Reporting offences and irregularities (whistleblowing)

 

In the context of work, we may become aware of facts and misconduct, which may damage the public interest and the image of the University of Verona.

Anyone who reports maladministration, possible conflicts of interest or alleged corruption demonstrates ethical conduct and helps prevent further corruption.

With Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023, which implements Directive (EU) 2019/1937 in Italy, the Legislator amended the previous regulations (cf. Law 179/2017), setting up a system of greater protections for the person who reports wrongdoing (whistleblower is the Anglo-Saxon term that has become commonly used).

In order to better clarify the scope of regulatory interventions, the National Anti-Corruption Authority has adopted specific "Guidelines on the protection of persons who report violations of EU law and the protection of persons who report violations of national regulatory provisions".

Who can report

The subjects who can submit the reports and who are covered by the protections described below, are all subjects who are, even temporarily, in an employment relationship with the University of Verona, even if they do not qualify as employees, as well as those whose relationship has ended or who are in a probationary period (e.g.:  students, volunteers, trainees, self-employed workers, collaborators in any capacity, freelancers, consultants, persons with administrative, managerial, control, supervisory or representative functions, even if such functions are exercised on a purely de facto basis).

Safeguards for whistleblowers: prohibition of retaliation and protection of confidentiality

The whistleblower may not be subject to retaliation, nor any type of behaviour, act or omission, even if only attempted or threatened, carried out by reason of the report, the complaint to the judicial or accounting authority or the public disclosure and which causes or may provoke the reporting person or the person who filed the complaint, directly or indirectly,  unfair harm (e.g., dismissal, demotion in grade, failure to promote, salary reduction, change in working hours, negative references, intimidation, harassment, discrimination, early termination of a fixed-term employment contract).

These protections are also granted to those subjects other than the whistleblower who could be the recipients of retaliation, even indirect, due to the role assumed in the reporting, public disclosure or complaint process and/or the particular relationship that binds them to the whistleblower or complainant; for example:

• Facilitator: a natural person who assists the whistleblower in the reporting process, operating within the same work context and whose assistance must be kept confidential (e.g.: the facilitator could be a colleague from an office other than the one to which the whistleblower belongs who assists the latter in the reporting process on a confidential basis, i.e. without disclosing the information learned, or a colleague who also holds the status of trade unionist,  without spending the union acronym).
• Persons in the same working context as the whistleblower who are linked to them by a stable emotional or family bond within the fourth degree (e.g.: colleagues, former colleagues, collaborators who have a family or a stable emotional bond with the whistleblower, primarily those who have a cohabitation relationship with the whistleblower).
• Work colleagues of the whistleblower who work in the same work context as the same person and who have a habitual and current relationship with that person.
• Entities owned - exclusively or majority-owned by third parties - of the whistleblower (e.g.: companies that provide goods or services for the University in which the whistleblower holds shares in the share capital).
• Entities where the whistleblower works.
• Entities that operate in the same working context as the whistleblower (e.g.: where an employee of one of the entities that have entered into an agreement for the associated management of a service, reports violations committed, as part of the management of the same service, by an associated entity).

Strong safeguards are provided for the confidentiality of the whistleblower: the identity of the reporting person and any other information from which this identity can be inferred, directly or indirectly, cannot be revealed, without the express consent of the reporting person himself, to subjects other than the RPCT and the officials of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit authorized to receive and follow up on the reports.

In criminal proceedings, the identity of the reporting person is covered by secrecy in the manner and within the limits laid down in Article 329 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ("Obligation of secrecy": general rule limiting the knowledge of facts during investigations: all investigative acts are covered by secrecy until the suspect is aware of them).

In proceedings before the Court of Auditors, the identity of the reporting person may not be revealed until the investigation phase has been closed.

In the context of disciplinary proceedings, the identity of the reporting person cannot be revealed, if the objection to the disciplinary charge is based on separate and additional investigations with respect to the report, even if they are consequent to the same. If the complaint is based, in whole or in part, on the report and knowledge of the identity of the reporting person is indispensable for the defence of the accused, the report will be used for the purposes of disciplinary proceedings only in the presence of the express consent of the reporting person to the disclosure of his or her identity.

The report is exempt from both documentary and civic access, as provided for in Articles 22 et seq. of Law No. 241 of 7 August 1990, as well as Articles 5 et seq. of Legislative Decree No. 33 of 14 March 2013.

The reports and the related documentation are kept for the time necessary to process the report and in any case no longer than 5 years from the date of communication of the final outcome of the reporting procedure.

Important: all the protections referred to are NO longer guaranteed when the criminal liability of the reporting person for the crimes of defamation or slander or in any case for the same crimes committed with the complaint to the judicial or accounting authority or his civil liability, for the same reason, has been ascertained, even with a first instance judgment, in cases of wilful misconduct or gross negligence. In such cases, a disciplinary sanction is imposed on the reporting person.

If it is believed that the person concerned has been retaliated against for the report made, the person concerned must contact the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) which may avail itself, within its respective competence, of the collaboration of the Civil Service Inspectorate and the National Labour Inspectorate. ANAC must ascertain that the conduct (act or omission) deemed retaliatory is consequent to the report, complaint or disclosure. Once the whistleblower proves that they have made a report in accordance with the law and that they have suffered retaliatory behaviour, the employer has the burden of proving that such behaviour is in no way related to the report.

What you can report

Information (including well-founded suspicions) on violations of national or European Union regulatory provisions that harm the public interest or integrity of the University of Verona is reported. The information may relate to violations already committed and violations not yet committed that the whistleblower reasonably believes could be committed on the basis of concrete evidence, but also information or elements concerning conduct aimed at concealing violations (e.g., activities aimed at concealing or destroying evidence about the commission of the violation).

In particular, information is reported concerning:

• Administrative, accounting, civil or criminal offences;
• Offences falling within the scope of EU or national acts in the following areas: public procurement; financial services, products and markets and the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; protection of privacy and protection of personal data 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 which frustrates the object or purpose of the provisions laid down in Union acts.

There is no detailed list of facts, situations or offences that can be reported: corrupt or unlawful acts include the abuse of powers to obtain private advantages, the malfunctioning or pollution of administrative action from the outside, favouritism and behaviours that contrast with the care of the public interest and undermine citizens' trust in the impartiality of the public administration.

They also include waste, nepotism, demotion, repeated failure to comply with the deadlines of administrative procedures, non-transparent recruitment, accounting irregularities, false declarations, violation of environmental and occupational safety regulations.

Important: The damage or potential harm must be of a public nature, so the report cannot be about personal complaints or claims.

What you can NOT report

The following are not included in the information on reportable or reportable violations:

• The blatantly baseless news
• information that is already totally in the public domain
• information acquired only on the basis of unreliable rumours or rumours (e.g. rumours)
• irregularities in the management or organization of the activities of the University of Verona
• disputes, claims or requests related to a personal interest of the reporting person that relate exclusively to their individual employment or public employment relationships, or inherent to their employment or public employment relationships with hierarchically superior figures (e.g.: reports concerning labor disputes, discrimination between colleagues, interpersonal conflicts between the reporting person and another worker)

Reporting Channels

The Legislator has provided for a diversified system for the submission of reports. First of all, it has provided that reports must be submitted through the University's "internal channel".

Only if there are particular conditions specifically provided for by the legislator, then the whistleblowers can resort to the "external channel" activated at ANAC.

At the same time, the legislator, with a view to making it possible to choose the most appropriate reporting channel according to the specific circumstances of the case, and therefore to ensure broader protection, has also provided for the possibility of making a public disclosure or reporting to the judicial or accounting authorities. In such cases, too, special conditions must be met.

Internal Signaling

The internal report can be submitted in the following ways:

1. in written digital form, by accessing the Platform made available by the University through the following link https://univr.segnalazioni.net
2. in digital voice form, by accessing the above Platform and recording the voice signal to which a voice distortion will be applied

 

The platform, managed  by DigitalPA, a third party with respect to the University and on its own servers, guarantees full compliance with the provisions of the law and the indications of ANAC: therefore the confidentiality of the identity of the reporting person, the facilitator, the person involved and the person in any case mentioned in the report, as well as its content and documentation, are protected by means of encryption tools and digital alteration of the entry in case of recorded oral reporting.

 

3. arranging a meeting with the RPCT by phone at 045 802 8777 / -8589.

 

 

The report was received by the Head of Corruption Prevention and Transparency (RPCT), the latter:

• issues the whistleblower with an acknowledgement of receipt of the report within 7 days from the date of receipt;
• carries out a preliminary examination of the report to assess the existence of the essential requirements and to assess its admissibility in order to be able to grant the whistleblower the protections provided for by law (an activity that is normally concluded within 15 days of the acknowledgement of receipt of the report). To carry out this assessment, the RPCT verifies whether the report is manifestly unfounded due to the absence of factual elements capable of justifying investigations and the possible generality of the content of the report, if such as not to allow the understanding of the facts or if accompanied by inappropriate or irrelevant documentation;
• if what has been reported is not adequately substantiated, it may request additional information from the whistleblower with whom it maintains constant dialogue via email or telephone numbers, or even in person, if the whistleblower has requested a direct meeting;
• in the event of manifest and obvious groundlessness of the report, it archives it and notifies the whistleblower;
• If the report is admissible and qualifies as whistleblowing, it initiates an internal investigation into the facts or conduct reported to assess the existence of the same, respecting the protection of confidentiality. In order to better assess the facts, it may obtain clarifications, for example by arranging for the hearing of the whistleblower and any other interested parties (an activity that is normally concluded within 3 months of the acknowledgement of receipt of the report);
• At the end of the investigation, it provides feedback to the whistleblower, giving an account of the measures planned or adopted or to be adopted to follow up on the report and the reasons for the choice made.

 

The Head of Corruption Prevention and Transparency for the management of the investigation related to the reports avails himself of the collaboration of the support team of the Transparency and Data Protection Area.

What the internal report should contain

It is necessary that the report is as detailed as possible in order to allow a proper investigation of the facts by the RPCT.

In particular, it is necessary to be clear:

• the identity of the whistleblower and the position held within the University (this information is essential in order to qualify the whistleblower as a Whistleblower)
• the circumstances of time and place in which the event that is the subject of the report occurred
• a detailed description of the violation
• personal details or other elements that make it possible to identify the person to whom the reported facts are attributed

It is also useful to attach documents that can provide elements of validity of the facts being reported, as well as the indication of other subjects potentially aware of the facts.

Important: reports that are outside the University's sphere of competence or manifestly unfounded, due to the absence of factual elements capable of justifying investigations, cannot be taken into consideration when there are no legal requirements for the application of the sanction or when they pursue the sole purpose of harming or causing annoyance to others.

Reporting to ANAC

Whistleblowers may use the external channel made available by ANAC only if:

• there is no mandatory activation of the internal reporting channel in the context of the work context, i.e. this, even if mandatory, is not active or, even if activated, does not comply with what is required by law;
• the reporting person has already made an internal report and the same has not been followed up;
• the reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that, if he or she were to make an internal report, it would not be effectively followed up or that the report could lead to a risk of retaliation;
• The reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that the breach may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest.

Public Disclosure

Public disclosure means making information about violations public through the press or electronic means or in any case through means of dissemination capable of reaching a large number of people.

Whistleblowers may directly make a public disclosure when:

• the reporting person has previously made an internal and external report or has directly made an external report and has not been responded to within the established deadlines regarding the measures envisaged or adopted to follow up on the reports;
• the reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that the breach may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;
• The reporting person has reasonable grounds to believe that the external report may entail a risk of retaliation or may not be effectively followed up due to the specific circumstances of the case, such as those where evidence may be concealed or destroyed or where there is a well-founded fear that the person receiving the report may be colluding with or involved in the violator.

It is not punishable who reveals or disseminates information on violations covered by the duty of secrecy, other than the legal and medical professional duty, or relating to the protection of copyright or the protection of personal data or if, at the time of the report, complaint or disclosure, he had reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure or dissemination of the information was necessary to make the report and the same was carried out in the manner required by the law.

Sanctions

Without prejudice to the other aspects of liability, ANAC applies the following administrative fines to those responsible for violations of the aforementioned legal provisions:

1. €10,000 to €50,000 when it finds that retaliation has been committed or when it finds that the report has been obstructed or attempted to be obstructed or that the duty of confidentiality has been violated;
2. from €10,000 to €50,000 when it ascertains that no reporting channels have been established, that procedures have not been adopted for the making and management of reports or that the adoption of such procedures does not comply with the law, as well as when it ascertains that the verification and analysis of the reports received has not been carried out;
3. from €500 to €2,500, in the event of loss of protection, unless the reporting person has been convicted, even in the first instance, of the crimes of defamation or slander or in any case for the same crimes committed with the report to the judicial or accounting authorities.