The Senate accepted the proposal for the amended Safety Investigations Act (Wvo) at the end of September. The law has been adjusted to provide more flexibility for safety investigations in sectors where employees frequently change employers. The law is expected to gradually come into effect from early 2026 and will be implemented in coordination with all submitters in practice.
The main change is the introduction of a location-based declaration of no objection (vgb). This vgb remains valid when switching to a new position at the same location and with the same security clearance level.
Consider someone working in the aviation sector who changes employers. The new law reduces administrative burdens and costs for the organizations involved, and allows for a quicker transition for the employee.
Current Insight into Trust Functions
The new law provides for a register that gives insight into who is actually in a trust function. With the amendment of the Wvo, employers, at designated locations, are required to notify the Unit Safety Investigations (UVO) when they take over a trust officer (notification obligation). All employers are also required to inform when an employee no longer holds the trust function (deregistration obligation). This gives the UVO a current overview of all active trust officers.
This makes it possible to set up an automatic alert for everyone who holds a trust function. If there is a change in the Judicial Documentation System for a trust officer, the UVO automatically receives a notification.
Such an alert can prompt the UVO to initiate a renewed safety investigation. A possible outcome could be that a previously issued vgb is revoked.
