Public interest in whistleblowing: European case law

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the legal category of "public interest" as a fun­damental criterion for whistleblower protection through the prism of the judicial practice of the United Kingdom and the European Court of Human Rights. The work is part of the authorʼs dissertation research on the topic "Legal support for whistle­blowing of illegal behaviour in the IT sphere". The theoretical approaches of Ukrainian scholars and the legal conclusions of the Supreme Court regarding the definition of public interest as an evaluative concept have been analysed. The key English common law precedents (Chesterton Global Ltd, Dobbie v Felton), and judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (Guja v. Moldova, Halet v. Luxembourg, Hrachya Harutyunyan v. Armenia), which expanded the boundaries of whistleblower protection, have been examined. The thesis is put forward that for the effective functioning of the whistleblowing institu­tion in Ukraine, it is necessary to implement a multi-factor test for assessing the public interest, which is based on the objective reasonableness of the whistle­blower's beliefs and the social significance of the disclosed information.