Adopt Legislation on Whistleblower Protections (CZ0036)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment consists in legislative, educational, and awareness-raising activities, the aim of which is to improve the legal and social status of whistleblowers, including increasing public awareness of whistleblowing as such.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? The Czech Republic does not yet have a comprehensive legal framework for whistleblowing. Potential whistleblowers (persons who report their knowledge on any wrongdoing) are currently not sufficiently protected against the retaliatory measures that often fall upon them after they reported the wrongdoing. At the same time, confidential and trustworthy reporting channels for whistleblowing are not set up by law, except for service authorities. There is also a distorted (negative) perception of whistleblowers in society that does not reflect their personal courage and real contribution to the detection of unlawful behaviour and the prevention or correction of infringements. On the contrary, whistleblowers are often subject to social condemnation and misunderstanding. This situation results in a reduced incentive for potential whistleblowers to report wrongdoing, the suppression of which is in the public interest. At the same time, the early detection of criminal or other unlawful activities based on the submitted reports is one of the necessary elements, which can bring about savings of public funds, averting a common threat or protecting people's lives and health.

2. What are the causes of the problem? The reasons for the above stigmatisation of whistleblowers can be seen both in the lack of legislation and in the societal attitude towards whistleblowers. The absence of legally enshrined secure reporting channels guaranteeing potential whistleblowers the protection of their identity, apart from Act No. 234/2014 Coll., on the Civil Service, and the relevant implementing provisions, is only one of the problems. Whistleblowers are not protected from retaliation, namely from employers, which may have a major impact on their professional and personal lives. Insufficient legal protection also sends a signal to society that the protection of whistleblowers is not a priority, which is further worsening their position. The negative perception of whistleblowers by a significant part of society is the result of a combination of factors. The historical experience in the Czech Republic with informers during totalitarian regimes during the 20th century is obvious. The change in public perception of whistleblowers has been very slow since 1989. This is, among other things, due to a lack of awareness, which is largely addressed only by the non-profit sector.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? There is no specific provision for the protection of whistleblowers enshrined in Czech legislation, except for the protection of whistleblowers from the ranks of civil servants according to Government Regulation No. 145/2015 Coll., on Measures Related to the Reporting of Suspected Infringements in a Public Offce. Whistleblowers are protected in criminal matters by general institutes of legal regulations against unlawful retaliation by the persons against whom the report was directed or by other persons who suffered damage as a result of the report. A whistleblower is protected from certain retaliatory measures within the framework of the employment or service relationship, namely by the contents of the regulations governing the relevant legal relationship. All these legal regulations contain legislation in the field of employment or service relationship that significantly limits the discretion of the employer and protects the employee. However, the measures mentioned above do not provide whistleblowers with sufficiently credible, confidential, and accessible channels through which the report can be made to the employer or an external authority, nor do they provide specialised advisory or legal support that a whistleblower often needs prior to submitting a report. As part of the fulfilment of the previous commitment enshrined in the Fifth Action Plan, the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers and the related amending law, aimed at implementing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (the "Directive"), was prepared by the Ministry of Justice, approved by the Government and debated at first reading by the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. However, with the end of the parliamentary term, the debate on the draft laws was not completed and the draft laws will have to go through the legislative process again. As of 17 December 2021, the Ministry of Justice, in relation to the direct vertical effect of the Directive not yet transposed, established an external reporting channel and a website containing relevant information on whistleblower protection under the Directive at its request at the address oznamovatel.justice.cz. The Ministry of Justice is also carrying out intensive methodological work, producing background material and actively communicating with entities at both the state and local level in relation to their obligation under the Directive to implement an internal reporting system. At the time the Sixth Action Plan was being drawn up and discussed, the interdepartmental comment procedure was conducting on the draft laws re-submitted by the Ministry of Justice and only partially modified, and afterwards, the settlement of the submitted comments. In cooperation with a media expert consultant, documents were also prepared for the tender documentation for the public procurement relating to ensure a media campaign and the necessary public contracts were administered under the project "Intensification of the fight against corruption by raising awareness of the public sector with a focus on judges, law enforcement authorities, and public administration". Details of the fulfilment of the previous commitment of the Fifth Action Plan have been published quarterly on the Commitment Card at https://korupce.cz/partnerstvi-pro- otevrene-vladnuti-ogp/narodni-akcni-plany-nap/paty-akcni-plan-2020-2022/faze- implementace/zavazek-4-2-zvyseni-povedomi-o-problematice-oznamovatelu-protipravniho- jednani/.

2. What solution do you propose? The adoption of the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers will, in addition to the implementation of the Directive, lead to the adoption of the first comprehensive legal regulation of the rules for reporting, the protection of whistleblowers, and the obligations of entities in the public and private sectors in the Czech Republic. The fact that the legislation on the protection of whistleblowers is based on the Directive will then send a clear signal to society that whistleblower protection is a priority at European Union level as well. The adoption of whistleblower protection rules emphasises their societal importance and, conversely, affects behaviour which is prejudicial to them as a result of reporting. In relation to awareness-raising, the draft law under consideration sets assignments, inter alia, for the Ministry of Justice to collect and publish data on whistleblowing issues or to provide expert advice in this area. The Ministry of Justice will also continuously raise awareness of the status and social contribution of whistleblowers as part of its work. The discussion and adoption of the proposed legislation will be synergistically accompanied by the implementation of the project "Intensifying the fight against corruption by raising public sector awareness with focus on judges, law enforcement agencies and public administration", which is part of the Good Governance Programme. The project includes the following range ofactivities of an educational and informative nature aimed mainly at improving the social perception of whistleblowers: a) creation of a comparative study to share good practice abroad, publication of this study on the website korupce.cz, b) media campaign aimed at promoting whistleblowing, c) international conference on whistleblower protection, d) a series of workshops and trainings for justice and public administration workers focused on the issue of whistleblowing and protection of whistleblowers, creation of an e-learning course, e) ongoing publicity includes, among other things, informing about partial outputs of the project in the form of press releases and publication on the website of the Ministry of Justice (justice.cz, korupce.cz), f) statistical monitoring of reporting cases raised by whistleblowers, publication of statistics.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? As a result of the introduction of comprehensive legislative protection for whistleblowers and the establishment of reporting channels, an increase in the number of credible reports of criminal offences or other unlawful activity is expected. This should result in a reduction of proceeds from corruption or other illegal activities that have been detected as a result of whistleblowing. The adoption of comprehensive legislation will then lead to an improvement in the status of whistleblowers in judicial or administrative proceedings, but also an improvement in the status of ex ante whistleblowers. An essential part of the Ministry of Justice's activities will be the raising awareness of society on the topic of whistleblowing, which, together with the adoption of the draft law and the Directive itself, represents a fundamental step towards improving the perception of whistleblowers in the Czech society. A change in the perception of whistleblowers as denunciators by the public, but also by potential whistleblowers themselves, is crucial to the success of the proposed regulation. In this sense, the Ministry of Justice will provide whistleblowers with comprehensible information regarding the reporting procedure itself, present model situations, familiarize whistleblowers with information on protecting their identity and, last but not least, clearly inform the public about what retaliation measures are and how to defend against them and point out their undesirable nature.

Analysis of the commitment

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? Entities in both the public and private sectors will be required to inform potential whistleblowers about the possibility to raise a report and about the rules for protection against retaliation. In addition, the Ministry of Justice will also be required to publish information on combating unlawful activities (on the website korupce.cz) and provide methodical and professional assistance in the whistleblower protection agenda.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? Improving awareness of whistleblowing aims, inter alia, to increase the level of combating unlawful behaviour by public officials, to strengthen public control, including internal (in-house) preventive and control mechanisms. Corruption practices with a negative impact on society as a whole should thus be more easily detected and prosecuted.

3. How will this commitment improve citizens' participation in the development, implementation, and monitoring of solutions adopted? Increasing the initiative of whistleblowers through the adoption of the Whistleblower Protection Act and improving public awareness of their status and usefulness aims to increase the level of civic participation in public affairs. Whistleblowers will be more motivated to detect wrongdoings of their employers and will be entitled to publish information about the infringement if the conditions set by law are met.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Foreseen outputs | Estimated date of completion)

The adoption of the law on the protection of whistleblowers | Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers promulgated in the Collection of Laws and effective | 1 July 2023

Implementation of the project "Intensifying the fight against corruption by raising public sector awareness with focus on judges, law enforcement agencies and public administration" | a) creation of a comparative study to share good practice abroad, publication of this study on the website korupce.cz, b) media campaign aimed at promoting whistleblowing, c) international conference on whistleblower protection, d) series of workshops and trainings for judiciary and public administration staff focused on the issue of whistleblowing and protection of whistleblowers, creation of an e-learning course, e) ongoing publicity includes, among other things, informing about partial outputs of the project in the form of press releases and publication on the website of the Ministry of Justice (justice.cz, korupce.cz), f) statistical monitoring of reporting cases raised by whistleblowers, publication of statistics. | 31 December 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Improving the status of whistleblowers