Belgian law permits citizens to report frauds against the U.S. Government under the False Claims Act, or violations of the provisions of the Securities & Exchange Act, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or Commodities Exchange Act.
What disclosures are currently protected?
Belgian’s whistleblower law is primarily comprised of, at the federal level, the 2013 “Law on Reporting a Suspected Integrity Violation in a Federal Administrative Authority by a Staff Member” and, in the Flemish Region, the Decree on Whistleblowers for the public sector and the Protocol regarding the protection of whistleblowers. There are also a smattering of labor laws and financial industry laws that may be relevant to whistleblowers.
However, there are no laws in place protecting private sector whistleblowers, there are no guarantees of anonymity, and no reward provisions for successful whistleblowers. Moreover, the laws in place are not national or comprehensive in scope. Therefore, where possible, whistleblowers may be better off reporting to U.S. regulators, at least until the transposition of the Whistleblower Directive is complete.
Can Belgian whistleblowers receive rewards?
There is no law in Belgium providing whistleblowers rewards, however, they may receive rewards through U.S. laws
Recent updates and future legislative developments
Belgium posted a public tender for research informing what is needed to transpose the Directive. However, no measures have been proposed at this time.
Can/should Belgian whistleblowers report to U.S. officials?
No law in Belgium currently prohibits Belgian citizens from reporting frauds against the U.S. government under the False Claims Act, or violations of provisions of other statutes including the Securities & Exchange Act, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, or Commodities Exchange Act. Therefore, Belgian whistleblowers can and should report relevant violations to U.S. officials under these laws.
An overview of the whistleblower protections in the United States
The United States has over 50 separate whistleblower laws, and they each define a protected disclosure separately.
The most comprehensive and widely used U.S. laws offering whistleblowers significant protections are the False Claims Act, the Dodd Frank Act, the Commodities Exchange Act, and the Internal Revenue Code.
These laws all provide various degrees of anonymity, confidentiality, and rewards and cover a myriad of common legal violations.
Protection and anonymity under commonly used whistleblower laws
The False Claims Act permits a whistleblower to file his or