Companies who have at least 50 employees in France must now implement a whistleblowing hotline.
The statute of 9 December 2016 and the decree of 19 April 2017 have extended the protection bestowed upon whistleblowers to encase many new possibilities, namely:
Crimes or offences;
- Any serious and obvious breach of the law or regulations.
- The protection used to be limited to financial and anti-corruption issues.
The law and decree are applicable starting on 1st January 2018.
The whistleblower must be able to inform someone that he suspects wrongdoing. The recipient of the warning can be the employer, or a designated contact. The procedure must guarantee the strict confidentiality of the whistleblower. The whistleblower can remain anonymous under certain conditions. The identity of the person accused of breaking the law can only be disclosed if the allegations are established.
In any case, since the information conveyed by the whistleblower is very sensitive (as it pertains to possible infringements of the law), the procedure must comply with a certain number of prerequisites set out by the National Commission for Data Protection (“CNIL”), and must be authorized by the CNIL. The CNIL updated its Unique Authorization n°AU-004 to take into account the new provisions in a Deliberation dated 22 June 2017.
For more information contact MGG Legal
