Whistleblower schemes in the Nordic region

Focus

A new Act on the protection of whistleblowers has been passed in Denmark, and Sweden has proposed a draft bill with similar changes. In Denmark, the new Act will enter into force latest 17 December 2021, and the same is expected for Sweden, in line with the implementation deadline in the EU directive.

The changes will have huge importance for companies with 50 employees or more, as the new rules include an obligation to establish a whistleblower scheme. In the document, we will go through the most important parts of the new requirements in both Denmark and Sweden and discuss what the new rules mean in practice.

Among other things, we will discuss:

• Who must establish whistleblower schemes?
• Who can report?
• What can be reported?
• How will a whistleblower be protected?
• In practice, how should a whistleblower scheme be implemented?
• What requirements must a whistleblower scheme satisfy?
• GDPR and other considerations
• Sanctions in case of non-compliance

This document will give you an overview of the new rules on whistleblower schemes in the Nordic. Your company can therefore afterwards already start getting ready to tackle the new rules.