New Swedish Whistleblower Protection law announced – great challenge for the majority of companies
Today the proposal for a new Swedish whistleblower protection law was announced, making Sweden one of the first EU member states to publish a suggested local enactment of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive. The proposed law requires organisations to provide a reporting channel for people to raise concerns about misconduct they suspect related to the organisation.
“The threat of unethical and illegal behaviour is very real for all organisations. Whistleblowers can help uncover such misconduct earlier so that organisations can rapidly address the issue, reducing reputational, personal and financial losses. We are delighted so see Sweden leading in protecting whistleblowers so that they feel safe,” says Karin Henriksson, Senior Advisor and co-founder of WhistleB.
The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive was passed in October 2019. In addition to the obligation to provide a confidential whistleblowing channel, it also makes retaliation against whistleblowers an illegal offence, and protects those who decide to report via external channels. Each EU country is now going through the process of turning the Directive into national law.
“The majority of companies do not have such a channel today and have never even considered having one. We’ve seen that many people don’t know where or how to get started,” says Gunilla Hadders, the other co-founder of WhistleB.
To help organisations as they now face the prospect of selecting and setting up a whistleblowing system, WhistleB has written a new handbook. The handbook aims to help business leaders and boards to avoid the most common mistakes and support them during the process. Download the e-book or order a hard copy from Amazon or Bokus.
About WhistleB
WhistleB has been in operation since 2011 and is a Swedish company specialised in digital whistleblowing services. The company is part of the global compliance company, NAVEX Global, and has almost 500 customers, predominantly in Europe, that use the service worldwide.
For further information:
Karin Henriksson, co-founder and Senior Advisor, WhistleB Whistleblowing Centre
karin.henriksson@navexglobal.com
+46 70 444 32 16
