Czech Republic: Legally compliant whistleblowing in your company - country update in Czech Republic

In November of 2022, the government of the Czech Republic passed an amended draft of the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers (the “Whistleblowing Act”) and forwarded it to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. The draft law is currently in its second reading, and further discussion of the law in the Chamber of Deputies is not planned until after 14 March 2023. The draft law must then be passed by the Senate and needs to be signed by the President of the Czech Republic. Only then will the legislative procedure be completed.

It cannot be ruled out that the draft law will still be amended during the legislative procedure, in particular with regard to the list of unlawful actions to which the law will apply. However, the basic parameters are defined by European Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law and will be maintained.

The draft law stipulates that the whistleblowing law will enter into force on the first day of the second calendar month after its publication in the body of laws. For enterprises that employ between 50 and 249 employees, the law will then provide for an additional period of time for implementing an internal reporting channel, a period that will last until at least 15 December 2023.

Since the Czech Republic has not met the deadline for transposing the European Directive into the national legal system, it may be faced with a suit by the European Commission before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Autor: Eva Watson