To Budget and Procedurize in 2021: WHISTLEBLOWING
09.04.2021 – Authors: Adriana I. Gaspar and George Trandafir
Romanian authorities have recently started the transposition process for Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (the “Whistleblowers’ Directive). The directive is available here.
The transposition bill is currently under public review and the projection is that it will become law in December 2021. The bill is available here.
The Whistleblower’s Directive was meant to complement existing criminal law and administrative law instruments implemented at member state and EU levels to protect the (primarily financial) interests of the European Union.
The initiators of the Romanian transposition bill have sought to create an instrument that would have a much broader scope and impact. The bill proposes that virtually any breach of law within a company or public entity may be reported. If the breaches are not assessed and settled internally, the whistleblowers may be encouraged to channel them outside the company/entity.
Notably, in case of breaches with criminal law-related consequences, the corporate criminal liability will be scrutinized and assessed based also on the reliability of the corporate governance rules and policies implementing the new whistleblowers’ law.
As the legislative process advances, we will provide regular briefings to enable an early assessment of updates and adjustments to corporate governance, operational, technical/IT, employment, and other rules and policies, required for complying with the new law.
