Whistleblowing is a fundamental tool for corporate compliance, through which employees or third parties (such as a supplier or customer) of a company can confidentially and securely report any wrongdoing encountered during their activities.<\/p>\n\n
Today, on Thursday, May 25, 2023, a Webinar on Whistleblowing was organized by the Italian-Czech Chamber of Commerce. Specifically, the webinar focused on the implementation of the Whistleblowing Directive, the challenges involved, and their respective solutions. The topics discussed can be divided into two parts. The first part provides a general overview of the European Directive and its current status, the obligations and responsibilities of the parties involved, and the two types of reporting channels: internal and external. The second part delves deeper into potential solutions, particularly the sharing of resources, outsourcing, and Whistleblowing platforms. Additionally, a comparison was made between the situation in the Czech Republic and Italy. Pavel Koukal, Head of the Compliance Practice Group at R\u00f6dl & Partner in Prague, and Alice Meier, R\u00f6dl & Partner Partner, Camic Associate, and qualified lawyer in Italy and registered to practice law in the Czech Republic as a European Lawyer, respectively presented and discussed the two sections.<\/p>\n
Directive (EU) 2019\/1937 protects and safeguards individuals who report violations of Union law, defines its application, and imposes the obligation to establish internal and external channels for reporting such violations. The directive also prohibits retaliation and provides other measures for the protection of whistleblowers. Specifically, whistleblowers cannot suffer retaliation, such as dismissal, suspension, demotion, change of job functions, relocation, salary reduction, modification of working hours, and other forms of retaliation. In the Czech Republic, the law on the protection of whistleblowers, also known as Whistleblowers, has not yet been implemented but is in the final stage of parliamentary deliberation. It requires the establishment of an internal reporting system for the so-called obligated entities and an external reporting channel represented by the Czech Ministry of Justice. A violation report must include information about the violation, which may involve criminal offenses, misconduct, or other illegal acts in specific areas of public interest, and it is a report made within the work context. Obligated entities include all employers with 50 or more employees, and the obligations to be met include establishing a reporting channel, defining the reporting procedures, designating a “competent authority” to receive and evaluate reports, and ensuring confidentiality of the whistleblower’s identity and the content of the report. The internal representative is appointed by the obligated entity and carries out all tasks related to the management of the internal reporting channel, complies with confidentiality requirements, and assesses the validity of the reports.<\/p>\n
Among the options that can be implemented to simplify various whistleblowing obligations is outsourcing, which involves delegating the management of the reporting channel to a third party (external entity). However, there are limitations, and the responsibility ultimately rests with the obligated entity. Another proposed solution is the sharing of resources, which is only possible for companies employing up to 249 employees. In addition, there are whistleblowing platforms available to facilitate the receipt of information on the subject, such as NNTB or Face Up Technology. It is also important to protect and safeguard the personal data of the parties involved while respecting the principles and obligations provided by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the protection of personal data.<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.camic.cz\/it\/<\/p>\n
Source of Images: https:\/\/pixabay.com\/<\/p>\n
Graphic Source: https:\/\/storyset.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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