organisations to keep issues related to the directive at the first level.Our team of experts provides the best advice in case of levels 2 and 3 for our whistleblowing mailbox and also allows anonymity at all times, either of an organisation or a whistleblower; principles framed in the Whistleblower Directive thus promoting transparency in line with the Union and the Whistleblower Directive.