Estonia
Art. 2 (2) - Extension of material scope beyond EU law
The material scope of the Directive has not been extended.
Art. 4 (1) - Extension of personal scope (protected person)
Yes, the personal scope has been extended to include people receiving an athlete grant.
Art. 6 (2) - Acceptance of anonymous reports
There is no regulation regarding anonymous reports in the Estonian TÕRTKS. Legal entities have the discretion to decide whether or not to accept anonymous reports.
Art. 7 (2) - Encouraging internal reporting
There are no incenctives or mechanisms encouraging internal reporting over external reporting.
Art. 8 (7) - Obligation for legal entities in the private sector with less than 50 workers
There are no obligations for legal entities with fewer than 50 workers, except for entities subject of state financial supervision as required by Article 8(4) of the Directive.
Art. 8 (9) second subparagraph - Exemption for municipalities with fewer than 10.000 inhabitants / fewer than 50 workers / other entities with fewer than 50 workers
Yes, a municipal authority and an agency administered by the municipal authority is exempt from the obligation of creating an internal reporting channel if it has both less than 50 civil servants and less than 10 000 inhabitants.
Art. 8 (9) Third subparagraph - Shared internal reporting channels for municipalities
Yes, shared internal reporting channels for municipal authorities are allowed. There are currently no publicly available shared internal reporting channels.
Art. 11 (1) - Authorities competent to receive external reports
Section 6(1) of the Estonian TÕRKTS states that a competent authority means a state authority and a municipal authority that has been granted competence by law for exercising regulatory enforcement or administrative or internal oversight in respect of a breach specified in subsection 1 of § 4 of this Act or for conducting administrative or criminal proceedings concerning an offence in respect thereof. There are at least nine different competent authorities in Estonia. Most of these authorities have not published any information on whistleblowing on their website.
The explanatory note states: “For example environmental violations are handled by the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet, https://www.keskkonnaamet.ee/keskkonnaamet-uudised-kontakt/praktiline-teave/tooalasest-rikkumisest-teavitamine), fire safety violations by the Rescue Board (Päästeamet, https://www.rescue.ee/en), labor violations by the Labour Inspectorate (Tööinspektsioon, https://www.ti.ee/en), procurement-related violations are handled by the Ministry of Finance (Rahandusministeerium, https://www.fin.ee/en), and product safety violations are handled by the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (Tarbijakaitse ja Tehnilise Järelevalve Amet. https://ttja.ee/en). These are the authorities that have been given the competence to handle specific violations according to existing legislation.” (i.e. existing legislation prior to the adoption of the Estonian TÕRTKS).
Art. 11 (3) first sentence - Competence of authorities to decide on the minority of external reports
Yes, this competence is included.
Art. 11 (4) first sentence - Competence of authorities to decide on closing procedures regarding repetitive external reports
Yes, this competence is included.
Art. 11 (5) - Competence of authorities to handle particular external reports with priority
Yes, this competence is included.
Art. 20 (2) - Financial assistance and support measures for reporting persons
No, support is not provided.
Art. 21 (1) first sentence - Protection measures against retaliation
Protective measures set out in Article 21(2) and 21(3) are included in Section 17(1) and Section 17(2) of the Estonian TÕRTKS.
Art. 23 (1) - Penalties
All of these offences are punishable by a fine of up to 300 fine units (2400€) for natural persons. As of 01.01.2025 the fine unit is 8 euros, increased from 4 euros. The fine unit amount can be changed by amending the Estonian Penal Code. The 4-euro fine unit was in effect from 2011 to 2024, thus the adjustments have not been regular. Legal entities can be fined up to 100,000 euros.
Art. 23 (2) first sentence - Penalties for false reporting
This offence is punisble by a fine of up to 300 fine units (2400 euros).
Art. 25 (1) - Further national rights of reporting persons
There are no further rights that go beyond the standard of the Directive.
Final remarks:
There are not additional provisions in the Estonian Law that significantly go beyond the scope of the Directive.