EU Whistleblower and Secure Cryptography

The EU Whistleblower Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937) requires private-sector legal entities with 50 or more employees to establish secure internal reporting channels. The technical implementation must provide secure reporting channels and protect the confidentiality of the reporter's identity; the directive does not require guaranteed anonymity through encryption.

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Core concept

Protection from retaliation for individuals reporting breaches of Union law. The confidentiality of identity is paramount and must be ensured through technical and organisational measures (TOMs). Whether anonymous reports must be accepted and followed up is left to the Member States. The directive is EU law; purely Swiss organisations fall within its scope only through EU subsidiaries or an EU nexus.

Relevance

• Zero-Knowledge Architecture: Implementation of reporting systems in which not even the provider has access to the identity of the reporter.
• End-to-End Encryption: Use of standards such as PGP or AES-256 to secure communications.
• Audit Trail: Documentation of processing steps without compromising anonymity.

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Related topics

• Technology: Security Strategy, the security frame for EU Whistleblower and Secure Cryptography.
• Standards, the standards section that frames EU Whistleblower and Secure Cryptography.