The aim of whistleblowing is to shine the light on corruption by providing safe channels for staff or other informants to report unethical behaviour in the workplace. Such procedures require the processing of sensitive personal information relating to suspected wrongdoers, whistle-blowers, and other parties, such as witnesses. EU institutions and bodies are obliged to have clear whistleblowing procedures in place. The obligation is placed upon them by the EU Staff Regulations, which state that officials who become aware of a possible illegal activity should report it without delay. Due to the specificity of this procedure and risks imposed on the persons involved, the protection of their personal data is of the utmost importance.
Opinion on a notification for prior checking received from the Data Protection Officer of the European Ombudsman (EO) regarding the European Ombudsman's Whistleblowing Procedure (Case 2014-0828)
Opinion on Prior checking notification of the processing of personal data related to OLAF cases (Case 2013-0757)
Opinion of 30 January 2014 on a notification for Prior Checking received from the Data Protection Officer of the European Commission regarding the DEVCO IT-tool (DEVIT) (Case 2013-1230)
Opinion of 28 October 2013 on a notification for Prior Checking received from the Data Protection Officer of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) on a Whistleblowing Procedures (Case 2013-0916)