Principalele dispoziții ale Directivei (UE) 2019/1937 privind protecția avertizorilor. O evaluare preliminară din perspectiva cadrului legislativ și practicii judecătorești din România

• Published in: Revista Romana de Drept European no. 1; pp. 89 - 118
• Main Author: Banu, Constantin Mihai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Romanian
• Published: Bucharest Wolters Kluwer Romania SRL 01.01.2020
• Subjects: EU directives; Financial reporting; Whistleblowing; Romania
• ISSN: 2068-8083

On 23 October 2019, the Directive nr. 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law was adopted with a twofold objective: improving the enforcement of European Union Law and policies in specific areas and Laying down common minimum standards for a high Level of protection of „whistleblowers", meaning persons reporting breaches of Law mainly in a work-related context. Given the very broad scope of the Directive, its horizontal nature and regulatory technique (minimum harmonisation), together with the high Level of protection provided for whistleblowers and detailed procedural rules, the transposition into national Law will require significant changes to the Legislative framework in force in those Member States which already have Legislation in the area covered by the Directive, as is the case of Romania. Romania was one of the first countries to adopt Legislation on the protection of whistleblowers - Law No. 571/2004. The present article sets out the main provisions of the Directive, with reference to the current Legislative framework and the significant case-law in Romania. Some terminological clarifications are made (II). Issues connected to the (material and personal) scope of the Directive (III) and the three channels for whistleblowing (internal reporting, external reporting and public disclosure) (IV) are presented. Measures aimed at protecting whistleblowers, persons concerned and other persons covered by the scope of the Directive (V) are then discussed. A final section (VI) gives a summary of the practice of the Romanian courts in the relevant field. The conclusions (VII) set out prospects opened by this new Legislative act.