Whistleblower protection and reporting channels in Montenegro

1. Is there a law on whistleblowing in your country?

Although there is not a standalone law on whistleblowing, Chapter III of the Law on the Prevention of Corruption ("Official Gazette of Montenegro" No. 53/14), which was enacted in 2014 and came into force in 2016, regulates the procedure for filing a whistleblower report, the manner of deciding upon it, and the procedure for the protection of whistleblowers.

2. Does local law require private entities to establish a whistleblowing system? (If so, which private entities?)

The Law on Prevention of Corruption does not oblige private or public entities to establish a whistleblowing system per se, but rather contains general rules regarding the obligatory conduct of authorities, companies, entrepreneurs, etc. concerning whistleblowers. For details please see question 4.

The consequence of non-compliance with the aforementioned provisions is a fine amounting from EUR 1,000 to EUR 20,000 for a legal person, along with a fine amounting from EUR 500 to EUR 2,000 for a responsible person in a legal person, a state body, state administration body, local government body, and local self-government body. When it comes to entrepreneurs, their failure to abide by the said rules leads to a fine in the range of EUR 500 to EUR 6,000.

4. Are there any mandatory requirements for establishing a reporting channel under local labour law?

Montenegrin Labour law contains general rules regarding the obligatory conduct of authorities, companies, entrepreneurs, etc. towards whistleblowers. Accordingly, the whistleblower may file a report to the authority, company, legal person, or entrepreneur when, to his/her knowledge, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that there has been a threat to the public interest due to the existence of corruption. The authority, company, legal person, or entrepreneur is then obliged to verify the truthfulness of the allegations that the public interest is endangered due to the existence of corruption and take measures within its competence to prevent the corruption, per the law. To conduct such a procedure, the authority, company, other legal entity, or entrepreneur is obliged to appoint a person and to authorize him/her to receive and act upon the whistleblower's report. The person conducts the procedure in order to verify the plausibility of the allegations from the whistleblower's report and proposes measures to the head of the authority, i.e., to the responsible person in the legal entity or the entrepreneur if it determines that the public interest is endangered.

The report can also be filed directly to the Agency for Prevention of Corruption if the whistleblower has not been notified or is not satisfied with the notification by the authority, company, other legal entity or entrepreneur. Upon checking the allegations from the filed report, the Agency renders an opinion on the existence of a threat to the public interest, which indicates the existence of corruption, and makes a recommendation if the threat has indeed occurred. The Agency may also initiate a procedure to determine the existence of a threat to the public interest ex officio.

5. Does local law require employee involvement when establishing a whistleblowing system?

Yes, the employees are included in the sense that the authority, company, other legal entity, or entrepreneur is obliged to appoint a person and to authorize them to receive and act upon the whistleblower's report. (Please see the answer to question 4).

6. Does local law prohibit employees from disclosing irregularities/misconduct externally, e.g. to the public?

No. However, the Law on the Prevention of Corruption provides that if a report filed by the whistleblower contains classified data, the authority, company, other legal person or entrepreneur to whom the report was submitted must handle the information in accordance with the Data Secrecy Law.

Yes, there is legal protection aimed at preventing discrimination against or dismissal of a whistleblower (as employee) under Montenegrin Labour as follows:

  • In case of a dispute over bringing employees into a less favourable position than other employees due to their filing a report about a justified suspicion of corruption or filing a report in good faith about such a suspicion to responsible persons or authorities, which led to the violation of some of the employee’s employment rights, if the employee presents facts from which it can be deduced that he/she was placed into a less favourable position and that his/her right to employment was violated, the burden of proof passes to the employer. In that case, the employer must prove that due to any treatment following the filing of a report, the employee was not placed in a less favourable position than other employees, i.e., that the employer did not violate any of the employee’s employment rights.
  • The employee filing a report to the competent state authorities due to a justified suspicion of corruption or filing such a report in good faith based on that suspicion may not be deemed as a justified reason for termination of the employment contract.
  • It is worth noting that, according to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", No. 2/2018, 34/2019 and 8/2021), the restriction or denial of rights to a civil servant or a state employee who files a report for a criminal offense against official duty or a criminal offense or action with characteristics of corruption is deemed to be а serious violation of the official duty of a civil servant, i.e., state employee.

8. Are there any mandatory requirements and/or accompanying measures under local data protection law?

Under Article 47 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the personal data of whistleblowers must be acted upon according to the law governing data secrecy unless the whistleblower explicitly requests that such data be made available to the public. First enacted in 2008, the Law on Protection of Personal Data ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", nos. 79/2008, 70/2009, 44/2012 and 22/2017) is the governing data protection law. Processing data requires a legal basis as laid down under the said law.

9. Does local law prohibit a joint whistleblowing system of various entities in different jurisdictions?

No, the Montenegrin law does regulate the setting up of a joint whistleblowing system of various entities in different jurisdictions.

Portrait ofTamara Samardžija
Tamara Samardžija
Senior Lawyer
Podgorica
Portrait ofTeodora Vujošević, CMS Belgrade
Teodora Vujošević
Lawyer
Belgrade