Protection of Whistleblowers by the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54869/syeul.2021.1.267Keywords:
Whistleblowing, whistleblower, Article 10, ECHR, ECtHR, Directive 2019/1937Abstract
Whistleblower protection in the European Union is undergoing significant developments. The new Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law sets a minimum standard for the protection of whistleblowers. It is awaiting implementation in Member States' national law by December 2021. However, a certain level of protection is also guaranteed by the European Court of Human Rights case law principles. Reports of illegal activities provided from close internal sources can strengthen the protection of the EU's financial interests. Adequate protection is needed to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers. As the deadline for transposing this directive approaches, the article aims to analyse the Directive 2019/1973 and compare it with the protection guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
References
Andreis, E. (2019). Towards Common Minimum Standards for Whistleblower Protection across the EU. European Papers, 4(2), pp. 575-588. DOI: 10.15166/2499-8249/315.
Svák, J. (2019). Nadnárodné systémy ochrany ľudských práv. (Prvý zväzok), Štruktúra systémov a ochrana politických práv. Bratislava: Wolters Kluwer. ISBN: 978-80-8168-971-0.
Yurttagül, H. (2021). Whistleblower Protection by the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union. An Emerging Consensus. Cham: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-030-78058-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78059-3
Committee of Independent Experts (1999). Second Report on Reform of the Commission. Analysis of current practice and proposals for tracking mismanagement, irregularities and fraud, Volume 1.
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe (2009). Report on the protection of "whistleblowers", doc. 12006, avaliable at: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=12302 (accesed on: 10.12.2021).
Council of Europe (2014). Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 and explanatory memorandum. Council of Europe, avaliable at: https://rm.coe.int/16807096c7 (accesed on: 10.12.2021).
Council of the EU (2020). Budget conditionality: Council presidency and Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional agreement. Avaliable at: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/11/05/budget-conditionality-council-presidency-and-parliament-s-negotiators-reach-provisional-agreement/ (accesed on 10.12.2021).
European Commission (2017). Public consultation on whistleblower protection, avaliable at: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/items/54254/en (accesed on 10.12.2021).
European Court of Human Rights (2020). Guide on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Freedom of expression. First Edition. Avaliable at: https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/guide_art_10_eng.pdf (accesed on 10.12.2021).
Multidisciplinary Group on Corruption (GMC) (1996). Programme of action against Corruption, GMC (96) 95, avaliable at: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016806ccfb6 (accesed on 10.12.2021).
Nielsen, N. (2013). EU-Wide whistleblower protection law rejected. EU Observer, 23 October 2013, avaliable at: https://euobserver.com/justice/121873 (accesed on 10.12.2021).
Council of Europe (2003). Civil Law Convention on Corruption of the Council of Europe no. 174 of 1 November 2003.
Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office ('the EPPO').
Criminal Law Convention on Corruption, No. 173 of 1 July 2002.
Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law.
European Convention on Human Rights.
ECtHR, Bucur and Toma v. Romanian, app. no.40238/02, 8 January 2013.
ECtHR, Marchenko v. Ukraine, app. no. 4063/04 ,19 February 2009.
ECtHR, Soares v Portugal, app. no. 79972/12, 21June 2016.
ECtHR, Vogt v. Germany [GC], app. no. 17851/91, 26 September 1995.
ECtHR, Guja v. Moldova [GC], app. no. 14277/04, 12 February 2008.
ECtHR, Heinisch v. Germany, app. no. 28274/08, 21July 2011.
ECtHR, Herbai v. Hungary, app. no. 11608/15, 5 November 2019.
ECtHR, Kudeshkina v. app. 29492/05, 26 February 2009.
ECtHR, Tierbefreier and Others v. Germany, app. no. 45192/09 09, 16 January 2014.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Slovak Yearbook of European Union Law
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The Author(s) transfers copyright to the Article to the Publisher of the Journal by the Licence Agreement.
The Author(s) retains rights specified in the Licence Agreement.
The readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of all of the Article of the Journal and use them for any other lawful purpose under specified Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC).
