Germany: Act for better protection of whistleblowers and implementing the Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law

On 12 May, Parliament passed a law on protection for whistleblowers (see press release), after the two chambers reached a compromise (see press release). Companies with more than 50 employees will have to create internal points of contact for whistleblowers to use. The DGB trade union confederation believes that this law contains “a number of regrettable loopholes, some of which are in breach of European law”, including that of requiring an internal reporting channel to be used, whereas the Whistleblowers’ Directive does not specify an obligation to file an internal complaint in the first instance – internal and external reporting routes rank on an equal footing. Moreover, the law does not provide for compensation for whistleblowers (see press release).