Recital 108
Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law · UE 2019/1937
| (108) | Since the objective of this Directive, namely to strengthen enforcement in certain policy areas and as regards acts where breaches of Union law can cause serious harm to the public interest, through effective whistleblower protection, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States acting alone or in an uncoordinated manner, but can rather be better achieved at Union level by laying down common minimum standards for whistleblower protection, and given that only Union action can provide coherence and align the existing Union rules on whistleblower protection, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective. |
In Luxembourg, the law of 16 May 2023 on whistleblower protection goes beyond the directive's floor: it applies without threshold to public sector entities, covers all areas of national and EU law (not only the matters listed in Article 2 of the directive) and creates the Office des rapports de signalement (OFRS), a single cross-sector external authority. Criminal sanctions range from EUR 1,250 to 25,000, doubled in case of recidivism.
Luxgap practice: a group scheme calibrated on the European floor alone is non-compliant in Luxembourg. Map the broader material scope (labour, tax, national environmental law) and integrate the OFRS as the default external authority in your procedure.
