The new Whistleblowing Directive aims to enhance the enforcement of EU law and policies by establishing common minimum standards that protect persons who report breaches of the same. Areas of law falling within the Directive’s material scope include public procurement, financial services, environmental protection, consumer protection, and the protection of personal data.
For legal entities in the private and public sectors, Law 4990/2022 aims to establishment of channels and procedures for internal reporting and follow-up. Accordingly, legal entities in the private sector with 250 or more employees must comply by 11 May 2023, while entities with 50 to 249 employees must do so by 17 December 2023.
Obligations according to the new Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1937:
- Establishment of reporting channels and procedures
- Provision of appropriate information relating to the use of internal reporting channels
- Recording of the incidents and reports
In addition to the requirement to comply with the provisions of the Directive and the national implementing legislation, internal escalation procedures have many times been proven as non-adequate in order to capture sensitive issues, whilst local culture and the way such procedures are perceived by employees may be an additional obstacle in uncovering unlawful behavior on the basis of information provided voluntarily from within the business organization, and from those who have access or knowledge not available to the higher levels of the hierarchy.
The consulting service, offered by Andersen Legal, ensures compliance with the obligations under the new Whistleblowing Directive and will be adapted accordingly in full compliance with the provisions of the national implementing legislation.
Our Whistleblowing Service:
- We provide our services in such a way that the end user is offered a high level of accessibility, confidence, and security, aiming to increase the possibilities of the services being used, and as a result, the company is informed at the earliest stage possible of the potential fraud or misconduct.
- Management of whistleblowing reports
- Access to messages received through the specified reporting channel
- A preliminary review of the reports under the Whistleblowing Policy requirements
- Investigation
- Depending on the results of the investigation, the team may propose corrective and/or disciplinary/legal actions, which may include: (a) additional staff training, (b) the establishment of new internal audit procedures, (c) modification of existing policies and/or procedures, (d) legal actions.
Our Whistleblowing Package
- Whistleblowing Corporate Policies and Procedures
- GDPR Compliance of Whistleblowing Framework
- Whistleblowing Training