Activities of Benedek JÁVOR related to 2016/2224(INI)
Shadow opinions (2)
OPINION on legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies
OPINION on legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies
Amendments (28)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas whistle-blowers play an important and sometimes even crucial role in reporting irregularities, illegalities, fraud, corruption and other wrongdoing or breaches of the rule of law at European and national level both in the public and the private sectors;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the courage of those who, notwithstanding their personal and professional risks,whistleblowers do a service to the society by reporting or discloseing information inon wrongdoing in defence of the public interest is such, and therefore that the public authorities owes them adequate legal safeguards and protection;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph –1 (new)
Paragraph –1 (new)
-1. Believes that the lack of adequate whistleblower protection has a negative impact on the protection of the EU's financial interest;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Calls on the Commission to take all necessary steps to implement the resolution on the role of whistle-blowers in the protection of EU’s financial interests and, in particular, to submit legislative proposals aimed at establishing a minimum level of protection for European whistle- blowers with a horizontal approach and an effective and comprehensive European whistle-blower protection programme;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Notes that only a few Member States have introduced sufficiently advanced whistleblower protection systems, notwithstanding the essential need of whistleblower protection in the prevention of, and fight against, corruption, and despite the fact that whistleblower protection is recommended in Article 33 of the UN Convention against Corruption;calls on those Member States which have not yet adopted the principles to protect whistle- blowers in their domestic law, to do so as soon as possible;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that, although the focus of the resolution adopted by Parliament is on whistle-blowers in the context of the financial interests of the EU, many of the proposed measures canshould also apply to whistle-blowers in a broader sense, including, but not limited to, environmental protection, workers' rights, consumer protection;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that the lack of adequate whistleblower protection may havehas a negative impact on the development and implementation of EU policy on environmental protection, public health and food safety;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is convinced that whistleblowers play a keyn indispensable role in reducing risks to public health, the environment and food safety, and thatreas in which certain risks are hard to control externally, and that increased whistleblower protection will further encourage the disclosure of dangers to public health and the environment and improve food safetypublic interest disclosures related to these areas;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5a (new)
Paragraph 5a (new)
5 a. Regrets that not all of the EU's agencies have implement internal rules to protect whistle-blowers and calls on those agencies to implement the internal rules in accordance with Articles 22a, 22b and 22c of the Staff Regulations;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Expresses the view that the adoption of sector- specific legislation, such as in the field of the protection of the financial interests of the EU, cshould be fast- tracked and should not have to wait for the adoption of more generpreceded by adoption of general provisions with uniform minimum standard of legal protection, in order to efficiently protect the whistle- blowers who act in various issues under various jurisdictions within the EU or in various sectors of the common market; therefore calls on the Commission to submit a proposal of horizontal legislation on the protection of whistle-blowers. without any further delay;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls recent high-impact cases such as Dieselgate, Nestle and the horsemeat scandals in which environmental, public health or food safety risks have been uncovered where disclosures from whistleblowers were instrumental in the detection of the risk, or where stronger protections of whistleblowers might have led to earlier risk detection and more limited damage;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses that key advances in public health, notably in tobacco control, can ultimately be traced back to the release of internal documents by whistleblowers;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Draws attention to the fact that environmental, public health and food safety risks rarely stop at borders, meaning that weak or non-existent whistleblower protection in one Member State, which may prevent the timely detection of such risks, puts the health and safety of all EU citizens, as well as their ability to protect the environment, in jeopardy;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Points out that wildlife trafficking has become one of the world's most profitable forms of organised crime and notes the key role played by whistleblowers who report illegal trafficking, logging, fishing and other crimes against wildlife;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Stresses that evidence of violations of EU animal protection and food safety laws on farms and abattoirs relies almost exclusively on whistleblowers as these locations are not accessible to the general public and official controls are usually announced in advance;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 f (new)
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2f. Recognises that fishing boats are extremely isolated when in operation at sea and that strong protection of whistleblowers is essential to enable them to provide evidence of illegal fishing and other violations of EU law;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 g (new)
Paragraph 2 g (new)
2g. Deplores the fact that regulators, including those monitoring the food chain, are under resourced and thus dependent on whistleblowers for information, and that therefore both increased funding for regulators and effective protection for whistleblowers are essential;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Expresses its concern at retaliation against whistle-blowers in their personal and professional lives, and at the possibility of initiating criminal and civil judicial proceedings against whistle- blowers; considers that people who want to reveal irregularities, mismanagement, misuse of funds, maladministration or potential corruption related to the activity of public and private bodies within the Union are not truly protected and do not feel protected; this is why many of them use other means to reveal the wrongdoing or even refrain from acting; therefore, calls for the creation of a clear horizontal legal framework that includes definitions, protection against different forms of reprisals, and exemptions from criminal and civil proceedings, according to criteria to be established; strongly believes that this will increase the citizens´ trust in their European and national bodies;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that proper legislation in this area will also help to rebuild trust in scientific expertiseswift and robust EU legislation to protect whistleblowers will also help to rebuild trust in democratic institutions, to facilitate scientific expertise and debate and to demonstrate the added value of EU action for citizens;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the creation of legal and secure disclosure channels at national and European level to facilitate reporting to the competent authorities of information on threats to the public interest; underlines the importance of confidentiality in all whistle-blowing related files and recalls that basic rules for the protection of anonymous whistle-blowers should be put in place, in cases where such protection is required;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that some provisions to protect whistleblowers in EU law are already in existence, but that these provisions are often limited in scope or scattered across different laws, leaving loopholes and gaps;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to put forward a proposal for a whistleblower protection directive or any other EU instrument to the same effecthorizontal directive that puts in place robust common minimum standards in the EU for whistleblower protection and which builds on the Treaty provisions regarding environmental protection, public health and consumer protection;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls for the establishment of an independent advisory and referral Unit within the European Ombudsman in a position to receive reports, complaints, gather information and adequately advise on the protection of whistle-blowers;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that disclosures on environmental crimes, and other threats to the public interest which may result in health and food rissuesks, including in relation to emerging technologies for which the long-term environmental and health effects are still unknown, should fall within the scope of any EU instrument protecting whistleblowers;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the fact that EU whistleblower protection legislation must be comprehensive and, wide in scope, fast- acting and must protect the whistleblower and his or her colleagues and relatives from any kind of retaliatory action and from civil, criminal or administrative procedures arising from the procedure;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Highlights the need for legal certainty regarding the protective provisions afforded to whistleblowers, as a continued lack of clarity and a fragmented approach deters potential whistleblowers from coming forward, and is detrimental to their employers, especially in the case of businesses that operate in multiple jurisdictions or sectors;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Emphasises that protection is needed not just for internal disclosures made through designated channels within the workplace or disclosures to public authorities or oversight bodies, but - taking into account the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights - also external disclosures made to the general public, via the media or otherwise;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that EU legislation should establish a clear procedure for handling disclosures from start to finish to ensure proper follow-through on the actions taken by whistleblowers, from report submission and processing to ensuring effective whistleblower protection.