Private investigations involving employees: is your company ready for December 2026?
03 Mar 2026
The Private Investigations Act of 18 May 2024 (hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’) came into force on 16 December 2024 and fundamentally reshapes how organisations must conduct investigations, including internal workplace investigation.
While most provisions already apply, one critical obligation remains on the horizon: to be able to lawfully initiate an investigation into one of their employees, companies must establish formal internal regulations governing private investigations by 16 December 2026.
This newsletter briefly outlines the key principles of the Act and what organisations need to know about this upcoming requirement.
What is a private investigation?
The Act adopts a broad definition of private investigations. An activity qualifies as a private investigation if a natural person carries it out on behalf of a client, collects information about individuals or specific factual circumstances and provides this information to the client to protect their interests in an actual or potential conflict.
For employers, this means that most targeted internal workplace investigations in principle fall within the scope of the Act. These can e.g. include reviewing video surveillance footage, checking access control data, examining electronic locks or badge readers and interviewing colleagues as part of dismissal procedures.
However, the Act also sets out a comprehensive list of specific exclusions. In particular, the activities of certain regulated professions such as lawyers fall outside the scope. The same applies to activities carried out to comply with legal obligations, such as whistleblowing investigations, provided they remain within the limits of the applicable whistleblowing framework and don’t lead to broader investigations or measures.
Who can perform investigations and what about investigations conducted by an HR department?
A private investigation can take place through an external provider or internally. When a company sets up a dedicated unit that investigates on a structural basis for its own needs and presents itself as such, the Act qualifies this as an internal private investigation department.
Both these internal departments and external investigation companies need prior authorisation from the Minister of the Interior before they can operate. In addition, every staff member needs an identification card. The Act gave existing internal departments six months from 16 December 2024 to apply for transitional measures. Their staff may keep working for eighteen months after notification of the authorisation even if they don’t yet meet all training or experience requirements or hold an identification card.
A royal decree now must set the detailed rules for granting authorisations and issuing identification cards. Until that decree enters into force, the authorities can’t grant new authorisations. In practice, employers that didn’t use the transitional regime will need to work with an already authorised external investigator.
A standard HR department usually doesn’t qualify as an internal private investigation department. HR usually carries out occasional incident‑related investigations, for example when it checks a specific allegation of misconduct by a worker. When HR conducts this type of investigation for its own employer, the Act exempts HR staff from the two formalities mentioned above. However, if an HR department conducts investigations that fall within the scope of the Act, they must arguably still follow other specific rules on how to run a private investigation.
The internal regulations: a new requirement
Importantly, from 16 December 2026, investigators may only accept a workplace investigation involving an employee if the employer has written internal regulations that expressly authorise private investigations and set clear procedures for how they will run. These regulations must be in place before any investigation starts, whether the employer uses an internal private investigation department or an external private investigation company. They must be in writing, but the Act doesn’t impose a specific form.
Until 16 December 2026, a transitional rule permits private investigations to proceed without these regulations being in place, provided all other rules that have applied since 16 December 2024 are respected, including the requirements on methods, documentation, transparency and data protection (also see below). After 16 December 2026, carrying out a private investigation without the internal regulations in place isn’t allowed and non-compliance with this rule could lead to the nullity of investigation results.
How private investigations must be conducted
It’s important to point out that the Act also contains detailed provisions on how private investigations must be conducted in order to be legitimate. This includes formality obligations imposed on investigators – including detailed record-keeping and reporting requirements – as well the core data protection principles that must be complied with and the limits placed on investigative methods.
Non-compliance carries significant legal and practical risks that could lead to administrative sanctions and the nullity of investigation results.
Key takeaways
If you haven’t yet done so, now is the moment to:
- identify whether you have, or need, a structured internal investigation department and, if so, plan for authorisation and staff identification;
- draft written investigation regulations before 16 December 2026 and align it with your existing policies and regulations (eg. whistleblowing, CCTV, IT logs, data retention policies etc.).
PwC Legal has an extensive team of employment law and data and privacy experts who can assist companies with private investigations in the workplace. Collaborating closely with PwC’s Forensic specialists, who are qualified as private investigators under the private investigations Act, we can support your organisation end-to-end: from designing and implementing compliant internal investigation regulations to providing hands-on guidance during concrete investigations and helping you document them in line with the law.
If you have any questions regarding the above or are looking for guidance on drafting your company’s internal regulations on private investigations, don’t hesitate to reach out; we’d love to hear from you!
