Interna rapporteringskanaler - ett ändamålsenligt verktyg för visselblåsare? - En undersökning av i vilken mån utformningen av interna rapporteringskanaler enligt 5 kap. visselblåsarlagen uppfyller sitt tilltänkta syfte

Sammanfattning: On the 17th of December 2021 the new Whistleblowing Act came into effect. The regulation was introduced to annex the European Whistleblowing Directive. The main aim of the Whistleblowing Act is to strengthen the protection for individuals who report information on a wrongdoing in a work-related context. To fulfil this purpose an obligation to have internal reporting channels have been imposed. This liability applies to companies who have 50 or more employees. The objective of these channels is to offer the whistleblower a safe and simple procedure to report. An additional goal with the reporting channels is to ensure reports are handled in an efficient way. However, the regulation regarding the internal reporting channels have been questioned. For example, some have stated that the law enforcement will result in inefficient handling of reports and will deteriorate the protection for whistleblowers rather than strengthen it. The aim of this essay is to evaluate if the current regulation, according to the fifth chapter of the Whistleblowing Act, fulfills its purpose. Both regulation regarding the obligation to have an internal reporting channel and requirements concerning the design of the channels have been taken into consideration. In conclusion, the regulation can only to some extent be regarded as suitable for its purpose. This is mainly a result of the fact that only a minority of the Swedish companies are affected by the obligation to have an internal reporting channel. Subsequently this leads to other provisions that can be considered as efficient to the purpose of the regulation are obstructed to accomplish any actual effect. Otherwise, many of the clauses in the fifth chapter of Whistleblowing Act are ambiguate and vaguely constructed. The regulation can therefore not be seen as rigorously designed which causes uncertainties when applied. These inadequacies contribute to the fact that the internal reporting channels cannot be seen as an efficient way to report wrongdoings.