Five Member States are ordered to pay financial penalties for failing to transpose the Whistleblowers directive (ECJ)

In its Judgments in Cases C-149/23 (Commission v Germany), C-150/23 (Commission v Luxembourg), C-152/23 (Commission v Czech Republic), C-154/23 (Commission v Estonia) and C-155/23 (Commission v Hungary), the Court of Justice ruled that five Member States are ordered to pay financial penalties for failing to transpose the Whistleblowers directive.

They must pay a lump sum to the Commission; Estonia, if it has still not transposed the directive, must also pay a daily penalty payment.

In several separate actions, [1] the Commission has requested the Court of Justice to declare that, by failing to adopt the provisions necessary to comply with the Whistleblowers directive [2] and, in any event, by failing to communicate those provisions to the Commission, Germany, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary have failed to fulfil their obligations [3] under that directive. It has also called for financial penalties to be imposed on all those Member States in the form of lump sums.

Read as well: Obligation of a creditor to check a consumer’s creditworthiness - Credit agreement void and creditor’s entitlement to payment of the agreed interest forfeited : A significant decision was issued by the CJEU interpreting Articles 8 and 23 of Directive 2008/48/EC on consumer credit agreements and repealing Council Directive 87/102/EEC as regards the obligation of credit institutions to assess the creditworthiness of consumers before concluding the credit agreement. Read the Article here

As regards Estonia, if its failure to fulfil obligations, which persisted on the date on which the action against that Member State was brought before the Court, were still to continue at the time of delivery of the judgment, the Commission has requested the Court to impose a penalty payment on it.

Emphasising the importance of the transposition of that directive in view of the high level of protection it affords to whistleblowers who report a breach of EU law, the Court upholds the Commission’s actions, rejecting the arguments put forward by the Member States concerned, and imposes on them the financial penalties set out below:

Germany € 34 000 000 (lump sum)

Luxembourg € 375 000 (lump sum)

Czech Republic € 2 300 000 (lump sum)

Estonia € 500 000 (lump sum) and a daily penalty payment in the amount of € 1 500 [4]

Hungary € 1 750 000 (lump sum)

(curia.europa.eu/photo: freepik.com)

_______________

1 The Commission brought actions against six Member States in total, with the judgment against Poland being delivered on 25 April 2024 (judgment of the Court in Commission v Poland (Whistleblowers directive), C-147/23). 

2 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 (Whistleblowers directive). 

3 In accordance with Article 26 of that directive, Member States were obliged to adopt the provisions necessary for its application by 17 December 2021 at the latest. 

4 Should the failure to fulfil obligations persist at the date of delivery of the judgment, as from that date and until that Member State has put an end to the failure.

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