Blueprint for Free Speech responds to open consultation in Spain, advocating for strong whistleblowing protection
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Blueprint for Free Speech has submitted its contributions to the public consultation for the Transposition in Spain of the European Directive on the protection of whistleblowers. It advocates a comprehensive law for the protection of whistleblowers, expanding the provision in the European proposal.
Spain’s Ministry of Justice opened public consultations on 7 January 2020 to gather the views of individuals and organisations affected by the Transposition of the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law.
You can read our response to the public consultation here (in Spanish).
In addition to key content areas recommended for strengthening, Blueprint’s submission has these notable elements:
A human rights issue
Blueprint for Free Speech begins its report by addressing the protection of whistleblowers as a human right, which flows from the right to freedom of expression. It therefore argues that the transposition of the EU Directive must go beyond being a tool to fight corruption in Spain, calling for a comprehensive law with a rights-based approach to whistleblower protection.
Protecting anonymity by law
Anonymity is another measure that Blueprint for Free Speech advocates in its report as an absolutely necessary measure to protect whistleblowers, especially in a country like Spain, where those who disclose information about crime and malpractice risk facing prosecution for defending the public interest.
Expanding the protection
Blueprint for Free Speech also recommends extending protection to all natural and legal persons who disclose information of public interest, as well as to third parties such as facilitators or family members, among others. This is the only way to ensure that citizens are adequately protected from harm caused by unlawful conduct.
Internal channels: non-mandatory use
Blueprint for Free Speech defends the obligation to establish internal whistleblowing channels for all public and private entities, without exempting the entities with less than 50 employees, as currently envisaged in the transposition of the law. Furthermore, it advocates extending this obligation to high-impact sectors, such as the financial, environmental and health sectors, the latter due to the current pandemic situation. However, it defends the right to choose channels to blow the whistle, with no mandate to use internal channels first.
These issues are in line with the proposal made public by Blueprint for Free Speech, together with the ABRE Coalition of civil society groups, to successfully address the transposition of the law for the protection of alerting persons in Spain.
Majority public opinion in favour of protection
A survey conducted by Blueprint for Free Speech, in collaboration with international consultancy IPSOS, reveals strong public support for whistleblower protection across Spain. The study gathers opinion on the protection of whistleblowers in Spain from a sample of 2,174 interviews conducted nationwide. The categories of the surveyed population analysed by gender, age, education levels and marital status show strong support, ranging from 64% in the lowest group to 77% in the highest.