The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law
The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law (Lov om beskyttelse af whistleblowere) was published in the country on 24 June 2021. Like all other members of the European union, Denmark is required to transpose the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into national law. It was the first country to do so, thus obliging all employers, both private and public, with 50 employees or more to set up an internal whistleblower system through which employees can raise concerns.
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The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law
The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law (Lov om beskyttelse af whistleblowere) was published in the country on 24 June 2021. Like all other members of the European union, Denmark is required to transpose the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into national law. It was the first country to do so, thus obliging all employers, both private and public, with 50 employees or more to set up an internal whistleblower system through which employees can raise concerns.
What are the details of the Danish Whistleblower Protection Law?
Overall, the Danish Whistleblower Protection Law adopts the minimum requirements of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive in that:
- A secure channel for receiving whistleblower reports must be put in place.
- Acknowledgment of the receipt of the report must be provided to the whistleblower within seven days.
- An impartial person or department must be appointed to follow up on the reports.
- Records must be kept of every report received, in compliance with confidentiality requirements.
- There must be diligent follow-up of the report by the designated person or department.
- Feedback about the follow-up/investigation must be provided to the whistleblower within three months of the report being received.
- All processing of personal data must be done in accordance with the GDPR.
In addition, the Danish Whistleblower Protection law extends the scope of the EU Directive in that whistleblowers can also report on breaches of Danish national law (not simply EU law) and infringements of a serious nature. Further, protection will also be granted for those reporting sexual harassment or other serious person-related conflicts in the workplace.
Another difference under the Danish law is that organisations are only obliged to make their whistleblower channels available to employees. If they so wish, they can also make them available to other external parties that have a work-related connection.
The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law, (Lov om beskyttelse af whistleblowere), was published 24 June 2021. Denmark was the first country to transpose the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into its national laws.
Considerations for compliance with the Danish Whistleblower Protection Law
The first deadline for compliance with the Danish Whistleblower Protection law has already passed for larger companies. The law required private sector employers with 250 employees or more, as well as public sector employers, to implement a whistleblowing channel by no later than 17 December 2021. Companies with between 50 and 249 employees have until 17 December 2023.
Size matters in other ways under the Danish law, which allows companies with 250 employees or more operating under a parent company to establish a joint whistleblowing system. This differs from the EU Directive which only permits private companies with 50-249 employees to have shared channels. However, it should be noted that it is recognised that this is probably not in accordance with the EU Directive, and statutory authority has been incorporated into the Danish Whistleblower Protection law for the Danish Minister for Justice to suspend the provision if upon expiry of the implementation deadline (in this case, on 17 December 2021) it becomes evident that the provision is contrary to the EU Directive.
All employers that are subject to the law, including those that already have whistleblowing channels in place, should be reviewing internal policies, guidelines, procedures as well as information provided to employees to ensure compliance with the law.
Those that don’t already have a channel in place should avoid waiting until the 2023 deadline. It’s worth considering now whether it is more efficient to build their channels and develop the relevant skills internally, or whether outsourcing the entire function to a third-party provider is a better option.