Hungary among eight Member States referred to Court of Justice by EC for failing to protect whistleblowers

The European Commission is taking eight Member States, including Hungary, to the European Court of Justice for failing to correctly integrate the directive on the protection of persons reporting infringements of EU law into their legal systems, according to a Commission communication published on Wednesday.

Other than Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain have also failed to comply. The directive requires member states to ensure effective channels for confidential reporting of infringements of EU rules in both the private and public sectors. The channels should operate in such a way as to provide a robust system of protection against possible retaliation, both inside and outside the organisation, in relation to the competent authority. Each member state was required to develop the necessary framework by 17 December 2021.

In January 2022, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to 24 Member States for failing to fully incorporate the directive and provide information on transposition measures before the deadline. The ECJ sent reasoned opinions to 15 Member States in July 2022 and to four Member States in September 2022 for failing to communicate the measures they had taken to fully transpose the directive.

As 8 Member States did not provide a satisfactory reply to the Commission's reasoned opinion, the Commission decided to institute proceedings against these Member States before the Court of Justice of the European Union.