Whistleblowing
In order to counter and prevent corruption, maladministration and, more generally, violations of the law, the Company Tecno S.r.l., in compliance with the provisions of Leg.
Of March 10, 2023 no.
24 bearing. “Implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law and on provisions concerning the protection of persons who report breaches of national laws”, as well as the guidance provided by ANAC, has set up a special internal channel to enable stakeholders to report, in a secure and confidential manner, behaviors, acts or omissions that may constitute violations of regulations internal or external to the Companies.
Persons working in the work environment of the Company are eligible to report as:
- employed workers;
- self-employed workers;
- collaborators, freelancers and the consultants; - interns and trainees, paid and unpaid;
- shareholders and persons with functions of administration, management, control, supervision or representation, even when such functions are exercised on a de facto basis.
Reporting can be done:
- When the legal relationship is ongoing;
- during the trial period, if the information was acquired during the selection process or other pre-contractual stages;
- when the legal relationship has not yet begun, if information about violations was acquired during the selection process or at other pre-contractual stages;
- after the dissolution of the legal relationship, if the information on violations was acquired before the dissolution of the legal relationship (pensioners).
Anonymous reports are allowed if sufficiently substantiated and are treated in the same way as "named" reports. In such a case, retaliation safeguards will be applicable only if the reporting person is subsequently identified.
The report may relate to two types of violations, as summarized below:
1. Offenses within the scope of the acts of the European Union in the following areas: public procurement; financial services, products and markets and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transportation safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and data protection; and network and information system security.
2. Acts or omissions that harm the financial interests of the Union (e.g., fraud, corruption, and any other illegal activities related to Union expenditures).
3. Acts or omissions concerning the internal market (by way of example: competition and state aid violations).
4. Acts or conduct that frustrate the object or purpose of the provisions set forth in Union acts (e.g., acts that undermine the principle of free competition)
- news that is patently unsubstantiated, information that is already totally in the public domain, as well as information acquired only on the basis of indiscretions or rumors that are scarcely reliable (so-called "rumors" or "hearsay").
- disputes, claims or demands related to an interest of a personal nature of the reporting person or the person making a complaint to the judicial or accounting authority that pertain exclusively to his or her individual labor or public employment relationships, or inherent in his or her labor or public employment relationships with hierarchically subordinate figures. Thus, excluded are, for example, reports concerning labor disputes and pre-litigation stages, discrimination between colleagues, interpersonal conflicts between the reporting person and another worker or with hierarchical superiors, reports concerning data processing carried out in the context of the individual employment relationship in the absence of injury to the public interest or integrity of the public administration or private entity;
- Issues related to goods and services provided by the Companies (e.g., complaints).
Reports should be as circumstantial as possible, including all the elements useful for the Manager to carry out the necessary verifications and investigations to assess their merits.
For this purpose, reporters must provide at least the following:
- The circumstances of time and place under which the reported event occurred;
- The description of the fact with an indication of the known circumstances (of manner, time and place);
- the generalities or other elements that would make it possible to identify the person to whom the reported facts can be attributed (reported cd).
- Unless the report is anonymous, the particulars of the person making the report, including the position or function held within the company;
- The non-existence of any private interests related to the report and one's own good faith;
- any information or evidence (by attaching the relevant documents) that may provide useful feedback about the existence of what was reported, in particular also the indication of any other persons who may report on the facts being reported; - If the report is not anonymous, the identifying data of the reporter (name, surname, qualification, etc.). As will be better discussed, the latter are assisted by specific technical and organizational security measures aimed at ensuring absolute confidentiality on the identity of the reporter. Where the report is sent in written form through the Whistleblowing Portal, the whistleblower will be guided in providing these elements by the questions provided in the report form. In any case, where the report is not adequately substantiated, the Manager may request additional elements from the reporter through the Whistleblowing Portal or even in person, where the reporter has requested a face-to-face meeting. Whistleblowing reports should not contain excessive personal data, but only the data necessary to prove the merits of the report. As a rule, therefore, no special data, or personal data disclosing health or judicial status, should be included.
The reporter has the option of making a Report, written or oral, using the internal channels below:
- Through the Whistleblowing Portal: https://gruppotecno.segnalazioni.net The IT Platform allows reports to be sent in written form by filling out a questionnaire or in oral form through a voicemail box. The Portal will ask the whistleblower whether or not they wish to disclose their identity. In any case, the reporter will also be able to provide his or her identity at a later time, including through the messaging system provided by the Portal. When sending the report, the Portal will issue the reporter with a unique identification code (ticket).
The ticket will be used by the reporter to access, again through the Portal, their report in order to:
Monitor its progress;
Insert additional elements to substantiate the report;
Provide personal details; answer any follow-up questions.
- Through a face-to-face meeting: In the event that the reporter prefers to make the report orally, he/she may request the Manager through the email address organogestorio.tecnocapital@gmail.com to schedule a meeting that may take place in contextual physical presence or also through remote communication systems, while ensuring the confidentiality criteria imposed by regulations. In order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and security of communications, on this occasion the reporter is asked NOT to provide details about the report (factual circumstances, name of the reported and/or witnesses etc) but only to agree on the terms of the meeting.
The whistleblower may decide to turn to a person in whom he or she places his or her trust who, acting as a "Facilitator" under the regulations under consideration, receives similar protection as the whistleblower.
When sending the report through the Whistleblowing Portal, the whistleblower will receive a code that he or she can use to access, again through the Portal, his or her report in order to: monitor its progress; enter additional elements to substantiate the report; provide his or her personal details; and answer any follow-up questions.
In any case, the Manager:
- issues an acknowledgement of receipt to the reporter within 7 days from the date of receipt of the report:
- Provides timely feedback to any requests forwarded by the reporter through the reporting channels (messaging system implemented on the platform)
- shall provide acknowledgement of the report within three months from the date of acknowledgement of receipt or, in the absence of such notice, from the expiration of the period of seven days from the submission of the report.
The management of the internal reporting channel is entrusted to Tecno Capital S.r.l., which for this purpose has established a dedicated internal office formed by the Junior Controller and the Head of Compensation and Benefits of the Company.
The Manager, as the Recipient of the Report:
- Is autonomous and independent; - Ensures fair and impartial judgment on the report received;
- complies with confidentiality obligations, especially on the identity of the reporter, the whistleblower and others involved (facilitator, family members, co-workers, witnesses, etc.);
- handles the report (assesses admissibility and conducts the investigation of the reported facts or conduct);
- Manages interlocutions with the reporter (notices of receipt and closure of the report and exchanges of information);
- communicates the outcome to the reporter (giving an account of the measures planned or taken or to be taken to follow up the report and the reasons for the choice made).
- Ensures adequate publicity to this procedure and on the other channels (external channel, public disclosure, complaint) provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023 with particular regard to the prerequisites for access to the competent subjects and procedures.
If the report is submitted to a person other than the one identified and authorized by the administration or agency, the latter will proceed to transmit it, within seven days of its receipt, to the appropriate person, simultaneously notifying the reporting person of the transmission.
The protection system provided by Leg. n. 24/2023 consists of the following types of protection:
1. the protection of the confidentiality of the reporter, the facilitator, the person involved, and the persons mentioned in the report;
2. the protection from any retaliatory measures taken by the institution because of the report, public disclosure or complaint made and the conditions for its application;
3. the limitations of liability with respect to the disclosure and dissemination of certain categories of information operating under certain conditions;
4. the provision of support measures by third sector entities included in a special list published by ANAC.
These measures are extended, in addition to the reporter, to the following individuals:
- to the facilitator (an individual who assists the reporter in the reporting process, operating within the same work environment and whose assistance must remain confidential). By way of example, the facilitator could be a colleague from a different office than the reporter's who assists the reporter in the reporting process on a confidential basis, that is, without disclosing the information learned. The facilitator could be a colleague who also holds the title of trade unionist if he or she assists the whistleblower on his or her behalf, without expensing the trade union acronym;
- to persons in the same work environment as the reporting person, the person making a complaint, or the person making a public disclosure and who are related to them by a stable emotional or kinship relationship within the fourth degree;
- to co-workers of the reporting person or the person who has made a complaint or made a public disclosure, who work in the same work environment as the reporting person and who have a usual and current relationship with that person.
- to entities owned by the reporting person or for which the same persons work as well as entities operating in the same work environment as the aforementioned persons. Waivers and settlements, in whole or in part, which have as their object the rights and protections provided for in the decree are not valid, unless they are made in the protected venues referred to in Article 2113, co.4, of the Civil Code
In the case of disciplinary proceedings, the identity of the whistleblower may not be disclosed where the allegation of the disciplinary charge is based on separate and additional investigations to the report, even if consequential to the report;
The identity of the reporter may be disclosed only where:
- the challenge is based, in whole or in part, on the report itself and knowledge of the identity of the reporter is absolutely essential to the defense of the accused;
and there is the consent of the reporter. In this case, the Companies will take care to communicate, again in advance, in writing to the reporter the reasons leading to the disclosure of his or her identity.
No retaliation or discrimination, direct or indirect, may result against a person who has made a report in good faith, regardless of whether or not the report later turns out to be well-founded. Penalties are provided for those who violate the whistleblower's protection and confidentiality measures. The protection of the whistleblower is not guaranteed in the case of reports made with malice or gross negligence or that turn out to be false, unfounded, with defamatory content, or otherwise made for the sole purpose of harming the Companies, the whistleblower, or others affected by the report. Penalties are provided for the whistleblower if he or she can be traced in the case of reports made with malice or gross negligence or that turn out to be false, unfounded, with defamatory content, or otherwise made for the sole purpose of harming the Companies, the whistleblower or other persons affected by the report. The Companies may, in addition, take appropriate action, including legal action.
The competent authority for the management of the external channel is ANAC. It is possible to report to the Authority where one of the following conditions is met: There is no provision, within the work context, for the mandatory activation of the internal reporting channel or this channel, even if mandatory, is not active or, even if activated, does not comply with the provisions of Article 4 of Decree 24/2023; The reporting person has already made a report through the internal channel and the same has not been followed up; The reporting person has well-founded reasons to believe that if he or she made an internal report, the report would not be effectively followed up, or that the same report may result in the risk of retaliation; The reporting person has well-founded reasons to believe that the violation may pose an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest. For any further information, please refer to the Authority's institutional website at the following link Whistleblowing - www.anticorruzione.it
