Whistleblowing in the light of the new principles of the whistleblower directive and in the experiences of corporative governance of Polish energy partnerships

Abstract

In this paper (occurrence), will be discussed the principles of whistleblower protection in the corporate governance systems of Polish energy partnerships, as well will be presented the model principles resulting from the so-called whistleblower directive. In specific, attention will be concentrated, to the fact major change, witch was made by the amendment to the Act on public offering entered into force of November 30, 2019. It contained a provision (Article 97 d) imposing on issuers of financial instruments the obligation to ensure easy, unrestricted and stress-free reporting of violations of law, procedures, as well as ethical principles to the management board or the supervisory board. In addition, a new EU regulation is imposed on national polish legislation - Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019 - on the protection of persons reporting violations of EU law (EU Journal of Laws of 2019 L 305/17 from 26.11.2019) - so-called whistleblower directive. In according new regulation, Polish energy partnerships will also be obliged to adapt their procedures, special regarding public procurement (Article 2 (1) (a) (i) of the Directive with Annex Part I A.) to the new rules, because the scope of application in the area of public procurement has been covered to (among others) Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of contracts by entities operating in the sectors of water management, energy, transport and postal services, repealing Directive 2004/17 / EC (Official Journal of the EU of 2014 L 94/243 from 28.3.2014). The transposition date imposed on Member States is 17 December 2021. The author draws attention to the need to implement solutions that actively involve supervisory boards in the process of evaluating reports submitted by whistleblowers.