ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Francesca Lazzeri, Andrea Gaudio and Guido Stampanoni Bassi, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
Legislative Decree No 24/2023 has reformed the reg - ulation of reporting channels not only by enhancing protections for whistle-blowers, but also by expand - ing the obligations and specifying the methods for managing information and documentation related to reports of unlawful conduct. It is mandatory that public and private entities estab - lish reporting channels managed by specially trained personnel, and that they implement a reporting plat - form. For more details on the protection of whistle-blowers, see 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whistle-Blowers . 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whistle-Blowers The Whistleblowing Decree establishes a unified regu - latory framework governing whistle-blowing in both the public and private sectors, ensuring protection for individuals who, within the context of an employ - ment relationship, report violations of national or EU provisions that are detrimental to the public interest or to the integrity of public administrations or private entities. The Decree broadens the subjective and objective scope of protection to include all public sector enti - ties and private entities that: (i) employ at least 50 workers; (ii) have adopted organisation, management and control models pursuant to Legislative Decree No 231/2001; or (iii) operate in EU-regulated sectors, regardless of workforce size. The category of potential whistle-blowers encompass - es employees, self-employed workers, collaborators, consultants, volunteers and trainees, shareholders, and individuals holding administrative, managerial or supervisory positions, including de facto roles. Reports may concern actual or potential breaches of European or domestic law – particularly those related to Decree No 231/2001 – but exclude personal dis - putes or matters that are expressly exempted. The Decree introduces a multichannel reporting system comprising: (i) an internal channel (Article 5); (ii) an external channel managed by ANAC (Articles 6 et seq.); and (iii) public disclosure (Article 15) – with the
latter two permissible only under the conditions pre - scribed by law. Central to the system is an extensive framework of guarantees: confidentiality protection, prohibition of retaliatory acts, assistance by non-profit entities, exemption from liability in specific cases, and limits on waivers or settlements affecting statutory protections. 6.5 Incentives Provided to Whistle-Blowers No incentive is offered to whistle-blowers for reporting bribery or corruption. The only “incentive” (more properly a kind of “protec - tion”) for the whistle-blower is provided by Article 20 of Legislative Decree No 24/2023, where those who disclose or disseminate information about violations covered by the obligation of secrecy will not be pun - ishable when, at the time of disclosure, there were reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure was necessary to uncover the violation. Unless the act is a crime, the whistle-blower will not incur any liability for acquiring information on violations or accessing the same. In any case, criminal liability and any other liability shall not be excluded for conduct that is not related to reporting or that is not strictly necessary to disclose the violation. Finally, it is worth highlighting that the Decree provides support via non-profit entities that give information, assistance and free advice on how to report, protec - tion from retaliation, and the terms and conditions of access to legal aid for the person involved (Article 18). Regarding the exonerating circumstance under Arti - cle 323-ter ICC in the event of self-incrimination and effective co-operation with the judicial authority, see 4.5 Safe Harbour or Amnesty Programme .
7. Enforcement Trends 7.1 Enforcement
As mentioned previously, in the Italian jurisdiction, the main anti-bribery and anti-corruption provisions are included in the Criminal Code, which describes conduct that may constitute crimes and provides for sanctions.
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