Companies operating in Germany should implement reporting mechanisms or adapt their existing ones to comply with the new legal requirements.

The German Whistleblower Protection Act (Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz — HinSchG) will enter into force on 2 July 2023. The HinSchG is the (albeit late) German implementation of the EU Whistleblower Directive, which entered into force on 16 December 2019 and aims to establish uniform protection standards for whistleblowers throughout the EU. The transposition period for the directive ended on 17 December 2021.