Finland
Art. 2 (2) - Extension of material scope beyond EU law
The scope of the directive has been expanded to also cover the strictly national legislation in the areas covered by it. Thus, the national implementation materially covers all areas enlisted in Art. 2 (1) in full whether they are of EU or national origin. For example, in public procurement, national limits emanating from domestic legislation are also within the scope of protection.
Art. 4 (1) - Extension of personal scope (protected person)
No. National legislation implementing the Directive omits 4(1) d), but according to parliamentary proceedings these persons are covered as they are either workers or self-employed.
Art. 6 (2) - Acceptance of anonymous reports
(a) private sector regarding internal reporting: There is no obligation, but according to section 17 of the national legal act they may do so.
(b) public sector regarding internal reporting: As with private sector internal reporting, section 17 allows for but does not oblige public sector actors to accept anonymous reporting.
(c) competent authorities regarding external reporting: According to Section 19 (4) of the national act anonymous reporting is not allowed.
Art. 7 (2) - Encouraging internal reporting
The primacy of internal reporting is set in Section 7 of the national act. In Section 8, reporting to centralised external authority or to other competent authority is limited to cases where there is no internal reporting channel available or there are credible reasons to believe that internal reporting is not effective and/or might expose the whistleblower to retaliation.
Art. 8 (7) - Obligation for legal entities in the private sector with less than 50 workers
Yes. In Section 10 (3) of the national act, the obligation to establish internal reporting channels is extended to institutions for occupational retirement provision irrespective of the number of workers employed by them. This was, however, not a consequence of art. 8 (7) assessment but due to IORP II directive not being included in parts I.B and II of the Annex.
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. In Section 10 (1) the limit for both private and public sector organisations is set to 50 employees, thus exempting all public entities with less than 50 workers listed in art. 8 (1) from an obligation to establish an internal reporting channel.
Art. 8 (9) Third subparagraph - Shared internal reporting channels for municipalities
Yes. In Section 10 (1) the limit for both private and public sector organisations is set to 50 employees, thus exempting all public entities with less than 50 workers listed in art. 8 (1) from an obligation to establish an internal reporting channel.
Art. 11 (1) - Authorities competent to receive external reports
Oikeuskanslerinvirasto, Office of the Chancellor of Justice. A link to the external reporting channel (in English): Link
Art. 11 (3) first sentence - Competence of authorities to decide on the minority of external reports
Yes. According to Section 21 (1) 1) of the national act.
Art. 11 (4) first sentence - Competence of authorities to decide on closing procedures regarding repetitive external reports
Yes. According to Section 21 (1) 2) of the national act.
Art. 11 (5) - Competence of authorities to handle particular external reports with priority
Yes. Such competence is provided in Section 20 (4) of the national act.
Art. 20 (2) - Financial assistance and support measures for reporting persons
There are none.
Art. 21 (1) first sentence - Protection measures against retaliation
The measures for protection provided for the persons referred to in Article 4 are of two kinds: First, an enumeration of scenarios that are considered retaliation that covers all negative consequences. These are outlined in Section 23 of the act. Second, the burden of proof in alleged cases rests with the party being reported of to establish that the measures taken were not of retaliatory nature. This is outlined in Section 25 of the act.
Art. 23 (1) - Penalties
(a) hinder or attempt to hinder reporting: There are no specific amounts outlined. It is merely said it should be proportionate to the severity (§ 34 (2)).
(b) retaliate against reporting person: The same rules that apply for hindering or attempting to hinder reporting apply to retaliation, see Section 34 of the act.
(c) persons bringing vexatious proceedings against reporting person: There are no specific provisions on the matter. There is to Criminal Code in Section 36 (4) but none of the referred crimes refer directly to vexatious proceedings.
(d) breach the duty of maintaining the confidentiality of reporting persons: The breach of duty of maintaining confidentiality is sanctioned through reference to the Criminal Code (Chapter 38, Section 1 and 2 OR Chapter 40 Section 5). There are no specific provisions, see Section 36 (3) of the act.
Art. 23 (2) first sentence - Penalties for false reporting
According to Section 36 (1) the persons such be sentenced to fines, the amount of which is not defined in the act.
Art. 25 (1) - Further national rights of reporting persons
There are none.
Final remarks:
There are none left, at least not intentionally. The chosen implementation strategy with numerous references to other legislation might leave out or extend in parts the scope of the Directive in unforeseen ways as was noted during the parliamentary processes. Whether such outstanding issues remain is difficult to assess.