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Whistleblowers Centre Act, 2016.

Country/Territory
Netherlands
Document type
Legislation
Date
2016
Source
FAO, FAOLEX
Subject
General
Keyword
Institution Governance Legal proceedings/administrative proceedings Business/industry/corporations Access-to-justice Offences/penalties
Geographical area
Benelux, Europe, Europe and Central Asia, European Union Countries, North Atlantic, North Sea, North-East Atlantic, Western Europe
Abstract

This Act seeks to prevent corruption and other malpractices ('abuse')in private and public organizations in the Netherlands. It requires any employer who usually has at least fifty people in its employment to draw up a procedure for dealing with a report of a suspected abuse within the organisation (whistle blowers regulation). It also establishes the Whistle blowers Centre as an autonomous administrative authority. The Centre has an Advisory Department and an Investigation Department. An employee may: a) report a suspected abuse to the Investigation Department for the purposes of an investigation, or b) request the Investigation Department to institute an investigation into the manner in which the employer has acted in relation to him following a report of a suspected abuse. The Act specifically deals with employers is within the public sector. ‘Suspected abuse’ in this Act means an employee’s suspicion of an abuse in the organisation at which he works or has worked or in another organisation if he has come into contact with that organisation through his work, in so far as: (1) the suspicion is based on reasonable grounds resulting from the knowledge gained by the employee in the service of his employer or from the knowledge obtained by the employee through his work at another business or organisation, and (2) a public interest is at stake since the suspected abuse concerns a breach of statutory regulations, a risk to public health, public safety or the environment, or an improper act or omission that jeopardises the proper functioning of the public service or an undertaking.

Full text
English/Dutch