Civil society should be involved in Spain's forthcoming whistleblower law

EU member states are beginning the process of transposing the requirements of the EU Whistleblower Directive into national law. Last month, Spanish lawmakers got serious about this when they rejected an old, "inadequate" proposal for a whistleblower protection law. The Government has now set up a Working Group to propose something better before the end of the year.

Blueprint for Free Speech is one of 16 civil society organisations who have signed a letter asking Spain's Ministry of Justice to open up the process to wider consultation. Broad and sustained input from civil society was a the strength of the process that brought about the EU Directive itself and countries like Ireland have benefitted from including a wide range of voices in legislative development.

The initiative, reported by Spain's daily newspaper El Mundo today includes whistleblowing NGOs, anticorruption groups and publication platforms. You can read an English language translation of the open letter here, with the original available here.