Spanish government misses 17 December deadline to incorporate European whistleblower protection law into national law
Spain has failed to comply with the deadline given by Brussels, set for this Friday 17 December 2021, to include in the legal system of each Member State the EU Directive 2019/1937 which protects the rights of whistleblowers. By failing to comply with the stipulated deadline Spain faces the risk of informal infringement proceedings, including the possibility of financial penalties, as provided for in Article 260(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). On 25 February of this year, the EU Court of Justice sanctioned Spain for failing to transpose a Data Protection Directive on time and directed Spain to pay a daily penalty payment of 89,000 euros in order to end the non-compliance and also imposed a payment of 15 million euros as a deterrent measure to prevent future non-compliance.
The NGO Blueprint for Free Speech, which has been advocating for a whistleblower protection law for several years, requested on 22 November, in cooperation with Access Info Europe and 7 other NGOs, more information on the transposition of this law from the Ministry of Justice. Only four days later, the ministry decided to "refuse access to the requested information because the text is still an internal draft".
"It is not a right-wing or left-wing law, it is a law to protect whistleblowers, it is about good governance, i.e. transparency, openness, accountability and prevention of corruption," said Suelette Dreyfus, Executive Director of Blueprint For Free Speech.
The request for information was made under the Transparency Act. Nine organisations urged the Ministry of Justice to provide any information or documents produced in the working group responsible for drafting the legislation, as well as input from previous public consultations, the latest updated draft, and the timeline or planning to achieve transposition. Blueprint For Free Speech and Access Info will appeal this decision by the Ministry of Justice.
Given the lack of progress on this important issue, Blueprint for Free Speech, with the support of 6 other organisations, reiterates the need to move forward in a participatory manner with the legislative process on this sensitive and necessary issue through an open letter signed by several organisations. The NGOs supporting this proposal are: Access Info Europe, Fundación Hay Derecho, Plataforma por la Honestidad, Asociación Española de Sujetos Obligados en Prevención del Blanqueo de Capitales y de la Financiación del Terrorismo (ASEBLAC), Acción Cívica contra la Corrupción, Alertadores contra la corrupción. This request adds to the multiple actions of civil society over the last two years calling for the development of an open and participatory legislative process.
The Spanish government not only committed to include this EU directive in the Spanish legal system in the IV Open Government Action Plan, but also to do so in a transparent manner. Likewise, the 2021 Annual Regulatory Plan, published in August this year, includes this as one of the priorities.
Protecting whistleblowers could help save between 6 to 9 billion euros a year across the EU, according to a study published by the European Commission in 2017.