EU Whistleblowing Directive – Romania

Whistleblowers protection already in place

Romania had a specific whistleblowing protection law in place since 2004, shortly referred to as “Romanian Whistleblower’s Law”. With this law, Romania was one of the first contry in the continental legislative system to have a comprehensive whistleblowers protection act.

However, only whistleblowers of the public sector were protectected under this legislation. 

Current implementation status

Submitted on February 3rd, 2022, the Law will enter into force on March 31st, 2022.

New requirements 

Scope of Reporting 

The protection is extended to whistleblowers of the private sector, for all Organizations with more than 50 employees.

Whistleblowers are protected for the reporting of any breaches of law, beyond those mentioned in the Directive (limited to breaches of EU law in specific areas).

Protection of Identity

Romania made the choice of confidentiality over anonymity. Whistleblowers must identify themselves when submitting a report.

Anonymous reports will be dismissed but the whistleblower is still protected against retaliation if identified post-reporting.

The person handling reports cannot disclose the identity of the whistleblower, or any personal data present in the report.
The identity of a whistleblower can only be revealed:

• if they expressly consented to
• if there is an obligation imposed by law
• if intentionally revealed by the whistleblower in a context of public disclosure

Reporting Channels

As mentioned by the Directive, whistleblowers now have a choice to make their reports through an internal or external reporting channel.

The non-anonymous reporting policy will most likely increase the use of external reporting channels.
The new challenge for Organizations will be to implement attractive and effective internal reporting channels, in order to avoid external reporting.

Next steps

Make sure you’re compliant with the new requirements with our Local Compliance Check-list.
Evaluate your reporting system in place and highlight areas of improvement with our self-assessment template.