On 17 September 2025, ETAF responded to the public consultation of the European Commission on its future evaluation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (the “Whistleblower Protection Directive”), scheduled for the end of 2026.
While acknowledging the Directive’s positive role in strengthening ethical behaviour in commercial transactions, ETAF highlighted a key implementation issue that should be addressed in the evaluation: the inconsistent translation and application of the legal term “legal professional privilege” across Member States. These divergences currently create legal uncertainty and unequal treatment of different legal professions within the EU.
ETAF therefore called for a uniform and coherent approach, suggesting that the term “legal professional privilege” could be replaced with “duty of confidentiality of the legal professions” to ensure consistency.
In addition, ETAF urged the Commission to reduce bureaucracy by raising the threshold for mandatory internal reporting channels from 50 to at least 100 employees, thereby alleviating the disproportionate administrative burden on medium-sized firms.
