A whistleblower may be a person who has information or reasonable suspicion about an existing or potential violation of law in an organization where the whistleblower works or has worked, or with whom the whistleblower maintains or has maintained contact in a work-related context.

A reporting person may be:

1. an employee, including where the employment relationship has already ended,
2. an applicant for employment who obtained information about a violation of the law during the recruitment process or pre-contract negotiations,
3. a person providing work on a basis other than the employment relationship, including under a civil law contract,
4. entrepreneur,
5. shareholder or partner,
6. member of a body of a legal entity,
7. a person performing work under the supervision and direction of a contractor, subcontractor or supplier, including on the basis of a civil law contract,
8. trainee,
9. volunteer.

A reporting person may be a person who has become aware of a violation of law in a work-related context.

Not every violation of the law is covered by the directive and the law on so-called whistleblowers. You can report irregularities in strictly defined cases, and these are violations concerning:

1. public procurement;
2. financial services, products and markets;
3. prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing;
4. product safety and compliance;
5. transportation safety;
6. environmental protection;
7. radiological protection and nuclear safety;
8. food and feed safety;
9. animal health and welfare;
10. public health;
11. consumer protection;
12. privacy and personal data protection;
13. security of information and communication networks and systems;
14. the financial interests of the EU;
15. the EU's internal market, including competition and state aid rules; and corporate taxation.

Your report should describe the information you have or your reasonable suspicion that a violation of law has occurred or may occur. The report may also relate to an attempt to conceal such a violation.

Retaliation against a reporting person is prohibited. To be protected by the law, the reporting person must have a reasonable basis at the time of the report that the information disclosed about the violation of law is true. A report made in bad faith will not provide protection, and the reporting person may be subject to legal liability for the report made.

The information in the report must be true, or at least you must have reasonable grounds to believe it is true. Making a report that contains false information, using a report to defame another person, violating another person's personal rights, copyright, privacy laws, duty of confidentiality, including trade secrets, if unjustified, may constitute an unlawful act for which you may be held legally responsible, including criminal liability.