Issues of Directive No. 1937/2019 in the Czech Legal System and in the Present Context

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of EC Directive 1937/2019 to promote the protection of EU interests, the so-called Whistleblower Protection Directive. Under this directive anyone who becomes aware of a threat or violation of law, has the possibility to report the conduct. The text of the directive is drafted in such a way that whistleblowers are guaranteed both employment and legal protection, which is actually a highly illusory notion in practice. The article uses the example of the Czech legal system to illustrate a number of legally protected interests, many of which are included in the new Directive, but which have been protected for many years before the Directive was adopted. Using the experience of the Slovak Republic, the article demonstrates the low effectiveness of the new authority, which is supposed to fulfil the purpose of the Directive at least partially in practice. The article also presents at least seven major hypotheses according to which the effective implementation of the new Directive in the practice of the EU Member States is unlikely to succeed, and the only thing that is certain is the expenditure that the Member States will have to incur, through the taxes of their citizens.

Keywords: Whistleblowing, EU protected interests, Practice of the Czech Republic, Experience in the Slovak Republic