Whistleblowing

Under the WBP Act, a whistleblowing procedure must be implemented by:

• any company falling within the scope of EU acts referred to in Part I.B and Part II of the Annex to the Directive, regardless of the number of employees employed by the  company; and
• any company employing 50 or more employees.

Under unofficial interpretations by the officials of the Croatian Ministry of Justice and Public Administration (the Ministry), where applicable, the headcount threshold should take into account only persons employed with the company (ie, persons engaged by the company based on an employment contract) and ordinarily working for the company anywhere in the world (ie, it does not include persons engaged otherwise, such as temporary agency workers or persons engaged by the company’s group company).

To implement the whistleblowing procedure, the company must adopt a whistleblowing policy establishing procedural rules and appoint a person competent for receiving and following up on whistleblowing reports, communicating with the whistleblowers and conducting the protection procedure in connection with the whistleblowing report (WBP officer) and their deputy.

In principle, companies that regularly employ 50 or more employees are obliged to set up an internal reporting system (section 12 (1), (2) HinSchG). For companies with between 50 and 249 employees, this obligation will only apply from 17 December 2023 (section 42 HinSchG).

For certain employers, particularly in the financial and insurance sectors or for data provision companies, the obligation to set up an internal reporting office applies irrespective of the number of employees as of the entry into force of the Act (section 12 (3) HinSchG).