25 Civil Society Organisations Call On The Spanish Government And Political Groups To Improve Draft Whistleblower Protection Law
Following the approval by the Council of Ministers of the Draft Law on the protection of whistleblowers and the fight against corruption, 25 civil society associations are urging the government to amend crucial aspects of the text in the final approval process.
Blueprint For Free Speech, Access Info, Hay Derecho and Xnet, who are behind the initiative, also supported by 21 other organisations, warn of the serious delay in the transposition of the European Directive on the protection of whistleblowers.
A total of 25 organisations have sent the government and parliamentary groups a ‘Decalogue’ of improvements to the current Draft Bill to prevent the final text from being detrimental to whistleblowers themselves. The decalogue includes the need to eliminate biases regarding the motivation of the informant and the requirements to demonstrate who can be covered by the Law. It also calls for greater specificity in definitions such as "retaliation" in order to limit the possibility of restrictive or counterproductive interpretations for the whistleblower, while also calling for the removal of any time limitations as whistleblowers often suffer retaliation long after they have reported the facts.
The Decalogue also calls for the whistleblower's anonymity to be guaranteed and the possibility to choose the channel for reporting that he or she considers safest without any prejudice. It also calls for the provision of strong measures to protect the whistleblower, such as financial support and legal and psychological assistance in general and not in exceptional cases.
The draft law was approved in second discussion on 13 September by the Council of Ministers. The EU established 17 December 2021 as the deadline for the transposition into Spanish law of European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers. The executive's eight-month delay has already led to a sanction for Spain.
The Coalición Pro Acceso is a platform founded in 2006, dedicated to the promotion and protection of the fundamental right of access to information. It currently has almost 100 members, including civil society organisations and experts on communication and access to information issues.