AREA OF APPLICATION
The Whistleblower Act is based on the EU Whistleblower Directive. Its area of application comprehensively covers various sectors in which reporting and revealing misconduct is necessary from the point of view of public interest.
Read more about the matters subject to the Whistleblower Act by clicking the areas of legislation below. Which areas of legislation are the most connected to your work? Pay particular attention to them.
The prerequisite for applying the legislation is that the infringement involves the possibility of one of the following consequences:
- the offense or negligence is punishable, meaning that it may result in a fine, for example
- the offense or negligence may result in an administrative penalty, such as a penalty fee, or
- the offense or negligence may seriously endanger the realisation of the public interest.
However, national state aid and grants, violations of national competition law and violations of tax rules or arrangements made to obtain a tax advantage are included in the area of application of the legislation regardless of the possible consequences of the reported breach. You can read more about the area of application below.
The protection of whistleblowers reporting breaches of legislation on public procurement prevents, among other things, public procurement-related fraud and corruption in the context of the implementation of the EU budget. Acts on public procurement include the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts (1397/2016) and the Act on public contracts and concessions of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (1398/2016).
Example: Your organisation neglects the duty of arranging competitive tendering for a service under the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts. You organisation, for example, concludes a procurement contract on a direct procurement, but there have been no grounds for direct procurement under the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts.
From the point of view of the Whistleblower Act, the regulation on financial markets is a very extensive theme. There are more than 30 national statute-level regulations concerning the financial sector and financial operators in force. The area of application includes the Securities Markets Act (746/2012), the Payment Services Act (290/2010), the Accounting Act (1336/1997) and the Act on Investment Services (747/2012), among others.
Example: Your organisation neglects the duty to report or reports incorrectly on its operations to the authorities. The negligence or errors could concern reporting derivative contracts to the trade repository or reporting on data concerning forbearance receivables, for example.
Reporting breaches of legislation preventing money laundering and terrorist financing promotes the detection and investigation of such activity. In this respect, the area of application of the Whistleblower Act includes the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (444/2017, the Anti-Money Laundering Act), which is also complemented by several separate statutes referred to in section 2 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Example: Your organisation neglects the duty of assessing the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with customer relationships (risk-based assessment).
Legislation imposes requirements for marketed products in order to ensure safety, health, environmental protection and consumer interests. Key statutes in the area of application include the Consumer Safety Act (920/2011), the EU Regulation on Market Surveillance (2019/1020) and the Act on the Market Surveillance of Certain Products (1137/2016).
Example: Your organisation fails to ensure that the gas equipment it manufactures and sells (such as ovens or grills) comply with the relevant health and safety requirements.
Traffic safety refers to protecting the lives, health and property of people using different modes of transport (aviation, maritime transport, rail traffic and road traffic). In addition to traffic safety regulation, the area of application extensively includes other regulation, such as regulation concerning professional qualifications, permit procedures, market entry, fluency of traffic and traffic services, such as the Maritime Act (674/1994), the Rail Transport Act (1302/2018), the Aviation Act (864/2014) and the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (541/2023).
Example: Your organisation that offers transport services does not comply with the regulations for driving times and rest periods.
The acts under the environmental protection theme also extensively include other regulation besides environmental protection regulation. Examples include the Vehicle Act (82/2021), the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (541/2023), the Act on Transport Services (320/2017), the Aviation Act (864/2014) and the Railways Act (110/2017), which extensively regulate issues not relating to environmental protection, such as professional qualifications, market entry, market surveillance and permit procedures.
Example: Your organisation has buried and mixed waste with soil, incinerated waste or otherwise processed waste in violation of legislation.
Improving whistleblower protection in the field of nuclear and radiation safety aims to contribute to preventing breaches of the rules included in the Treaty on the European Atomic Energy Community which concern nuclear safety and radiation protection and the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. At the same time, it reinforces the promotion and enhancement of an effective nuclear safety culture. The area of application includes the Nuclear Energy Act (990/1987) and the Radiation Act (859/2018).
Example: Your organisation neglects provisions concerning nuclear waste management.
The area of legislation applies to statutes in force in the fields of the safety of the food chain and, in particular, foods and feeds, as well as animal health, protection and welfare. The area of legislation includes the Food Act (297/2021), the Feed Act (1263/2020) and the Animal Welfare Act (693/2023).
Example: Your organisation treats animals in a way that causes them unnecessary pain or suffering or efforts are made to force animals to exceed their natural abilities or strength.
Under Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, EU action in the field of public health shall be directed towards improving public health, preventing illness and diseases, combating cross-border threats to health, drugs and cross-border cooperation in health services. The EU’s competence in the field of public health is limited, and it does not concern the organisation of health services, for example. Statutes included in the field of legislation include the Blood Service Act (197/2005), the Medicines Act (395/1987, except for sections 68–73) and the Act on Clinical Trials on Medicinal Products (983/2021).
Example: Your organisation neglects filing a notification concerning medicinal products as referred to in the Medicines Act, its duty to disclose or maintaining a list.
Consumer protection refers to regulation that safeguards the economic and legal position of consumers. The statutes included in the area of application include the Consumer Protection Act (38/1978), the Act on Credit Institutions (610/2014) and the Competition Act (948/2011).
Example: Your organisation markets products or services in a misleading manner or customers (consumers) are pressured to make purchase decisions.
The aim of regulation in this area of legislation is to implement the protection of private life and other fundamental rights protecting privacy. The area of application includes the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679), the Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014) and the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life (759/2004).
Example: Your organisation processes or stores customers’ personal data in breach of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. For example, customers are not told that they have the right to object to the processing of their personal data and the disclosure of their data for direct marketing purposes.