The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law

Danish Whistleblower Protection Law overview

The Danish Whistleblower  Protection Law (Lov om beskyttelse af whistleblowere)  was published in the country  on 24 June 2021. 

Like all other members of the European Union, Denmark is required to transpose the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into national law. In fact it was the first country to do so, obliging all employers, both private and public, with 50 employees or more to set up an internal whistleblower process through which employees can raise concerns. 

Denmark is the only member state that maintains a legal position towards group level reporting channels. The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law allows groups of companies to maintain one reporting channel, albeit with the Minister of Justice having the power to nullify this provision. This differs from the views of the European Commission where according to the explanatory letters of the EC, each legal entity in scope of the directive must maintain its own reporting channel.

What are the details of the Danish Whistleblower Protection Law?

The Danish Whistleblower Protection Law adopts the minimum requirements of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive including: 

1. A secure channel for receiving whistleblower reports must be put in place 
2. Acknowledgment of receipt of the report must be provided to the whistleblower within seven days 
3. An impartial person or department must be appointed to follow-up on the reports 
4. Records must be kept of every report received, in compliance with confidentiality requirements 
5. There must be diligent follow-up of the report by the designated person or department 
6. Feedback about the follow-up/investigation must be provided to the whistleblower within three months of the report being received 
7. All processing of personal data must be done in accordance with the GDPR regulation

How else does the Danish law differ?

The Danish Whistleblower Protection law extends the scope of the EU directive in that whistleblowers can also report on breaches of Danish national law (not simply EU law) and infringements of a serious nature. 

Further, protection will also be granted for those reporting sexual harassment or other serious person-related conflicts in the workplace. 

Another difference under the Danish law is that organisations are only required to make their whistleblower channels available to employees. If they so wish, they can also make them available to other external parties that have a workrelated connection, such as partners, but they are not obligated to do so.

Considerations for compliance with the Danish Whistleblower Protection Law

The first deadline for compliance with the Danish Whistleblower Protection law has already passed for larger companies. 

The law required private sector employers with 250 employees or more, as well as public sector employers, to implement a whistleblowing channel by no later than 17 December 2021. Companies with between 50 and 249 employees have until 17 December 2023. 

Size matters in other ways under the Danish law, which allows companies with 250 employees or more operating under a parent company to establish a shared whistleblowing system. This differs from the EU directive which only permits private companies with 50-249 employees to have shared channels. However, it should be noted that it is recognised that this may not be in accordance with the EU directive, and statutory authority has been incorporated into the Danish Whistleblower Protection law for the Danish Minister for Justice to suspend the provision if it becomes evident that the provision is contrary to the EU directive. 

All employers that are subject to the law, including those that already have whistleblowing channels in place, should be reviewing internal policies, guidelines and procedures as well as information provided to employees to ensure compliance with the law. 

Those that don’t already have a channel in place should avoid waiting until the 2023 deadline. It’s worth considering if implementing a legally compliant digital solution is more appropriate than attempting to build your own whistleblowing process, and if handling the reports and investigations internally or outsourcing this activity to a specialist firm is preferable.