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Alerter l’Administration de la nature et des forêts
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Whistleblowers who report breaches of legal rules are protected against all forms of retaliation.

A uniform European legal framework has been created to protect whistleblowers in certain fields of action of the European Union.

Luxembourg has 22 competent authorities, including the Nature and Forest Agency (Administration de la nature et des forêts - ANF).

You can contact the Office for Whistleblowers (Office des signalements) to obtain general information on the competent authority for the type of report in question.

The Nature and Forest Agency collects reports concerning breaches of the law obtained in a professional context (actions or omissions that are unlawful or go against the object or purpose of the provisions of the law) concerning:

  • the protection of nature, natural resources, biodiversity and landscapes;
  • the protection and sustainable management of forests under the forestry regime;
  • the protection and sustainable management of hunting resources;
  • oversight and monitoring in the areas of environmental protection, forestry, hunting and fishing.

Anyone who takes retaliatory measures or who brings vexatious proceedings against whistleblowers is liable to a fine of between EUR 1,250 and EUR 25,000.

Who is concerned

The law protects whistleblowers working in the private or public sector who have acquired information concerning breaches in a work-related context (current, past or future employment relationship), such as:

  • salaried workers (including civil servants and State employees);
  • self-employed persons;
  • shareholders and persons belonging to the administrative, management or supervisory body of a company, including non-executive members;
  • volunteers and paid or unpaid trainees; and
  • anyone working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.

The protection also extends to:

  • facilitators (natural persons assisting whistleblowers on a confidential basis);
  • colleagues or relatives of the whistleblower who could suffer retaliation;
  • legal entities that the whistleblower owns, works for or is otherwise connected with in a work-related context;
  • persons who have reported or disclosed information on breaches anonymously, but who are subsequently identified and suffer retaliation;
  • persons reporting breaches to relevant institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union.

The protection in question does not apply to:

  • reporting breaches relating to national security; and
  • whistleblowers whose relationships are covered by:
    • medical confidentiality;
    • the confidentiality of lawyer-client relations;
    • the professional confidentiality binding on notaries and court bailiffs;
    • the secrecy of judicial deliberations;
  • rules on criminal procedure.

How to proceed

What can be reported?

As a whistleblower, you can report any breach of national law and/or European Union law, that is to say, acts or omissions that:

  • are unlawful; or
  • defeat the object or the purpose of the directly applicable rules of national law or European Union law.

You can communicate any information, including reasonable suspicions, concerning:

  • actual or potential breaches; and/or
  • attempts to conceal such breaches,

which have occurred or are very likely to occur:

  • in the organisation in which you work or have worked; or
  • with which you are or have been in contact through your work.

Please note: You may not disclose information which you have acquired or to which you have gained access by committing a criminal offence.

What are the conditions for protection?

To be protected against all forms of retaliation, you must:

  • have had reasonable grounds to believe that the information on breaches reported was true at the time of reporting and that such information falls within the scope of the law; and
  • have made a report:
    • either internally: through the reporting channels of your undertaking or administration;
    • or externally: through the reporting channels of the competent authority;
    • or by way of public disclosure: following external reporting that yielded no satisfactory result.

Internal reporting

If you wish to report breaches of the law, you are encouraged, preferably, to report the breaches in question through internal channels before resorting to external reporting, unless internal reporting may have negative consequences for you (in the form of retaliation by your employer, for example).

Each private sector entity (upwards of 50 employees) and every public sector body (apart from communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants and entities employing fewer than 50 workers) is required to provide internal reporting channels and procedures and to ensure that reports are followed up.

Private sector entities employing between 50 and 249 workers may share resources for receiving and following-up reports made internally. Their reporting channels must be operational since 17 December 2023.

The Office for Whistleblowers can provide information and assistance to anyone wishing to make a report.

External reporting

If you wish to report breaches of the law, you can do so externally by approaching the competent authority:

  • either directly;
  • or after reporting the same internally.

Reporting to the ANF

If, as a whistleblower, you wish to report breaches falling within the ANF's remit, you can contact them in French, Luxembourgish, German or English:

  • via the secure 'Report to the ANF' (Alerter l'ANF) platform on MyGuichet.lu. This is a procedure without authentication.
  • by email to: alerte@anf.etat.lu;
  • by telephone at: (+352) 24 75 66 70;
  • in person at the ANF head office.

The ANF's reporting platform guarantees the comprehensiveness, integrity and confidentiality of the information provided. Only duly authorised ANF members of staff have access to it, and they are bound by the duty of professional secrecy.

The ANF does not make recordings of reports made to it over the telephone, but it may draw up accurate minutes setting out the main elements of the conversation which you can subsequently check, rectify and sign by way of approval.

By the same token, the ANF takes care, with your consent, to keep full and accurate accounts of reports made in person, by way of recordings or minutes.

In the event of reporting through other channels or via other ANF staff members, the latter:

  • are also obliged to respect confidentiality with regard to your identity or that of the person concerned; and
  • pass on the report as quickly as possible to the members of staff in charge of processing.

Follow-up and processing of the report by the ANF

The ANF receives and follows up on reports that fall within its remit.

It may ask the entity to which the report relates, in writing, to provide all such information as it deems necessary, whilst strictly respecting the confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity.

In particular, the ANF ensures that:

  • receipt of the alert will be acknowledged within a short period of time, except if:
    • the whistleblower expressly requests otherwise; or
    • there are reasonable grounds to believe that acknowledging receipt of the report would jeopardise the protection of the whistleblower's identity;
  • it is diligently followed up;
  • you are provided with feedback within 3 months, or 6 months in duly justified cases;
  • the final outcome of the steps taken in consequence of the reporting is communicated to you, subject to any information falling within the scope of a legal obligation to observe confidentiality, breach of which is punishable under criminal law.

Should the ANF receive a report for which it is not competent, it will forward it to the competent national authority within a reasonable time frame and in a confidential and secure manner. You will then be informed of this.

Decisions and sanctions

After review of the report, the ANF:

  • may decide to close the procedure:
    • if the breach is clearly minor (even though other obligations or other procedures may be applied to address the reported breach);
    • in case of repetitive reports which do not contain any meaningful new information compared to a past report in respect of which the procedure has been closed.

    • The ANF will then notify you of its decision and the reasons for it;

  • may take action against the entities (legal persons) referred to in the report or refer the case to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Fines

The Office for Whistleblowers may, for its part, impose fines on persons who fail to observe the law on the protection of whistleblowers:

  • of between EUR 1,250 and EUR 25,000 if they take retaliatory measures or bring vexatious proceedings against whistleblowers;
  • of between EUR 1,500 and EUR 250,000 in particular if they impede the making of a report, refuse to remedy a breach or have failed to put in place the required internal reporting channels (the fine may be doubled if the offence is repeated).

A whistleblower who knowingly reports or publicly discloses false information may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 8 days and 3 months and a fine of between EUR 1,500 and EUR 50,000.

Anyone making a false report may incur civil liability. An entity suffering damage in consequence of this may claim compensation for the prejudice suffered.

Public disclosures

If, as a whistleblower, you publicly disclose a breach, you are entitled to protection under the law provided that:

  • you have first reported it internally and externally or directly externally, but no appropriate action was taken in response to the report within 3 months from your so doing; or
  • you have reasonable grounds to believe that:
    • the breach may constitute an imminent or manifest danger to the public interest (such as where there is an emergency situation or a risk of irreversible damage); or
    • in the case of external reporting, there is a risk of retaliation or there is a low prospect of the breach being effectively addressed, due to the particular circumstances of the case (such as those where evidence may be concealed or destroyed, or where an authority may be in collusion with the perpetrator of the breach or involved in the breach).

Protection against retaliation

No liability for whistleblowers

If you fulfil the conditions for protection of whistleblowers, you will not be breaking the law when you disclose information, and you will not incur any liability:

  • as regards the reporting (done internally and/or externally) or the public disclosure, provided you had reasonable grounds to believe that the reporting or public disclosure was necessary in order to reveal a breach of the law;
  • as regards the way in which the information reported or publicly disclosed, or access to that information, was acquired (provided that such acquisition or access did not constitute a criminal offence in and by itself);
  • on account of reports or public disclosures made, including in legal proceedings for defamation, breach of copyright, breach of secrecy, breach of data protection rules or disclosure of trade secrets, or for compensation claims based on private, public, or collective labour law.

In such cases, you may rely on that reporting or public disclosure to seek dismissal of the proceedings.

Prohibited retaliation measures

All forms of retaliation against you as a whistleblower on account of the report you made, including threats of retaliation and attempts at retaliation, are prohibited.

The following, in particular, are prohibited and automatically null and void:

  • suspension of an employment contract, lay-off, dismissal, failure to renew or early termination of a fixed-term employment contract, or equivalent measures;
  • demotion or withholding of promotion;
  • transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages, change in working hours;
  • withholding of training;
  • imposition or administering of any disciplinary measure, reprimand or other penalty, including a financial penalty;
  • failure to convert a fixed-term employment contract into a permanent one, where you had legitimate expectations that you would be offered permanent employment;
  • a negative performance assessment or employment reference;
  • early termination or cancellation of a contract for goods or services;
  • cancellation of a licence or permit.

The following are likewise prohibited:

  • coercion, intimidation, harassment or ostracism;
  • discrimination, disadvantageous or unfair treatment;
  • harm, including damage to the person's reputation, particularly on social networks, or financial losses, including loss of business and loss of income;
  • blacklisting on the basis of a formal or informal agreement at sector or industry level, which may imply that the person will not find employment in the future in the sector or industry;
  • referral to psychiatric or medical treatment.

Action against retaliation measures

As a whistleblower suffering retaliation measures, you have the right, within 15 days following notification of the measures, to apply to the relevant court of competent jurisdiction for a ruling declaring the measures to be null and void and ordering their cessation.

A person who has not pleaded nullity of the retaliation measures, or who has already obtained an order declaring them to be null and void, may still bring a claim for damages and interests.

The ANF recommends that you use the services of a lawyer for any legal action.

Reversal of the burden of proof

As a whistleblower suffering detrimental measures, you are automatically entitled to the benefit of a presumption that the measures in question have been taken against you as retaliation for the reporting.

It is therefore up to the person who took the measures to provide the reasons for them.

Confidentiality and data processing

Confidentiality

The Nature and Forest Agency handles all reports in strict confidence as regards the identity of the whistleblower.

The ANF will never disclose:

  • neither your identity without your explicit consent;
  • nor any other information from which your identity can be directly or indirectly deduced.

Where applicable, the ANF will not use or disclose trade secrets for purposes going beyond what is necessary for proper follow-up.

Confidentiality regarding a whistleblower's identity may only be lifted in the case of a necessary and proportionate obligation in the context of investigations by national authorities or judicial proceedings, including with a view to safeguarding the rights of defence of the person concerned.

In such cases, the ANF will inform the whistleblower in writing, with an explanation of the reasons, before disclosing the latter's identity, unless such information would jeopardise the related investigations or judicial proceedings.

Processing personal data

In order to carry out the tasks assigned to it by law, the ANF may need to process personal data concerning you.

All processing of personal data carried out pursuant to the law on the protection of whistleblowers, including the exchange or transmission of personal data by the competent authorities, is done in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679, hereinafter referred to as the 'General Data Protection Regulation' or the 'GDPR'.

As a public authority processing personal data, the ANF is bound to respect the obligations incumbent on it in its capacity as a data controller.

If you have any questions about the processing of your personal data by the ANF, you can contact the ANF's Data Protection Officer (DPO) by telephone (+352 24 75 66 70) or by email at the following address: dpo@anf.etat.lu.

Purpose and legal basis for processing

The ANF may be contacted by any whistleblower wishing to report a breach externally, i. e. outside the company where they work. Following an assessment, where necessary, and subject to the obligations in respect of confidentiality, the personal data thus obtained may be processed in the context of the performance of the tasks or investigations falling within the remit of the ANF's competence.

In that context, the processing of your data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest in the exercise of the powers vested in the ANF (Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR).

Data processed

Reporting can be done via the secure platform MyGuichet.lu. In such cases, for the report to be processed, an email address must be provided, thereby enabling the ANF to give feedback and to ensure that the reports are followed up. Potential whistleblowers must also provide a description of the alleged breach and state who has committed it. It is therefore possible that information relating to the behaviour of other persons, and in particular the perpetrator of the breach or witnesses, are processed.

It is therefore preferable, when describing the breach, to mention only information which is needed in order for the report to be dealt with and, in particular, to refrain from including in it, unless absolutely necessary, sensitive data (within the meaning of Article 9 of the GDPR) concerning the whistleblower or third persons (for example data concerning their health, political opinions or religious beliefs).

Reporting can also be done by telephone or in person. In such cases, other contact details may be collected and the provision of an email address is not necessary.

Categories of recipients

Recipients

Only duly authorised ANF staff members have access to the ANF's secure reporting platform or to the minutes, as the case may be.

In the case of reporting through other channels or via other ANF staff members, the latter are likewise bound to observe confidentiality concerning the identity of the whistleblower or of the person concerned, and will forward the report without delay to the members of staff assigned to handle it.

As regards reporting via the MyGuichet.lu platform, for which the Government IT Centre (CTIE) is responsible (acting in the capacity of processor), personal data provided by the whistleblower will be accessible only to persons designated by the CTIE in the context of a request for support or technical assistance.

Potential recipients

Where a report does not fall within the scope of the ANF's competence, the data collected may be forwarded to other competent national authorities or to institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union having competence within the framework of the cooperation provided for by the law.

If a report sent to the ANF is the subject of an investigation concerning the alleged facts, the persons authorised to access the reports will forward the report, depending on its purpose, to the competent departments within the ANF. If anonymisation is not possible without compromising the ANF's investigation and inspection activities, only the personal data needed for the purposes of the investigation will be transmitted.

Data retention period

Personal data which are manifestly not relevant for the processing of a specific report will not be collected or, if accidentally collected, will be deleted without undue delay.

Personal data obtained via a report which is held by the duly authorised staff to be unfounded and which falls outside the ambit of the ANF’s competence will be deleted without delay.

Personal data obtained through a report is kept for 2 months following:

  • the conclusion of the investigation carried out by the ANF in the performance of its duties; or
  • the end of the appeal period of the procedure concerning the facts alleged in the report.

Files having a significant heritage value are to be kept for archiving purposes, in the public interest, for longer than those periods of administrative usefulness.

Rights of the persons concerned

Under the GDPR, you have the right:

  • to access data concerning you and obtain a copy thereof;
  • to obtain rectification of incorrect or incomplete data;
  • to object, subject to conditions, to the processing of your data;
  • to obtain, subject to conditions, the erasure thereof;
  • to obtain, subject to conditions, restrictions of processing.

If you have any questions concerning the processing of your personal data by the ANF, or wish to make any request regarding the exercise of your rights, you can contact the ANF's DPO.

Complaint

If you believe that the processing of your data by the ANF constitutes a breach of the GDPR, you may lodge a complaint with the National Commission for Data Protection (Commission nationale pour la protection des données - CNPD).

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Alerter l’Administration de la nature et des forêts

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Related procedures and links

Procedures

Whistleblowing

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Further information

Legal references

Loi du 16 mai 2023

portant transposition de la directive (UE) 2019/1937 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 23 octobre 2019 sur la protection des personnes qui signalent des violations du droit de l’Union.

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