Whistleblowing

Behaviors, acts or omissions that harm the public interest or integrity of the public administration or private entity and that consist of:

• Administrative, accounting, civil or criminal offenses;
• unlawful conduct relevant under Legislative Decree 231/2001, or violations of the organization and management models provided therein;
• offenses within the scope of European Union or national acts relating to the following areas: public procurement; financial services, products, and markets and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transportation safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and data protection; and network and information system security;
• Acts or omissions that harm the financial interests of the Union;
• Acts or omissions concerning the internal market;
• Acts or conduct that frustrate the object or purpose of the provisions set forth in Union Acts.

Excluded from the application of this legislation are:

• objections, claims or demands related to an interest of a personal nature of the reporting person or the person making a complaint to the Judicial Authority that pertain exclusively to his or her individual labor or public employment relationships, or inherent in his or her labor or public employment relationships with hierarchically superordinate figures (thus, excluded are, for example, reports concerning labor disputes and pre-litigation stages, discrimination between colleagues, interpersonal conflicts between the reporting person and another worker or with hierarchical superiors, reports concerning data processing carried out in the context of the individual employment relationship in the absence of injury to the public interest or integrity of the public administration or private entity);
• reports of violations where they are already mandatorily regulated by the European Union or national acts specified in Part II of the Annex to the Decree or by national acts that constitute implementation of the European Union acts specified in Part II of the Annex to Directive (EU) 2019/1937, although not specified in Part II of the Annex to the Decree;
• Reports of national security breaches, as well as procurement related to defense or national security aspects, unless those aspects are covered by relevant EU secondary legislation.

• Interior;
• external (managed by the A.N.A.C.);
• public dissemination (through the press, electronic media or means of dissemination that can reach a large number of people);
• Reporting to the judicial or accounting authority.

Whistleblowers can use the external channel (ANAC) when:

• there is no provision within the work context for mandatory activation of the internal reporting channel, or this channel, even if mandatory, is not active or, even if activated, does not comply with what is required by law;
• the reporting person has already made an internal report and it has not been followed up;
•  the reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that if he or she made an internal report, the report would not be effectively followed up or that the report itself could result in a risk of retaliation;
• the reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may pose an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;

Whistleblowers can directly make a public disclosure when:

• the reporting person has previously made an internal and external report or has directly made an external report and no response has been given within the time limit regarding the measures planned or taken to follow up on the reports;
• the reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may pose an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;
• the reporting person has well-founded reason to believe that the external report may involve the risk of retaliation or may not be effectively followed up because of the specific circumstances of the particular case, such as those where evidence may be concealed or destroyed or where there is a well-founded fear that the reporting person may be colluding with or involved in the violator.

Reasonableness

• At the time of the report or complaint to the judicial or accounting authority or public disclosure, the reporting or whistleblowing person must have a reasonable and well-founded reason to believe that the information about the reported, publicly disclosed, or reported violations is true and within the scope of the

Mode

• Public reporting or disclosure must be made using the prescribed channels (internal, external, and public disclosure) according to the specified criteria).

More information in relation to ANAC's responsibilities is available by accessing the website of the said Authority(https://www.anticorruzione.it/ in the appropriate section).

PLEASE NOTE:

ANAC has provided penalties of €500 to €2,500 for whistleblowers if the whistleblower is found to be criminally liable for the crimes of defamation or slander.