ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Davide Giorgiadi, Giulia Barattini and Carlotta Scozia, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
For more details on the protection of whistle- blowers, see 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whis - tle-Blowers . 6.4 Protections Afforded to Whistle- Blowers The so-called Whistleblowing Decree provides a general framework for both public and private sector whistle-blowing and affords protection to persons who report violations of national or EU regulatory provisions that damage the pub - lic interest, or the integrity of the public admin - istration or private entities, of which they have become aware in a public or private employment context. The Decree expanded the scope of the whistle- blowing regulations to (i) all public sector entities and (ii) private entities that: • have employed an average of at least 50 employees under permanent or fixed-term employment contracts in the last year; • adopt organisation, management and control models pursuant to Legislative Decree No 231/2001, even if they have not had an aver - age of at least 50 employees in the last year; and • operate in European-regulated sectors (eg, the financial market sector), even if they have not had an average of at least 50 employees in the last year. The subjects and the object of whistle-blowing have also been expanded: the list of individuals who can make whistle-blowing reports includes employees of public administrations, employ - ees of public economic entities, employees of private sector entities, self-employed workers, workers or collaborators who carry out their work activities at entities in the public sector that provide goods or services, or carry out works for
third parties, freelancers and consultants, vol - unteers and trainees, shareholders and persons holding administrative, managerial, supervisory or representative positions, including when such positions are held on a de facto basis. Whistle-blowers can report actual or potential violations of European and national legislation (related to the areas indicated in the Decree, which are broader for the public sector) and, for entities that adopted organisation, manage - ment and control models pursuant to Legislative Decree No 231/2001, violations related to Legis - lative Decree No 231/2001. It is worth mention - ing that the regulations do not apply to disputes of a personal nature or violations concerning certain specific matters indicated in the Decree. The Whistleblowing Decree provides for a mul - tichannel reporting system: • public and private sector entities are required to implement an internal channel for the transmission and management of reports – the requirements and management process of such a channel (which must ensure the confidentiality of the identity of the reporter) are set forth in Article 5 of the Decree; • the Decree also provides for individuals in both the public and private sectors to make a report through an external channel – the National Anti-Corruption Authority ( Autorità Nazionale AntiCorruzione ANAC) is responsi - ble for activating and managing this channel, and the requirements and management pro - cess thereof (which must ensure the confi - dentiality of the identity of the reporter) are set forth in Article 6 onwards of the Decree; and • the Decree introduces an additional way of reporting by means of public disclosure – with public disclosure, information on violations is
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