How does the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive regulate the reporting of irregularities in the area of consumer law?

Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council contains provisions covering areas in which Whistleblowers can report breaches. One of the areas covered by the directive's legal regulations is consumer protection, which applies to both individual and collective customers.

What is the protection of consumer rights?

Consumer rights are regulated by constitutional provisions, according to which public authorities protect customers against actions that may endanger their health, privacy or safety,and protect them against unfair market practices. Provisions regarding the protection of consumer rights are included in both national legal orders and the acts of the European Union. They are aimed at securing natural persons who perform a legal transaction with an entrepreneur, not related to their business or professional activity. Basic consumer rights include:

- health and life protection,

- privacy protection,

- security protection,

- product liability,

- the right to choose,

- the right to be heard by the consumer,

- the right to information,

- the right to live in a healthy environment.

In the event of a breach or suspected violation of any of the above-mentioned consumer rights, persons can first report such situations via the internal channel. The most advantageous option is for it to have a modern form of an IT system. One of the examples of such software is the Whistleblower system, which is fully compliant with the requirements of the directive, which enables the signaling of violation of consumer rights within the organization.

What do EU consumer rights cover?

EU consumer rights are divided into individual and collective rights. These include the prohibition of unfair commercial practices, the equality of the parties to a contract, clauses incompatible in documents, prohibition of misleading advertising, restriction of spam, protection of travel interests, and the interests of using cross-border telephony.

The EU Directive on the protection of Whistleblowers regulates the imposition of penalties on persons who try to obstruct the reporting of irregularities, e.g. on consumer rights. Prohibited activities include any threats directed at Whistleblowers, attempts to retaliate, or breach of the principles of protecting the confidentiality of the identity of persons reporting violations. The Whistleblower system is a guarantee of security and provides protection to all who decide to signal irregularities.

Which legal acts are listed in the Whistleblower Protection Directive of 2019?

As mentioned above, the protection of consumer rights is one of the areas in which Whistleblowers operate. In Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019, legal acts have listed that concern their protection and include:

- Giving the prices of products offered to consumers.

- Certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services.

- Distance selling of financial services.

- Consumer rights.

- Some aspects of contracts for the sale of goods.

- Consumer credit agreements.

- To prevent unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market.

- Certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.

- Payment account switching and access to a basic payment account.

The overriding task of the directive is to regulate the protection of persons who report irregularities, including those relating to the violation of consumer rights. Provide your company with a fully secure and reliable Whistleblower system to handle requests generated by people who witness dangerous or illegal situations.