The Court of Justice of the European Union has fined Poland €7 million for failing to take the necessary measures to implement the SYGNALISTS Directive.

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Poland has failed to properly implement the EU directive protecting whistleblowers. As a result, Poland was fined a one-time lump sum of €7 million and an additional daily penalty of €40,000, calculated from the date of the ruling.

The directive aims to protect whistleblowers in the European Union. Member states were required to implement the relevant provisions by December 17, 2021, which Poland failed to do, according to the European Commission. As a result, on March 10, 2023, the Commission referred the case to the Court.

The CJEU accepted the Commission’s complaint, finding that Poland had not taken the steps required to implement the directive. The CJEU also rejected Poland’s defense, pointing out that the lengthy legislative work could not be justified either by the complexity of the directive, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the migration crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

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A fine of €7 million and a lump sum of €40,000 a day.

In the context of sanctions, the Court, at the Commission’s request, ordered Poland to pay both a lump sum and a penalty for each day of delay in rectifying the violations. If the violation is ongoing on the date of the judgment, Poland was ordered to pay 40,000 euros a day from the date of the ruling until the date the violation was eliminated. What’s more, the CJEU found that the obligation to pay €7 million is aimed at effectively preventing similar violations of Union law in the future.

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