When Antoine Deltour, an employee of multinational audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, decided to leak some of the biggest financial secrets in history, he probably didn’t know what he was getting into. [1]
He exposed secret tax rulings in Luxembourg that allow hundreds of multinational corporations like Amazon to dodge taxes in the EU – to the tune of billions of euros. And yet, today he and the journalist who published his information face trial for “trade secrets violation”. [2]
This man is a hero. But in April, days before his trial, the European Parliament will vote on a new law that could further silence whistleblowers with potential jail sentences and crippling fines.
This is not going to be an easy battle: multinational corporations have been lobbying for this for years, but the general public hardly knows anything about it. If we want MEPs to reject this unfair law, they need to hear our voices.
Sign the petition to protect whistleblowers
This new law is called the “Trade Secrets Protection Directive”. [3] The definition of trade secrets in this new EU directive is so broad that almost all internal information within a company can be considered a trade secret. It will put anybody revealing such information without the company’s consent at risk. [4]
But citizens, journalists, scientists… sometimes also need to have access to and publish this information for the common good. They would now face legal threats, years in prison and heavy fines worth hundreds of thousands of euros for doing so. This effectively prevents people reporting corporate misconduct or wrongdoing. What media editor can afford to take the risk of financial ruin? [5]
It gets worse. If the directive is approved at the European level, member states will be able to go further when they adapt it into national law – and be lobbied by industry all over Europe to do so.
Sign the petition to protect whistleblowers and the public’s right to know
With determination,
Rebecca (London), Mika (Bordeaux), Jörg (Hamburg), Virginia (Madrid) and the whole WeMove.EU team
This campaign is run in partnership with Corporate Europe Observatory, Xnet, International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB), BUKO Pharma-Kampagne, Common Networks, Public Concern at Work, Health Action International (HAI), and European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).
[1] ‘I am not a martyr’, says LuxLeaks whistleblower facing jail http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/
[2] Luxembourg tax files: how tiny state rubber-stamped tax avoidance on an industrial scale http://www.theguardian.com/
[3] Full name of the directive: “Directive on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure”
[4] “Access to information rights in the Trade Secrets Directive” – briefing by ClientEarth, http://documents.clientearth.
[5] “Trade Secrets Protection”, A New Right To Secrecy For Companies, and A Dangerous EU Legislative Proposal Which Must Be Rejected, by Corporate Europe Observatoryhttp://corporateeurope.org/
WeMove.EU is a citizens’ movement, campaigning for a better Europe; for a European Union committed to social and economic justice, environmental sustainability and citizen-led democracy. We are people from all walks of life, who call Europe our home whether we were born in Europe or elsewhere.
Rebecca – WeMove.EU – Email: info@wemove.eu
