After a vote in the Assembly and a final vote in the Senate, Parliament definitively adopted the proposal by MP Sylvain Waserman (MoDem) aimed at better protecting and supporting whistleblowers. The text reinforces the role of counter-power of these people who often pay a high price for their fight: intimidation, dismissal, legal proceedings etc… From the Mediator which shook the pharmaceutical world to the “Luxleaks” in the financial world, many cases have been put public by these whistleblowers, who often describe their commitment as a long ordeal with an uncertain outcome.
A European directive transposed into French law
Worked with the Ministry of Justice, the Council of State and the associations, the bill defines their status more precisely, guides their procedures, strengthens their rights and those of the people or associations that assist them, facilitates their financial and psychological support. , among other things
It transposes into French law a European directive of 2019, going beyond what is required by European law, and corrects the imperfections of the pioneering law, known as “Sapin II”, of 2016, little used to date. “This law deals with each stage in the life of whistleblowers. Their protection becomes a pillar of our democracies, alongside freedom of the press”, argues Sylvain Waserman. According to him, it constitutes “the best text in Europe” in this domain.
The new law provides for certain exceptionssuch as facts and information covered by national defense secrecy, that of judicial deliberations or medical secrecy.
“Facilitators” to help whistleblowers
The whistleblower can now, if he wishes, go directly through an external channel to launch the alert such as the Defender of Rights, the justice system, an administrative authority or an authorized legal person… “We obtained that the whistleblower no longer has to go through his hierarchy to launch the alert, which was nonsense”, welcomed Glen Millot, general delegate of the association La Maison des Lanceurs d’Alerte. The Defender of Rights will have a deputy specially responsible for assisting whistleblowers. Justice will also have additional tools to facilitate the defense of their rights.
The “facilitators”, who accompany the whistleblower, will also be better recognized and protected.
Avoid abusive alerts
The law also seeks to avoid the pitfall of abusive whistleblowing procedures, motivated solely by personal interest or based on illegal practices. For example, illustrious Sylvain Waserman, “No one has the right to put microphones in the office of his boss to know if there is something to find and to launch an alert”. “On the other hand, if you are shown a report proving that a factory is dumping mercury into a river, you have the right to steal it to prove the facts of which you have lawful knowledge”, he adds. Contrary to the wishes of the deputies of La France Insoumise (LFI), who notably pleaded the case of the founder of Wikileaks, the Australian Julian Assange threatened with being extradited from Great Britain to the United States, the text did not not been extended to foreign whistleblowers.