EU legal service proposes that tax avoidance and evasion leaks are excluded from Whistleblower protection

The Council of the EU’s legal service has advised EU countries to exclude tax avoidance and evasion leaks from the protections granted to whistleblowers, according to an internal document seen by POLITICO.

The European Commission in April put forward a legislative proposal to protect whistleblowers in the aftermath of scandals such as LuxLeaks or the Panama Papers that shed light on large-scale corporate and individual tax avoidance schemes.

It would grant protection to individuals reporting breaches of EU laws in a wide range of fields, from consumer protection to violation of corporate tax rules. The Council’s legal service says that’s a problem, citing legal concerns over the breadth of the proposed bill.

The proposal should be split into several different texts, it argues, because “multiple legal bases can only be justified in exceptional circumstances,” according to an opinion dated December 14 and seen by POLITICO.

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