European Commission is considering introducing a whistleblowing scheme to complement leniency programme.

An official of DG Competition announced during a recent conference that the Commission is considering the introduction of a new whistleblower program allowing informants, such as employees or unhappy consumers, to report about cartel behaviour through an independent agency to the Commission . This model has been implemented with success in Germany and Denmark. The system would work as follows: the informant would blow the whistle to the agency directly and subsequently a dialogue between the Commission and the informant could begin by way of a system allowing the identity of the informant to be kept anonymous . The Commission will take a decision on the possible implementation of the system in the following months .