19.06.2018

Proposal to strengthen whistleblower protection across the EU

So far, there have been no EU-wide standards regarding protection for persons that report breaches of EU law (so called whistleblowers), and only a few EU Member States provide national legislation on the matter. However, on 23 April 2018, the European Commission adopted a proposal for an EU directive on protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law.

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19.06.2018

Government bill proposes changes to competition law

On 24 May 2018, the Finnish Government issued a government bill (HE 68/2018), proposing changes to the Finnish Competition Act. According to the bill, an obligation to separate accounting records shall be added to the Competition Act, obligating public entities (i.e. municipalities, federations of municipalities, provinces, the state, and any entity under their command) to keep independent accounting records of their economic activities on a competitive market. Additional obligations for public entities regarding allocation, documentation and follow-up of earnings and costs are included as well. The aim of the provision is to strengthen competition neutrality, i.e. to remove the competitive advantages public entities may have due to their status.

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19.06.2018

Restrictions on the use of zero-hour contracts from the beginning of June

A legislative package that has come into force on 1 June 2018 improves the conditions of those with varying working hours (for example employees with zero-hour contracts and employees that are called to work if need be). From now on, it is only allowed to agree upon such working conditions on the employer’s initiative if the labour force need actually varies. In such cases, the minimum working time must correlate with the actual need of labour force, and the employer is required to negotiate a review of it, should the completed working hours during the past six months indicate that it is necessary to do so. The new law imposes obligations also on zero-hour contracts concluded before the law came into force.

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