Poland – HR defenders, whistleblowers 2nd NAP

4. Ministry of Family and Social Policy

Protection of whistleblowers. Implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law

[page 22] “Pursuant to Order No 229 of the Prime Minister of 1 December 2020, (Official Journal of the Republic of Poland ‘Monitor Polski’, item 1112), the Minister responsible for labour has been appointed to carry out legislative work at the governmental stage to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. The following measures are planned: …  3) The need to change the status and definition of a whistleblower, mirroring the solutions adopted in the European legislations. The status of a whistleblower should be granted by virtue of the law itself, eliminating the need for the prosecutor to grant the status of a whistleblower (resulting in the creation of a quasi-witness institution in the proceedings). The primary function of a whistleblower should consist in acting in the public interest by disclosing – in good faith – all irregularities and threats in the workplace (not only corruption-related), while enjoying statutory legal protection for such activity.”

14. Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

‘Whistleblowers’ programme

[page 41] “The WhistleB platform guarantees Whistleblowers the highest level of protection and anonymity. If the notifiers themselves do not provide their data – it is impossible to identify them. Moreover, it should be pointed out that personal data provided by Whistleblowers are not made available to external entities. The connection between the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the application and the Whistleblower is encrypted and password-protected. Metadata are automatically removed from the files attached. Therefore, the IP of the notifier’s computer cannot be determined. The provider of the above-mentioned tool does not have access to the content placed on the platform. Access to information is two-step, and only a designated group of persons employed in the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection have access password.”