A draft law amending and supplementing the Whistleblowers Protection Act (“WPA”) has been published on the Public Consultation Portal of the Council of Ministers. The proposed draft aims at fully transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 in view of the inconsistencies identified by the European Commission (“EC”) in the current wording of the WPA.

The scope of whistleblowers who shall enjoy protection under the WPA is to be expanded. Under pre-contractual relations, it is envisaged that persons who are about to enter into a contract for the provision of services will be protected if they report or make public information about a breach.

Probably the most significant practical change concerns the abolition of the temporal criterion for initiating proceedings under the WPA. According to the current wording of the law, no proceedings shall be initiated in respect of signals about violations committed more than two years ago. In view of the EC’s criticism that Directive (EU) 2019/1937 does not provide for a time limit as a condition for taking follow-up action on reports, it is proposed to remove this limitation. If the amendment enters into force, whistleblowers will be able to report breaches committed more than 2 years ago.

The draft also provides for certain edits to the texts related to the sharing of internal reporting channels between obliged companies, as well as for the possibility of recording an oral report on a durable medium. It remains to be seen what the final wording of the provisions in question will be.