Janine ZwierschowskiDer Schutz des Whistleblowers vor strafrechtlichen Sanktionen
Ansätze zur Verbesserung des Hinweisgeberschutzes auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene
Strafrecht in Forschung und Praxis, volume 424
Hamburg 2024, 436 pages
ISBN 978-3-339-13982-5 (print)
ISBN 978-3-339-13983-2 (eBook)
Rezension
[…] Allerdings zeigt sie auch Schwächen des deutschen Whistleblowerschutzes auf und unterbreitet Verbesserungsvorschläge. Besonders problematisch seien die fehlende Klarheit in der Anwendung der Verhältnismäßigkeitsprüfung und die unbestimmten Rechtsbegriffe wie "wirtschaftlicher Wert" und "berechtigtes Interesse". Die Autorin plädiert dafür, den Whistleblowerschutz durch weitergehende Maßnahmen zu verbessern, insbesondere in Bezug auf den Schutz vor strafrechtlichen Sanktionen, die nicht nur die Aufdeckung, sondern auch die Beschaffung von Informationen betreffen.
About this book deutschenglish
This book identifies the existing criminal law risks for whistleblowers and examines the suitability of existing approaches at both European and national level to protect whistleblowers from criminal sanctions. Special consideration is given to the tension between the confidentiality interests of companies and the rights of whistleblowers as well as the interest of criminal prosecution.
First, the requirements for protection against criminal sanctions arising from constitutional law and EU law are examined. To this end, both Directive (EU) 2016/943 on the protection of trade secrets and Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers are taken into account and contradictions between these two directives are identified. At the national level, the effects of the GeschGehG, which came into force in 2019 (in particular the privileged status of Section 5 GeschGehG), and the HinSchG, which only came into force in 2023, on the protection of whistleblowers from criminal sanctions are then analyzed in more detail. Another focus of the dissertation is a comparison with the French legal situation, the development of which is comprehensively reconstructed from the entry into force of the Sapin II law to the adjustments required in the course of the Whistleblower Directive (in particular by Law No. 2022-401). Differences to the transposition of the Whistleblower Directive into German law are highlighted and a possible adoption of the French approaches for German law is discussed. Subsequently, own approaches for the protection of whistleblowers from criminal sanctions are developed, taking into account a reasonable balance with the interests of confidentiality.