Legal entities in the private sector with 50 to 249 workers may share resources as regards the receipt of reports and any investigation to be carried out. Reporting channels must be designed, established and operated in a manner that ensures the completeness, integrity and confidentiality of the information and prevents access thereto by non-authorised staff members of the competent authority.
Arguably yes, regardless of the size of the entity concerned, since the law does not expressly prohibit it.
Yes, legal entities (including private employers) with no more than 249 employees may share internal reporting channels.
Pursuant to the original Bill, different employing entities could not share whistleblower channels and investigation resources which gave rise to a number of objections from several large multinational Danish headquartered companies.
The end-result is found in section 9, subsection 3 of the Act according to which employers who are obliged under the Act “…may establish group-wide whistleblower schemes. The Minister of Justice may lay down rules that the first sentence shall not apply.” In other words, the Parliament placed authority with the Danish Minister of Justice to revoke the possibility to allow shared whistleblower schemes should the conclusion be that shared schemes are not in conformity with the Directive.
Group-wide reporting channels are permitted.
Yes.
The decree provides for the possibility of setting up a joint procedure between entities employing fewer than 250 employees, subject to a concordant decision by the competent bodies of each of them. On the other hand, entities with more than 250 employees in the same group seem only to be able to set up identical procedures, which is not the same thing as a single procedure, despite what was provided for in the law.
Yes, depending on the number of employees. Companies with less than 250 employees can establish joint reporting channels to a joint internal reporting point, companies with at least 250 employees are required to establish a separate reporting point for each company.
Yes. Employers with 50-249 employees under an employment relationship may jointly set up an internal whistleblowing system.
Yes. The requirement is simply that employers with more than 50 employees must facilitate the making of whistleblowing reports with a duty to “establish, maintain and operate internal reporting channels and procedures.” This obligation will not apply to employers with between 50 and 249 employees until 17 December 2023. For employers with 250 workers or more, this obligation applied immediately with the commencement of the Act on 1 January 2023.
Legislative Decree 24/2023 provides that private entities that have employed, in the past year, an average of no more than 249 employees with permanent or fixed-term agreement, may share the internal reporting channel and the relevant management.
This is not specifically discussed in the Dutch Act. It only provides that 'resources' may be shared between private sector entities of 50-249 employees.
It is assumed that nothing prevents a company to have a group-wide reporting channel in addition to a local reporting channel, when the latter meets the requirements in the Dutch WB Act.
Yes, but with limitations. Only Employers in the private sector employing 50 to 249 employees may, by agreement, share resources for receiving and verifying reports and following up, provided that the activities performed comply with the applicable laws.
Under the newly amended Whistleblowing Act, the legal entities (including private employers) with no more than 249 employees may share internal reporting channels.
Although neither the text of the newly amended Whistleblowing Act nor the explanatory memorandum (reasoning report) suggests that the primary purpose of the admendment is to share information within the group, it is also possible to use this mechanism as a joint reporting channel for a group of employers.
Yes, companies in the private sector employing 50 to 249 employees may, if they so decide, share the internal information system and the resources allocated to the management and processing of communications.
Yes, but only in respect of companies that engage between 50-249 employees. If a company is bound by a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”), the relevant parties to the applicable CBA may agree to deviate from rules regarding internal reporting channels and the rules regarding reporting and follow-up provided that any such deviation does not entail a breach of any of the individual rights in the Directive.
Existing law does not cover the establishment of reporting channels; group wide channels would be permissible.
