The purpose of the EU Whistleblowing Directive is to enhance the enforcement of EU law and policies in specific areas by establishing common minimum standards providing for a high level of protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law by the organisation for which they work. The scope of the Directive involves various areas, including the protection of privacy, personal data and the security of network and informations systems. The Directive requires organisations to establish dedicated internal reporting channels through which breaches can be reported involving also the transfer of personal data. Although the Directive should be implemented in national law not later than 17 December 2021, it’s highly unlikely that this will be achieved in The Netherlands. During this Square Table Geert Vermeulen will explain the scope of the Directive, the required  organisational and technical measures to be taken by organisations including the required follow up on reports, the interaction with the already existing Dutch regulatory framework concerning whistleblowing, and the possible consequences of the failure to timely implement  the Directive by The Netherlands. Across all issues, the interaction with the GDPR will be adressed.

Speaker: Geert Vermeulen

The mission of Geert Vermeulen is to help organizations conduct business in an ethical and compliant way. Geert is specialized in establishing and improving ethics and compliance programs in general and anti-corruption and whistleblowing programs in specific. In 2016 he founded ECMC. ECMC provides compliance training, consulting services and interim ethics & compliance management. Previously Geert has been the Chief Compliance Officer of two multinational companies. His first compliance project 20 years ago was implementing the predecessor of the GDPR and shortly after that implementing Sarbanes Oxley.

Geert regularly speaks and writes on ethics and compliance. He has been the President of the Dutch Compliance Officers Association, where he founded the expert group on Financial Economic Crime. He is a member of the expert group on Culture and Behavior of the association and a member of the Professional Advisory Committee of the Law Compliance Minor at The Hague University. When he was granted the National Compliance Award in 2020, he was labelled ‘the compliance guru’; the jury called him a figurehead and role model for the compliance community.

In 2020 Geert launched his new company called ‘The Integrity Coordinator’ (www.theintegritycoordinator.com). This company is an independent, external coordinator of whistleblowing or speak up procedures.

CPE Points

1 point