Whistleblowing: ANAC Guidelines Outline

Whistleblowing: ANAC Guidelines Outline

Whistleblowing: ANAC Guidelines Outline

We hereby inform you that, in compliance with the provisions of Art. 10 of Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023 (“Decree“), the National Authority for Anti-Corruption (“ANAC“) has drafted a “preliminary outline of guidelines on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law and the protection of persons who report breaches of national legislation“.

LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO. 24 OF 10 MARCH 2023

As previously brought to your attention in Alert No. 14/2023, the Decree has transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (“Whistleblowing Directive“) to our legal system, introducing significant innovations with respect to the previous rules: three types of reporting channels (internal, external, public disclosure) are set out and the category of protected subjects has been expanded.

THE CONTENT OF THE OUTLINE OF THE GUIDELINES

ANAC prepared a preliminary outline of guidelines concerning the procedures to be followed for the submission and management of external reports.

In the outline of the guidelines, ANAC points out, first of all, that only the reports proposed by the entitled persons, as indicated in Article 3 of the Decree, will be taken into consideration.

The channels through which the ANAC will be able to acquire the report are then anticipated:

  • via computer platform;
  • orally;
  • through face-to-face meetings set within a reasonable period of time.

ANAC specifies that the IT platform which will be implemented, will allow the management of the report in a way that guarantees the “security and technological confidentiality of the reporting process’”, through the use of an encryption protocol.

ANAC also defines the following profiles:

  • the timing with which the reporting person will be informed of the receipt of the report by ANAC (within 7 days from its acquisition);
  • the modalities by which the preliminary investigation will be carried out and any request for integration to the reporting person;
  • the timeframe within which ANAC will provide feedback to the reporting person (within three or six months, upon the occurrence of justified and reasoned reasons, from the date of receipt of the external report or, failing that, from the date of receipt of the 7 days).

As regards the fulfilment of the conditions for making an external report to the ANAC, please refer to the requirements set out in Article 6 of the Decree.

Lastly, a careful examination of the aforementioned guidelines is recommended, since the ANAC, in addition to highlighting the differences between the new regulations and the previous ones, has also highlighted certain general principles in the drafting of organizational, management and control models pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 231/2001.

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We remain at your disposal for any clarification.