Final Update On The German Whistleblower Protection Act

It's hard to believe but on 12 May 2023, the Federal Council approved the amended German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG). All's well that ends well? Not really – with a delay of 18 months, the HinSchG will probably come into force in mid-June 2023 but ambiguities remain.

At the beginning of June 2022, we reported on the delayed activities of the German government to transpose the EU Directive 2019/1937 into national law (read the article here). In our second update, we briefly reported on the revised draft law from Berlin. Now, under considerable pressure from Brussels – the EU Commission had initiated penalty-based infringement proceedings against Germany. A final version of the HinSchG has been waved through via a mediation committee in Berlin. The new law will come into force one month after its promulgation, probably in mid-June 2023.