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In implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937, the Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023 “the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law and laying down provisions concerning the protection of persons who report breaches of national regulatory provisions”. The decree applies to bodies in the public and private sectors. With particular reference to the latter sector, the legislation extends the scope of application to bodies that have employed an average of at least fifty subordinate workers in the last year or, even below this limit, to entities that deal with the so-called sensitive sectors (financial services, products and markets and prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing, transport safety and environmental protection) and those that adopt organisation and management models pursuant to legislative decree 231/2001.

What can be reported

  • administrative, accounting, civil or criminal offences; 
  • unlawful conduct relevant under Legislative Decree 231/2001, or violations of the organisation and management models provided for therein;
  • offences falling within the scope of European Union or national acts in 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 frustrate the object or purpose of Union acts provisions.
  • acts or omissions relating to the internal market;
  • acts or conduct that frustrate the object or purpose of Union acts provisions.
  • offences falling within the scope of European Union or national acts in 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 frustrate the object or purpose of Union acts provisions.

What cannot be reported

The legislator specifies what cannot be reported: in particular, objections, 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 figures are excluded from the whistleblowing rules.

Who can report

  • Employees and collaborators of El.Co. srl;
  • Freelancers and consultants working at El.Co. srl;
  • Paid and unpaid volunteers and trainees working at El.Co. srl;
  • 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 context.

Protecting the identity and safeguarding the confidentiality of the reporting party

  • Except with the express consent of the data subject, the identity of the reporting party may not be disclosed to persons other than those authorised to receive or follow up reports. In the context of any criminal proceedings resulting from the report, the identity of the reporting person is covered by secrecy in the manner and to the extent provided for in article 329 of the code of criminal procedure.  In any proceedings before the Court of Audit, the identity of the reporting party may not be revealed until the investigation phase is closed;
  • Protection concerns not only the name of the reporting party but also all the elements of the report that the identification of the reporting party can be derived from, even indirectly;

    • The report is excluded from access to administrative acts and the right of generalised civic access;

  • The 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 on account of the report, subject to the same guarantees provided for in favour of the reporting party.

Protection from retaliation

  • Any form of retaliation, even if only attempted or threatened, carried out on account of the report and which causes or is likely to cause unfair harm to the whistleblower is prohibited;
  • Legislative Decree 24/2023 provides an extensive, non-exhaustive list of prohibited 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 sanctions, including fines, etc.)

How to make a report

Reporting channels

Internal reporting channel

Preferentially, whistleblowers must use the internal channel; only under special conditions may they make an external report or public disclosure.
To facilitate the use of this important tool for combating and preventing misconduct, El.Co. Srl provides the reporting party with a Safe online platform, which can be reached at https://elco.segnalazioni.info/#/..
For further details, refer to the whistleblowing procedure adopted by El.Co. srl at the bottom of the page. For information on the handling of personal data, refer to the dedicated privacy policy https://www.elco-italy.com/images/ElCo_Whistleblowing_informativa_00.pdf

External reporting channel and public disclosure

In the hypotheses provided for by the law (articles 6 and 15 of Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023), the Reporting Party may make 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 law and the company’s whistleblowing procedure. It should be noted that the option of using the external reporting channel set up at the ANAC can only take place if:

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

The Reporting Party may make an external Report through the channel set up by ANAC (accessible from its website) in the following cases:

  • offences falling within the scope of European Union or national acts in 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 affecting the internal market, including violations of EU competition and State aid rules as well as violations affecting the internal market related to acts in breach of corporate tax rules or mechanisms whose purpose is to obtain a tax advantage that frustrates the object or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law;
  • acts or conduct that frustrate the object or purpose of the provisions of Union acts in the areas indicated in the numbers above.

For the use of this external reporting channel, please refer to the guidelines and ANAC’s official website at this address: https://www.anticorruzione.it/-/whistleblowing Finally, it should be noted that upon the occurrence of the following conditions, set out in article 15 of the Whistleblowing Decree and on the ANAC website, the Whistleblower is allowed to resort to public disclosure if said Party:

  • previously made an internal and external report or made an external report directly and received no response;
  • has well-founded reasons to believe that the breach 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 due to the specific circumstances of the case, such as where evidence may be concealed or destroyed, or where there is a well-founded fear that the recipient of the report may be colluding with or involved in the very violation.