Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) in Procurement Law 2026

The HinSchG protects whistleblowers who report procurement violations or corruption in public procurement from professional disadvantages.

Definition: The Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) transposes the EU Whistleblower Directive 2019/1937 into German law and protects persons who report breaches of the law – including procurement violations, corruption and fraud in public procurement – from reprisals by their employer or by the contracting authority concerned.

Last updated: January 2026 · Legal basis: HinSchG (BGBl. I 2023 p. 1234); Directive (EU) 2019/1937; HSchG (Austria, BGBl. I No. 6/2023)

What is the Whistleblower Protection Act?

The Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG), which entered into force on 2 July 2023, protects natural persons who have obtained information about violations in a work-related context and pass this information on to internal or external reporting channels. In the procurement law context, the HinSchG is relevant because employees of contractors – and likewise employees of contracting authorities – can report under protection when they discover corruption, price-fixing, fraud or other procurement-law breaches.

Protected reports in the procurement context

The HinSchG protects reports of breaches of the following procurement-relevant legal areas:

Criminal offences (corruption, bribery under §§ 331 ff. StGB, fraud under § 263 StGB)
Competition law (prohibited price-fixing between bidders, § 1 GWB)
Money laundering (Anti-Money Laundering Act, GwG)
EU procurement law and national procurement law
Misappropriation of budget funds and subsidy fraud

Internal and external reporting channels

The HinSchG obliges companies with 50 or more employees and public contracting authorities to set up internal reporting channels. In addition, there are external reporting channels:

Germany: The Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) operates the external federal reporting channel
Austria: The HSchG provides for external reporting channels at the competent authorities; in the procurement area, the Federal Competition Authority is also relevant

Protective measures

Whistleblowers must not suffer reprisals as a result of their report. Prohibited measures include in particular:

Dismissal or formal warning
Transfer or demotion
Discrimination or bullying
Exclusion from contracts (relevant under procurement law!)

Significance for bidders and contracting authorities

For contracting authorities, the HinSchG means that they must set up internal reporting channels and carefully handle reports of procurement violations or corruption. For bidders, it is relevant that employees who report procurement-law breaches (e.g. bidder collusion, bribery) are under statutory protection and may not be disadvantaged as a contractual partner.

FAQ

Can external persons (e.g. bidders) also use the HinSchG? The HinSchG primarily protects persons in an employment context (employees, self-employed persons, applicants). External bidders wishing to report procurement violations can alternatively turn to the public procurement tribunals or the competition authority.

What happens if a contracting authority fails to set up an internal reporting channel? This constitutes a regulatory offence (§ 40 HinSchG) and can be punished with a fine. The contracting authority is then reliant on external reporting channels.

Last updated: January 2026 All information is provided without warranty. For legally binding advice, please consult a law firm specialising in procurement law.