Whistleblowers benefit from better protection, with improved processing of their complaints, but regulatory gaps persist and their rights are still very poorly defended by public authorities, the Ombudsman estimates in a report published on Wednesday 25 September. In this report, covering the years 2022-2023, the independent institution observes “The whistleblower law has marked a turning point”, “significantly more favorable” on the protections provided, ” ambitious ” on the conditions for collecting and processing reports.
Indeed, the law of 21 March 2022 defined their status more precisely, guided their procedures, strengthened their rights and those of the persons or associations that assist them, facilitated their financial and psychological support, among other things. It transposed a 2019 European directive into French law, going beyond what European law requires, and corrected imperfections in the pioneering law, known as “Sapin II”, of 2016, which has been little used to date.
Last year, 306 files requesting support for whistleblowers were sent to the Human Rights Defender, an increase of 128% compared to 2022. The institution is already detecting flaws, which “significantly slow down the effective implementation of the reform”. “There are whistleblowers who do not know their status or their rights”human rights activist Claire Hédon told reporters on Tuesday.
For several years now, he has been pointing out little-known legislation and recommends financing communication actions for the protection and promotion of whistleblowers, because until now, “No government communication has been implemented”.
“Dramatic situations”
A whistleblower is a natural person who reports or discloses, without direct financial compensation and in good faith, information relating to a crime, an infringement, a threat or damage to the general interest, or a violation of an international commitment of France. This definition therefore excludes legal persons such as trade unions, associations or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which the authority deplores in its report.
“In fact, legal entities are likely to be affected by decisions such as the denial of a grant, the approval or the [de] their civil or criminal liabilities are compromised, in relation to an alert that they may have placed”the institution believes that it advocates a protection regime for legal entities.
The Ombudsman also calls for a significant improvement in financial and psychological support for whistleblowers with the creation of a support fund. “It is difficult for whistleblowers. We see dramatic situations, people fired, blacklisted and with minimal social protections.”said Claire Hédon.
According to her, alerts are still limited and concentrated in a few sectors and institutions: of the thirty-four external reporting authorities (AERS) that have reported their statistics, twenty-four have received less than twenty-five alerts and ten have not received any for the year 2023, which can be explained by a lack of communication or relevance of the authority in charge of collecting the report.
The authority also regrets the absence of protective measures in the areas of defence and national security. This “discourages whistleblowing procedures in this area, where the stakes, especially financial, are particularly high” (…) Potential whistleblowers who risk being exposed in any form would not be protected by the law.we can read in the report.
