Poland’s Ombudsman — external reports #
The Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich (RPO), Poland’s Commissioner for Human Rights, receives external reports under the Act of 14 June 2024 on the Protection of Whistleblowers. In most cases it does not investigate them: it carries out a preliminary verification and passes the report to the public authority competent to take follow-up action.
This page is a reference on the authority: what the RPO does and does not do, how a report is filed, which deadlines apply, and what happens next. For the internal-procedure duty and the thresholds, see whistleblower law in Poland .
What the RPO is in this system #
| Authority | Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich (Commissioner for Human Rights) |
| Legal basis | Act of 14 June 2024 on the Protection of Whistleblowers (Dz.U. 2024 item 928), Chapter 4 |
| Role | Receiving external reports, preliminary verification, and referral to the competent public authority (art. 31(1)) |
| External reporting since | 25 December 2024 — Chapter 4 entered into force six months after publication, the rest of the Act after three (art. 64) |
| Sanctions | The RPO imposes no penalties — the Chapter 6 offences are tried by the courts |
Choosing between internal and external reporting #
The Act leaves the choice open. Under art. 30(1), a whistleblower may make an external report without first making an internal one.
That differs from Italy, where the external channel only opens once one of four statutory conditions is met, and matches the Spanish and German position.
An external report is received by the Ombudsman or by a public authority (art. 30(2)). Each is a separate controller for the personal data in the reports it receives (art. 30(3)).
What the RPO does — and does not do #
Article 31(1) lists the Ombudsman’s tasks:
- Establishes the procedure for receiving external reports, specifying in particular how anonymous reports are handled.
- Receives reports about breaches in the fields listed in art. 3(1)(1)–(16), carries out a preliminary verification, and passes them to the public authority competent for follow-up.
- Receives and examines reports itself only where the report concerns the field in art. 3(1)(17) and no other public authority is competent.
- Ensures general access to information on whistleblowers’ rights and remedies, in particular through its Public Information Bulletin.
- Advises whistleblowers, people assisting them, and people the report concerns.
- Informs about bodies able to protect against retaliation and, where appropriate, supports contact with them.
This is the core of the Polish model. The RPO is primarily an entry point and routing hub, not an investigating body. It handles a case itself only in the narrow residual field under point 17.
Preliminary verification and referral #
Preliminary verification means establishing whether the report concerns information about a breach of law, and identifying the competent public authority (art. 32(1)).
- If it does — the RPO refers the report without delay and no later than 14 days from the date it was made, telling the whistleblower which authority received it and when (art. 32(2)–(3)).
- If it does not — the RPO declines to refer it and informs the whistleblower of the verification findings (art. 32(4)–(5)). It may point to another route: a civil claim, a notification of suspected crime, a complaint to an administrative court, or a complaint, request or petition. That information does not affect the admissibility of any later remedy or the running of time limits (art. 32(6)).
A public authority that receives a report outside its own field refers it to the competent authority within 14 days, or 30 days in justified cases, and informs the whistleblower (art. 34(1)(4)).
How to file an external report #
A report may be made orally or in writing (art. 36(1)). In documentary form:
- on paper — to the correspondence address indicated by the RPO or the public authority;
- electronically — to the email address, electronic inbox or e-delivery address indicated, or through a dedicated web form or an application designated by the public authority.
The RPO’s information for whistleblowers is published in its Public Information Bulletin .
A contact address is required. So that follow-up and feedback are possible, the whistleblower gives a contact address. Where none is given and none can be established, the RPO and the public authority do not perform several of their information duties (art. 35).
Communication channels used for external reports must be independent of the authority’s ordinary channels, ensure the completeness, confidentiality and integrity of the data, and allow information to be stored durably (art. 42(1)).
Deadlines #
| External report | Internal report | |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgment | 7 days from receipt, unless the whistleblower expressly asked otherwise or the acknowledgment would threaten the confidentiality of their identity (art. 37) | 7 days (Chapter 3) |
| Referral to the competent authority | 14 days from the date of the report (RPO, art. 32(2)); a public authority — 14 days, or 30 in justified cases (art. 34(1)(4)) | — |
| Feedback | 3 months from receipt of the external report; 6 months in justified cases, after telling the whistleblower before the three months expire (art. 41) | 3 months |
The public authority also informs the whistleblower of the final outcome of any explanatory proceedings opened as a result of the report (art. 41(3)).
The protection certificate #
A feature distinctive to the Polish act: at the whistleblower’s request, the public authority competent for follow-up issues, within one month of receiving the request, a certificate confirming that the whistleblower is protected under Chapter 2 (art. 38).
It is a document the whistleblower can put in front of an employer or use in proceedings. Spanish, German and Italian law contain no equivalent instrument.
When a report can be left unexamined #
The RPO may leave a report unexamined where it previously declined to refer an earlier report, or where the report concerns a matter already covered by an earlier report and contains no significant new information. It tells the whistleblower, with reasons; on any further such report it does not (art. 40(1)). A public authority has the same power (art. 40(2)). The fact is recorded in the register (art. 40(3)).
Criminal liability #
Poland does not use administrative fines here. Chapter 6 creates criminal offences:
| Conduct | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Preventing or substantially hindering a report (art. 54(1)) | fine, restriction of liberty, or up to 1 year’s imprisonment |
| — using violence, unlawful threat or deception (art. 54(2)) | up to 3 years’ imprisonment |
| Retaliation against a whistleblower, a person assisting, or a related person (art. 55(1)) | fine, restriction of liberty, or up to 2 years; if persistent — up to 3 years |
| Disclosing the identity of a whistleblower, assisting or related person (art. 56) | fine, restriction of liberty, or up to 1 year |
| Reporting or publicly disclosing while knowing no breach occurred (art. 57) | fine, restriction of liberty, or up to 2 years |
| Failing to establish the internal reporting procedure, or establishing it in significant breach of the Act’s requirements (art. 58) | a fine — imposed under the Code of Procedure in Petty Offence Cases (art. 59) |
Having no internal procedure is therefore a petty offence tried by a court in Poland, not an administrative breach penalised by a supervisory body. The Ombudsman does not impose these penalties.
Free legal aid #
The Act extended free legal aid and free civic counselling to a person intending to report a breach within the meaning of the Act, disapplying the usual eligibility criteria (art. 61).
Official sources #
- Act of 14 June 2024 on the Protection of Whistleblowers (Dz.U. 2024 item 928)
- Text of the Act — Sejm API
- RPO — whistleblowers (BIP)
- Directive (EU) 2019/1937 — EUR-Lex
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