Evaluation of the Whistle-blower Protection Directive

Practical information

Composition of the study group & calendar

Administrator in charge: June Sørensen Bedaton,  Jean-Marie Rogue, Laura Ernsteina, Igor Caldeira / Assistant: Ania Darmetko Doudkine, Lilla Szabo

The Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (hereafter "the Directive") entered into force in December 2019. It was introduced in response to growing concerns that the existing legal framework across the EU was inadequate, due to being fragmented at national level and limited to specific EU-level sectors. 

This Directive is the first overarching piece of legislation introducing common minimum standards in the EU, although it is not the first European legal text relating to whistleblowers. It builds on previous EU sector-specific legislation, the European Court of Human Rights case law and Council of Europe standards, namely the PACE Resolution 1729(2010) and the 2014 Recommendation. The text also situates whistleblower protection within the broader human rights framework, affirming the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the EU Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Member States had until 17 December 2021 to transpose the Directive, with an optional extension until 17 December 2023 for private-sector entities with 50-249 employees. According to the European Commission, all Member States have completed the transposition, with most having done so in 2023. However, widespread delays and gaps in transposition have been observed, particularly regarding the material scope, protection conditions, and liability exemptions.

As part of its continuous monitoring, the Commission led a consultation from 21 August 2025 to 18 September 2025 to gather views of stakeholders about the Directive. This will be used to inform the overarching evaluation, which is due by 2026 and will cover all Member states and the full scope of the Directive.

The EESC methodology follows the EC's Better Regulation guidelines, structuring the evaluation reports around the following evaluation criteria: effectiveness, relevance and added value of civil society involvement.

• Effectiveness: considers how successful EU action has been in achieving (or progressing towards) its objectives.
• Relevance: looks at the relationship between the needs and problems in society and the objectives of the intervention; relevance analysis requires a consideration of how the objectives of an EU intervention correspond to wider EU policy goals and priorities.
• Added value of civil society involvement: assesses the level of involvement of civil society in the design, monitoring, implementation and evaluation of the EU legislation in question.

In practice, the EESC Evaluation Reports provide organised civil society's input to an ongoing evaluation of the European Commission.