Bitkom on planned protection for whistleblowers
- Regulations must be in line with data protection requirements and must not lead to new legal uncertainty
The Federal Cabinet today discussed the German implementation of the EU directive that is intended to provide more protection for whistleblowers in companies. Dr Bernhard Rohleder, CEO of Bitkom, explains:
"Germany must do more to protect whistleblowers. For example, anyone who provides information about serious abuses or misconduct in companies, such as corruption or breaches of security regulations, must be better protected in the future.
It is time for the German government to implement the EU requirements. However, the current time pressure must not be allowed to cause these important regulations to lead to new legal uncertainties because details and existing regulations are not sufficiently taken into account. This applies in particular to data protection. It is imperative, for example, that all specifications for data processing, data storage and data deletion are formulated in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And to reduce the implementation effort, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, the required data protection impact assessment should already be carried out during the legislative process, as has already been successfully achieved in the past with the Patient Data Protection Act."
