Recital 26
Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law · UE 2019/1937
| (26) | This Directive should not affect the protection of confidentiality of communications between lawyers and their clients (‘legal professional privilege’) as provided for under national and, where applicable, Union law, in accordance with the case law of the Court. Moreover, this Directive should not affect the obligation of maintaining the confidential nature of communications of health care providers, including therapists, with their patients and of patient records (‘medical privacy’) as provided for under national and Union law. |
In Luxembourg, the law of 16 May 2023 on the protection of whistleblowers explicitly carves out lawyer-client privilege (article 3) and medical confidentiality, in line with the amended law of 10 August 1991 on the legal profession and the law of 24 July 2014 on patient rights. A report based on items protected by these privileges is inadmissible before the OFRS and exposes the reporter to loss of protection, with criminal sanctions risk (fines from 1,250 to 25,000 EUR) if disclosure is deemed wrongful.
Luxgap practice: lock your internal alert policy with an express exclusion clause for lawyer privilege and medical privacy, and activate an automated filter on the digital channel to prevent any accidental deposit.
