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WHISTLEBLOWING DIRECTIVE

Published on : 08/11/2023 08 November Nov 11 2023

On March, 9 2023, the Italian Council of Ministers approved the decree implementing Directive (EU) no. 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 October 2019, concerning the protection of persons who report violations of the European Union law.

The Directive provides for the rules and the procedures aimed at guaranteeing effective protection of whistleblowers, as people who report information acquired in a professional context on:
  1. Violations of the European Union law (in some key sectors such as, but not limited to, public procurement, services, products and financial markets, prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, product safety and compliance, transport safety rail, road, maritime and inland waterways etc.);
  2. Violations harming the financial interests of the Union;
  3. Violations relating to the internal market, including infringements of Union competition and state aid rules, as well as infringement relating to national corporate tax rules.
The law covers a wide range of whistleblowers who work in the private or public sector, including self-employed workers and people who provide reports after the end of their employment relationship.

Whistleblowers benefit from protection if they have previously reported the violation but no action has been taken and they have reasonable grounds to believe that there is an imminent or clear danger to the public interest. They also enjoy protection when there is a risk of retaliation or when there is little prospect that the violation will be effectively addressed.

Whistleblowers, as stated by the Directive, are protected from any kind of retaliation, as dismissal, demotion, intimation and inclusion in blacklists.

The new legislation protecting whistleblowers came into force on July 15, 2023 and applies to all employers, regardless of the adoption of the so-called 231 organizational model. For private sector, entities who have employed, in the last year, an average of employed workers with permanent or fixed-term employment contracts up to 249, the obligation to establish the internal reporting channel will take effect from December 17, 2023.

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