Our webinar on "The EU Whistleblowing Directive: Impact on Belgian companies & Tips" took place on Thursday, 29 April 2021.
The topic of whistleblowing has recently been receiving a lot of attention from regulators and legislators across EU Member States. This is largely due to the EU Whistleblowing Directive, which entered into force on 16th December 2019 and obliges organizations with at least 50 employees to implement formal whistleblower protection and reporting mechanisms.
During the Whistleblowing webinar, KPMG Law & KPMG Forensic joined forces with EQS Group to provide insights into the key legislative implications of the Directive, as well as the value of whistleblowing in the wider context of Fraud Detection and Prevention.
To kick off, we shared the results of the 2020 KPMG Whistleblowing Survey which sheds light on the current maturity of European businesses in terms of whistleblower protection and reporting. The results revealed, amongst other insights, that almost 80% of organisations are not currently complying with the minimum standards of the EU Directive and still need to take additional measures.
Furthermore, KPMG Law provided a concise overview of key elements included in the legal framework, such as: general purpose and material scope of the EU Whistleblowing Directive, requirements regarding reporting channels (internal, external and public reporting) and follow-up thereof, relevant protection measures related to the prohibition of retaliation and other measures of support.
Additionally, we highlighted that the value of whistleblowing exceeds far beyond regulatory compliance as it is the number one fraud detection method and even contributes to the prevention of fraud and non-compliance, if and when embedded in the organisation’s wider governance structures and culture. In this regard, we also gave an overview of potential risks and pitfalls related to whistleblower protection and reporting and demonstrated an integrated framework to successfully set up a whistleblowing system.
To close off, EQS Group showcased a short demo of the EQS Integrity Line, a secure and anonymous whistleblowing platform.
If you missed the webinar or would like to revisit it, we invite you to watch the recording. If you have any further questions or comments, do not hesitate to reach out to the relevant expert listed below.
