Whistleblowing aims to bring to light illegal activities of general interest in a public or private organisation by those who work for or are in contact with it in the course of their work.
Whistleblowing regulations, Legislative Decree No. 24/2023 implementing European Directive No. 1937/2019
The main elements of the regulations:
• Tool for preventing illegal activities;
• Exercise of a right;
• Single regulatory text on reporting channels and protections (public and private sector);
• Greater protection for whistleblowers.
The decree entrusts ANAC – the National Anti-Corruption Authority – with three powers: regulatory power, power to manage external reports and power to impose sanctions.
The reporting channels generally provided for reporting illegal activities are as follows:
• Internal – company whistleblowing procedure
• External managed by ANAC
• Public disclosures
• Reporting to the authorities
Company reporting channel
Compliance deadlines:
From the date of entry into force of the regulation, all companies falling within the scope of the Decree are required to make their own reporting channel available.
For companies with more than 250 employees in the previous year (on average), the obligation applies from 15 July 2023. The longer deadline of 17 December 2023 applies to private sector entities that employed up to 249 workers in the last year.
The scope of application of the regulations differs based on:
• the subject of the violation;
• the nature of the entity, public or private, to which the whistleblower belongs;
• the size of the private entity and concrete applicability: the Decree extends the obligation to implement a reporting channel for illegal activities to companies in so-called sensitive sectors (for example: financial markets, prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, transport safety and environmental protection) with an average number of employees of less than 50 in the previous year.
What can be reported?
• Administrative, accounting, civil and criminal offences
• Illegal conduct or violations of organisational models (where applicable)
• Violations of European regulations
The provisions do not apply to disputes or claims of personal interest/individual relationships.
Reports must be taken on within 7 days and the investigation must be closed within 90 days.
For private sector entities, the Decree also requires the proceduralisation of whistleblowing activities by integrating the internal control and organisational systems through the activation of an efficient internal channel that allows for the timely and effective management of reports.
Penalties
ANAC may impose penalties ranging from €10,000 to €50,000 in the following cases:
• If retaliation has been committed or when it ascertains that the report has been obstructed;
• If reporting channels have not been established, or if procedures for implementing and managing them have not been adopted.