Case C-154/23, Whistleblowers directive): Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 6 March 2025 – European Commission v Republic of Estonia (Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Article 258 TFEU – Protection of persons who report breaches of Union law – Directive (EU) 2019/1937 – Article 26(1) and (3) – Failure to transpose and communicate transposition measures – Article 260(3) TFEU – Application for the imposition of a lump sum and a daily penalty payment – Criteria for establishing the amount of the penalties – Automatic application of a coefficient for seriousness)
Date: 2025-03-06
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: directive (EU), national implementing measure, sanction (EU), whistleblowing








C_202502339EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2339


28.4.2025






Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 6 March 2025 – European Commission v Republic of Estonia


(Case C-154/23,
                (1)
(Whistleblowers directive))

(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Article 258 TFEU - Protection of persons who report breaches of Union law - Directive (EU) 2019/1937 - Article 26(1) and (3) - Failure to transpose and communicate transposition measures - Article 260(3) TFEU - Application for the imposition of a lump sum and a daily penalty payment - Criteria for establishing the amount of the penalties - Automatic application of a coefficient for seriousness)
(C/2025/2339)
Language of the case: Estonian

Parties


Applicant: European Commission (represented by: J. Baquero Cruz and L. Maran, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Republic of Estonia (represented by: N. Grünberg and M. Kriisa, acting as Agents)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that, by having failed, on the expiry of the period laid down in the reasoned opinion of the European Commission of 15 July 2022, to adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law and, therefore, by having failed to communicate them to the Commission, the Republic of Estonia has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 26(1) and (3) of that directive;










2.


Declares that, by having failed to adopt, by the date of the examination of the facts by the Court of Justice, the measures necessary to transpose into its domestic law the provisions of Directive 2019/1937 and, therefore, by having failed to communicate those measures to the European Commission, the Republic of Estonia persisted in its failure to fulfil its obligations;










3.


Orders the Republic of Estonia to pay to the European Commission:






—


a lump sum in the amount of EUR 500 000;










—


should the failure to fulfil obligations established in point 1 of the operative part persist at the date of delivery of the present judgment, as from that date and until that Member State has put an end to that failure, a daily penalty payment in the amount of EUR 1 500;














4.


Orders the Republic of Estonia to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission.






(1)  
            OJ C 155, 2.5.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2339/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)