Whistleblowing

Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023 concerning “the protection of persons who report violations of European Union law and laying down provisions concerning the protection of persons who report violations of national laws” was enacted in implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937.

The decree applies to entities in the public and private sectors.

With particular reference to the private sector, the legislation extends the scope of application to entities that have employed an average of at least 50 employees in the last year or, even below this limit, to entities that deal with “sensitive” sectors (financial services, products and markets and prevention of money laundering or the financing of terrorism, transport safety and environmental protection), as well as to those that adopt organisation and management models pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 231/2001.

What can be reported

Conduct, acts or omissions detrimental to the public interest or the integrity of the public administration or the private entity and consisting of:

offences falling 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; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and personal data protection and security of networks and information systems;
acts or omissions affecting the financial interests of the Union;
acts or omissions relating to the internal market;
acts or conduct that undermine the object or purpose of the provisions of European Union acts.

At the time of the report or complaint to the judicial or accounting authorities or public disclosure, the person filing the report or complaint must have reasonable, well-founded grounds to believe that the information concerning the violations subject to the report, disclosure or complaint is true and falls within the scope of the legislation.

What cannot be reported

The legislation specifies what cannot be reported: in particular, disputes, claims or requests linked to a personal interest of the whistleblower, pertaining exclusively to the whistleblower’s individual employment relations and/or relations with hierarchically superior persons, are excluded from the whistleblowing rules.

Who can file a report

Employees and contractors of SITIP S.p.A.;
Self-employed professionals and consultants working for SITIP S.p.A.;
Paid and unpaid volunteers and trainees working for SITIP S.p.A.;
Shareholders (natural persons);
Persons with functions of administration, management, control, supervision or representation, even where such functions are exercised on a de facto basis.

For such persons, the protection also applies during the trial period and before or after the establishment of the employment relationship or other legal relationship related to the employment situation.

Protecting the identity and safeguarding the confidentiality of the whistleblower

The identity of the whistleblower may not be disclosed to persons other than those competent to receive or follow up on reports without the express consent of the whistleblower. In the context of any criminal proceedings resulting from the report, the identity of the whistleblower is confidential in the manner and to the extent provided for in Article 329 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In the context of any proceedings before the Court of Accounts, the identity of the whistleblower may not be revealed until the investigation phase is closed;
Protection concerns not only the name of the whistleblower but also all elements of the report from which the identification of the whistleblower may be derived, directly or indirectly;
The report is excluded from access to administrative acts and the right of generalised civic access;
Protection of confidentiality is extended to the identity of the persons involved and of the persons mentioned in the report until the conclusion of the proceedings initiated as a result of the report, subject to the same guarantees provided for in favour of the whistleblower.

Protection from retaliation

All forms of retaliation, including attempted and threatened retaliation, carried out in view of the report and which cause or may cause unfair harm to the whistleblower, are prohibited;
Legislative Decree No. 24 lays down an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of types of retaliation (dismissal, demotion, change of duties, change of place of work, reduction of salary, change of working hours, demerit notes or negative references, adoption of disciplinary measures or other penalties, including fines, etc.).

How to file a report

Whistleblowing channels

Internal channel (priority): via the web platform at https://sitip.segnalazioni.info/#/;
External channel (ANAC);
public disclosure (through the press, electronic media or media capable of reaching a large number of people).

Internal whistleblowing channel

As a priority, whistleblowers should use the internal channel; only under special conditions may they make an external report or public disclosure.

The recipient of the report is the ESG Committee of SITIP S.p.A.

To facilitate the use of this important tool for combating and preventing misconduct, SITIP S.p.A. provides the whistleblower with a secure online platform, which can be reached at https://sitip.segnalazioni.info/#/.

For information on personal data management, please refer to the dedicated privacy policy

External whistleblowing channel and public disclosure

In the cases provided for by law (Articles 6 and 15 of Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023), the Whistleblower may file an external report through the channel set up by ANAC (accessible on its website) or make a public disclosure, while retaining the right to the protections provided for by the legislation and the company’s whistleblowing procedure.

It should be noted that the external whistleblowing channel set up by ANAC may only be used if:

the internal whistleblowing channel indicated in the Procedure is not active;
the Whistleblower has already filed a Report via the channel indicated in the Procedure and the Report has not been followed up on;
the Whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that, if he or she filed an internal Report through the channel provided for in this Procedure, the Report would not be followed up on or the Report might lead to the risk of retaliation;
the Whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation to be reported may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest.

The Whistleblower may file an external Report through the channel set up by ANAC (accessible on its website) in the following cases:

offences falling 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; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and personal data protection and security of networks and information systems;
acts or omissions affecting the financial interests of the European Union;
acts or omissions concerning the internal market, including violations of European Union competition and State aid rules, as well as violations concerning the internal market related to acts in breach of company tax rules or mechanisms whose purpose is to obtain a tax advantage that undermines the object or purpose of the applicable company tax law;
acts or conduct that undermine the object or purpose of the provisions of Union acts in the areas indicated in the foregoing points.

For the use of this external whistleblowing channel, please refer to the guidelines and the official ANAC website.

Finally, it should be noted that in the following conditions, set out in Article 15 of the Whistleblowing Decree and on the ANAC website, the Whistleblower may resort to public disclosure if he/she:

has previously filed an internal and external report or filed an external report directly and received no response;
has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;
has reasonable grounds to believe that the external report may entail a risk of retaliation or may not be effectively followed up on due to the specific circumstances of the case, for example where evidence may be concealed or destroyed, or where there is a reasonable concern that the recipient of the report may be in collusion with the perpetrator or involved in the violation.