Reasons for Promoting Legislation of the Whistleblower Protection Act

Legislating a dedicated act for whistleblower protection is an important mechanism for anti-corruption and is an important indicator for assessing national cleanness and competency. The United Nations Convention against Corruption expressly stipulates that anti-corruption policy shall promote social participation and embody principles including rule of law, integrity and transparency by providing proper protection to whistleblower who reported in good faith and with reasonable evidence to prevent him or her from unjust treatment. Many progressive countries have stipulated whistleblower protection laws to show the importance of a clean and competent government. For instance, the Whistleblower Protection Act in the United States, the Whistleblower Protection Act in Japan, the Public Interest Disclosure Act in United Kingdoms, the Public Interest Disclosure Act in Australia, the Protected Disclosure Act in New Zealand and the Anti-Corruption Act in Korea. Such laws meant to encourage and protect people who know about corruption and are willing to report such corruption, and to achieve the goal of promoting cleanness and fighting against corruption.

Considering the variety of types corruption and the complexity of cases, it is difficult to separate the corruption in public sector from the illegal acts of private enterprises completely. Also, the identities and relationship of and between the whistleblower and reported person cannot be defined by only one legal relation. Therefore, to prevent creating a discrepancy between rights of whistleblowers public and private sectors, it is more appropriate to regulate with one single act. By promoting the Whistleblower Protection Act, we can provide protection measures for whistleblowers to report and create a positive image of whistleblower, so to have the social consensus on zero-tolerance. We focus on promote the legislation of the Whistleblower Protection Act as a part of our anti-corruption work to encourage and protect people who disclose information about illegal matters that affect public interest and to effectively combat illegal conducts of governmental agencies and private enterprises, so people can be free of fear and willing to whistleblow.