Whistleblowing

The European Whistleblowing Directive (2019/1937), in force as of 17 December 2021, envisages new standards of protection for whistleblowers (who, in Italian, are called the “reporting persons”).

On 9 March 2023, the Council of Ministers approved the legislative decree implementing Directive (EU) 1937/2019 on whistleblowing, and the new Italian law on whistleblowing (Legislative Decree no. 24) officially entered into force.

As of this date, companies and organisations are obliged to have an internal reporting system, and new rules on the protection of the sensitive data collected, and deadlines for communication with whistleblowers come into force.

The objectives of the European Whistleblowing Directive are:

• To detect and prevent misconduct and the violations of laws and regulations;
• To improve enforcement of the law by implementing effective, reliable and secure reporting channels to protect whistleblowers from retaliation;
• To protect whistleblowers by helping them to report wrongdoing or irregularities in a safe manner by ensuring that they can report anonymously.

Whistleblowers are important to ensure an open and transparent debate, and the main theme of the Directive is the protection of reporting person, through its essential points:

• Protection is guaranteed not only for employees who make reports, but also for customers, suppliers, trainees, candidates, former employees, self-employed persons, freelancers, shareholders and directors;
• The persons concerned are protected against dismissal, demotion and other forms of discrimination;

The protection applies only to reports of unlawful conduct relevant under (It.) Legislative Decree no. 231/2001 or breaches of the organisation model, and offences related to EU law, such as tax fraud, money laundering or offences in the areas of public procurement, product and road safety, environmental protection, public health and consumer and data protection;

The whistleblower can choose whether to report a suspicion within the company or directly to the competent supervisory authority.

 

Information content
Whistleblowing Privacy Information Notice
Whistleblowing Procedure

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