COMMUNICATION PURSUANT TO ART. 5 Legislative Decree. No. 24/2023
In implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937, Legislative Decree no. was issued. 24 of 10 March 2023 concerning “the protection of people who report violations of Union law” and containing provisions regarding the protection of people who report violations of the provisions governed by the Whistleblowing Regulation.
In compliance with the Whistleblowing Regulations, ADVZON has activated specific internal reporting channels and adopted a Whistleblowing Procedure.
Below is the information necessary to be able to make reports in compliance with the Whistleblowing Regulations and the provisions of the Whistleblowing Procedure regarding the latter and, consequently, to be able to benefit from the relevant forms of protection.
Reports can be made by those who fall into one of the following categories of subjects:
employee, collaborator;
volunteer, intern (even unpaid);
shareholder, person with administrative, management, control, supervisory or representation functions, even de facto;
self-employed worker, consultant, freelancer;
worker/collaborator at the supplier of goods, services and works to the Company.
The protection of the whistleblower also applies when the legal relationship with the Company has not yet begun, if the information on the violations was acquired during the selection process or in other pre-contractual phases, as well as during the probationary period and following the dissolution of the relationship legal, if the information on the violations was acquired during the relationship itself.
Anonymous reports, although they do not constitute “reports” within the meaning of the Whistleblowing Regulation, will be handled provided they contain sufficient and detailed factual elements to verify what is the subject of the report.
If the anonymous whistleblower is subsequently identified and the legal conditions are met, the protection measures against any retaliation suffered will also apply to him.
In compliance with the Whistleblowing Regulations, conduct, acts or omissions which damage the integrity of the Company or the public interest of which one becomes aware in the work context and which consist of:
offences that fall within the scope of application of European Union or national acts, including national ones implementing European Union acts relating, in particular – taking into account the context in which the Company operates and the activities carried out by the same – to following sectors: product safety and conformity, environmental protection, public health, consumer protection, protection of privacy and protection of personal data, security of networks and information systems (the annex to the Whistleblowing Regulation which specifically indicates the rules to which the regulation is applicable can be viewed, within the same, at the link https://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2023-03-10;24@ original;
acts or omissions that harm the financial interests of the European Union;
acts or omissions relating to the internal market, including infringements of Union rules on competition and State aid, as well as corporate tax;
acts or behaviors that nullify the object or purpose of the provisions of the European Union acts in the sectors indicated above.
Disputes, claims or requests linked to a personal interest of the reporting person, which relate exclusively to their individual working relationships, or inherent to their working relationships with hierarchically superior figures, do not fall within the scope of application of the Whistleblowing Regulation. The reporting party benefits from the protections provided by the Whistleblowing Regulations when the following conditions apply:
at the time of reporting, you have reasonable grounds to believe that the information on the reported violations is true and falls within the scope of what can be reported;
made the report in compliance with the prescribed methods.
The aforementioned conditions also apply in the case of public disclosure or reporting to the judicial or accounting authority.
ADVZON has made the following internal reporting channels available for reporting violations and offences as better specified above:
Oral reporting: to be forwarded through the voice messaging system present in the IT platform.
Direct meeting: upon request of the Whistleblower, via e-mail address: whistleblowing@advzon.com, a direct meeting will be arranged.
It is possible to communicate violations and offences according to the Whistleblowing Regulation also using other methods, different from the Company’s internal channels, but only where certain legal conditions are met, namely:
external channel of the ANAC, according to the methods made available by the Authority and whose specifications are available on its web page at the following link https://www.anticorruzione.it/-/whistleblowing, in the following cases:
internal reporting channel not active or not compliant with legal requirements;
internal reporting already made without any follow-up;
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that, if he/she made an internal report, it would not be followed up effectively or that the same report could lead to the risk of retaliation;
the reporting party has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest.
Public disclosure (i.e.: through the press, electronic means or means of dissemination capable of reaching a large number of people) in the following cases:
the whistleblower has previously made an internal and external report or has directly made an external report, under the conditions and methods established by the Whistleblowing Regulations, and no response has been given within the established deadlines regarding the measures envisaged or adopted to follow up to reports;
the reporting party has reasonable grounds to believe that the violation may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;
the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that the external report may involve the risk of retaliation or may not be effectively followed up due to the specific circumstances of the specific case, such as those in which evidence may be hidden or destroyed or in which there is well-founded fear that the person receiving the report may be colluding with the perpetrator of the violation or involved in the violation itself.
The manager of the report received through internal channels is required to:
give notice to the reporting person of receipt of the report within 7 days of the date of its receipt;
maintain discussions with the reporting person, being able to request additions from the latter, if necessary;
diligently follow up on the reports received and, therefore, carry out the necessary investigation, also making use of personnel internal or external to the organisation (always in compliance with confidentiality obligations);
give feedback to the reporting person within 3 months from the date of acknowledgment of receipt of the report (or, in the absence of such notice, from the expiry of 7 days from receipt) on the follow-up that has been given or that is intended to be given to the report (i.e. action undertaken to evaluate the existence of the facts reported, the outcome of the investigations and any measures adopted). With reference to the reports forwarded to the ANAC through the external channel, the methods for managing them are available on the Authority’s web page (https://www.anticorruzione.it/-/whistleblowing).
The Whistleblowing Regulation provides, under certain conditions, specific guarantees and protections in favour of the whistleblower, in some cases also extended to other expressly identified subjects, as well as specific provisions regarding the responsibilities of the same connected to the reporting, public disclosure or complaint to the judicial authority or accountant.
The identity of the reporter – and all the elements of the report from which the identification of the subject can be deduced, even indirectly – cannot be revealed to people other than the manager of the report, unless the reporter himself has given his consent expressed at revelation.
The protection of confidentiality is extended to the “facilitator” (i.e. the natural person who assists the whistleblower in the reporting process, operating within the same work context and whose assistance must be kept confidential), to the identity of the people involved (so-called reported person) and of the people mentioned in the report until the conclusion of the proceedings initiated as a result of the report, in compliance with the same guarantees provided in favor of the reporting person.
Dismissal, change of duties, adoption of disciplinary measures as well as any other behaviour, act or omission, even if only attempted or threatened, carried out by the Company as a result of the report, the complaint to the judicial or accounting authority, are null and void. or public disclosure, which causes or may cause unfair harm to a person.
The whistleblower can communicate to ANAC the retaliation he believes he has suffered.
The protection measures of the whistleblower (or of the person who has filed a complaint with the judicial or accounting authority or of the person who has made a public disclosure) against retaliation, provided for by the Whistleblowing Regulation, also apply:
to the facilitator;
to people from the same working context as the reporting person and who are linked to the same by a stable emotional or kinship bond within the fourth degree, to colleagues of the reporting person who work in the same working context and who have a usual and current relationship with said person;
to the entities owned by the reporting person or for which he works, as well as to the entities that operate in the same working context as him.
The aforementioned protections are not 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 report to the judicial or accounting authority or its civil liability, for the same reason, in cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence.
In such cases, a disciplinary sanction may be imposed on the reporting or reporting person.
Unless the fact constitutes a crime, any liability is excluded, even of a civil or administrative nature, for the acquisition of information on violations or for access to them.
Furthermore, anyone who reveals or disseminates information on violations is not punishable:
covered by the obligation of secrecy, other than professional forensic and medical secrecy;
relating to the protection of copyright;
relating to the protection of personal data;
that offend the reputation of the person involved;
if, at the time of the report, complaint or disclosure, you had reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure or dissemination of the information was necessary to reveal the violation and the report, complaint or disclosure was made in the manner required by the Whistleblowing Regulations.
Criminal liability and any other liability, even of a civil or administrative nature, is not excluded for the behaviour, acts or omissions of the whistleblower not connected to the report, the report to the judicial or accounting authority or to public disclosure or which does not are strictly necessary to reveal the violation.
The processing of personal data relating to the management of reports is carried out by the Company as Data Controller, in compliance with European and national regulations regarding the protection of personal data (EU Regulation 2016/679, Legislative Decree no. 196/2003 and subsequent amendments and Legislative Decree no. 24/2023), adopting appropriate measures to protect the rights and freedoms of the interested parties.
The data contained in the reports are processed by the recipient appointed as Data Processor pursuant to art. 28 of the GDPR, which may make use of subjects internal or external to the Company in carrying out investigative activities, always in compliance with the confidentiality obligations established by law to protect the identity of the reporter (and any facilitator), of the reported person and of the persons however mentioned in the report.
Personal data that is clearly not useful for processing a specific report are not collected or, if collected accidentally, are deleted immediately. The reports and the related documentation are kept for the time necessary to process the report and in any case no later than five years from the date of communication of the final outcome of the reporting procedure, in compliance with confidentiality obligations.
It is specified that the rights of the interested party referred to in articles 15 to 22 of the GDPR cannot be exercised with a request to the Data Controller or with a complaint pursuant to art. 77 of the GDPR, if the exercise of these rights could result in an effective and concrete prejudice to the confidentiality of the identity of the person reporting violations of which he or she became aware due to his/her employment relationship or the functions performed pursuant to Legislative Decree. Legislative Decree no. 24/2023 (art. 2 underuse of Legislative Decree no. 196/2003). The exercise of the same rights may, in any case, be delayed, limited or excluded with a reasoned communication given without delay to the interested party. In such cases, the rights of the interested party can also be exercised through the Guarantor for the protection of personal data in the manner referred to in article 160 of Legislative Decree no. 196/2003.
