Whistleblowing

With Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023 (hereinafter also the “Decree”), published in the Official Gazette of 15 March 2023, EU Directive no. 2019/1937 on “the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law” (so-called whistleblowing regulations) was transposed into Italian law.

The Decree repeals and amends the previous national legislation, enclosing in a single regulatory text – for the public sector and for the private sector – the protection regime for persons who report unlawful conduct carried out in violation not only of European provisions, but also of national provisions, provided that they are based on well-founded reasons and detrimental to the public interest or the integrity of the entity,  in order to ensure the transposition of the directive without retreating into the protections already recognized in our legal system.

Finally, the regulatory framework was completed with the ANAC Guidelines (hereinafter also “LG ANAC”), adopted by resolution of 12 July 2023, containing procedures for the submission and management of external reports, as well as indications and principles that public and private entities can take into account for internal channels.

Among the new features introduced are:

• the expansion of the range of subjects who can make reports, which includes not only employees, but also self-employed workers, collaborators, freelancers, consultants, suppliers, trainees, volunteers, shareholders and members of control and supervisory bodies;
• the expansion of the offences that can be reported, which include not only offences of a criminal and civil nature and referred to in Legislative Decree no. 231/2001, but also offences in violation of European Union law that harm the financial interests of the Union, including the violation of EU rules on competition, state aid and corporate taxes;
• the strengthening of the system of guarantees: in addition to the prohibition of retaliatory acts (adoption of punitive measures or discrimination against the whistleblower due to his or her report) and the guarantee of confidentiality for the whistleblower, the extension of these measures to protect facilitators (persons linked to the whistleblower in the workplace) and the introduction, in parallel with the disciplinary system referred to in Legislative Decree no. 231/01,  specific administrative fines for entities that do not comply with the provisions of the Decree that may be applied by ANAC (National Anti-Corruption Authority).

The Decree also introduces a triple reporting system: an internal one within public or private bodies, an external one managed by ANAC when the conditions set out in Article 6 of the Decree are met and public disclosure when the conditions set out in Article 15 of the same are met.

The company Valli Gestioni Ambientali S.r.l. has established its own internal reporting channel for the management of Whistleblowing reports by adopting an application infrastructure designed to ensure that reports are handled confidentially and that only authorised persons have access to relevant information. Advanced security measures, such as data encryption and access controls, are in place to prevent any breach of confidentiality. In this way, both Whistleblowers and those involved in the investigation can operate in a safe and trusted environment throughout the whistleblowing process.

Access to the platform is at the following link:
https://valli-ambiente.wb.teseoerm.com/#/

For operational details relating to the use of the platform, please refer to the document “Operating instructions for the use of the Whistleblowing Web platform“, which can be downloaded from this section:

Information pursuant to art. 13-14 GDPR regarding the processing of personal data – whistleblowing

Reporting and whistleblowing regulations

Operating instructions for the use of the Whistleblowing Web platform