The new Dutch House for Whistleblowers act

On July 1, 2016, the Act House for whistleblowers came into force. The Act ensures that internal disclosure procedures must be established in companies with 50 or more employees.

The Act provides for several requirements the internal whistleblowing regulations have to comply with. For example, it has to set out what can be disclosed under the internal procedure, how and where.

The internal regulations should also mention that the employee can ask the company to handle the disclosure confidentially. Furthermore, the employee should be allowed to consult a legal advisor in confidence.

The company should provide the employees with a hard or soft copy of the internal policy. When providing the policy, the company also has to provide additional information. It regards information on when an external disclosure is allowed and on the protection from retaliation relating to the disclosure.

I advise to also include this information in the policy itself.

Finally, it is important to mention that the works council has a right of prior approval in respect of the internal whistleblower policy. Therefore a policy needs to be implemented or an existing one needs to be amended in order to comply with the new law.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me, should you want to know more about this subject.