Ljubljana - Slovenian companies are not sufficiently acquainted with the demands of the new EU directive on legal protection of whistleblowers and are not ready for its implementation, a survey by the company EY Slovenija has shown.

The directive that entered into force last December is to be transposed to Slovenia's legislation with a bill on the protection of whistleblowers that had been in public debate until mid-January.

In line with the directive, larger companies and municipalities will need to introduce mechanisms that allow for reporting on potential abuses in an anonymous way, investigation of allegations and reporting back on the situation and measures taken.

Under the bill on whistleblower protection, companies with 250 employees or more will need to introduce the measures within 60 days while those with 50-250 employees will have until 17 December 2023 to implement them.

A poll conducted in November and December 2021 among 36 respondents from various companies showed that less than half of the companies (42%) with more than 250 employees think they are completely ready for the new rules.

A third said they were partly ready and one in four companies is not ready.

Among the companies with 50-250 staff, 44% said they were completely ready and almost 56% that they are partly ready.

In total, almost 43% of companies are thus ready to protect whistleblowers and 57% are not or are only partly ready.

Almost one in three companies believes their system of reporting of potential internal irregularities is already in line with the demands from the directive. Others will need to make partial or full adjustments and about 5% have not studied the directive yet.