Report on protection of whistleblowers sent to Dutch House of Representatives
SEO and Leiden University have conducted an implementation assessment of the Whistleblowers Protection Act (Wbk). The Act aims to protect those who report wrongdoings. The report was sent to the Dutch House of Representatives on 3 March.
The Wbk was introduced on 18 February 2023 to protect people who report wrongdoings. SEO and the departments of Company Law and Labour Law and Social Security at Leiden University conducted an implementation assessment for the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. An implementation assessment evaluates the effect of the new legislation one year after its introduction in which the effect of the legislation in practice is studied. The purpose of an implementation assessment is to estimate at an early stage the feasibility, effects and bottlenecks of the legislation.
On 3 March, the report of the implementation assessent was sent to the House of Representatives. See the full report (in Dutch) here. Yvonne Erkens, Zelda Geels and Harold Koster from Leiden University co-authored the report.
The research focused on the following questions:
- What is the effect of the Act on the target group (i.e. whistleblowers, potential whistleblowers, employers and competent authorities) with regard to, among other things, the enforceability and legal protection provided.
- To what extent are there signals that may indicate that the legislation is not working as intended?
- Are there bottlenecks or unintended effects in practice?
The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Judith Uitermark, says that she acknowledges the conclusions of the study and agrees with the finding that the most important protection must be found in the culture of organisations. The minister considers the findings of this report in her policy where she is committed to improving protection for whistleblowers.