Federal Council rejects approval of the Whistleblower Protection Act

According to press reports, the Whistleblower Protection Act failed due to the CDU/CSU-led federal states, which feared that the excessive implementation would place too great a burden on small and medium-sized companies. The approval of anonymous reports and the extended scope of application were particularly criticized.

It will now take some time before a legal basis for the protection of whistleblowers is put in place. As a conflict has now arisen between the Bundestag and Bundesrat, the law will probably first go to the mediation committee to find an agreement. However, it is unclear what form this could take.

In any case, the "traffic light" party continues to stand by the law. This was stated by Till Steffen, member of the Legal Affairs Committee for the Greens, who announced that the traffic light party would reintroduce the bill to the Bundestag with the same content in a form that does not require approval.

From a compliance perspective, anonymous reports are an important instrument. Many whistleblowers do not dare to make a report in their own name. In practice, the risk that important information is not provided because the person fears reprisals and would rather not give their name is likely to be far greater than the risk that anonymous reports will encourage informer behavior.