Whistleblowing has emerged as a tool for exposing illegal or unethical behavior in work organizations. The growing relevance of behaviors of this kind has led to a necessary regulatory development and to a deeper reflection on the need for specific tools prepared for this purpose, in a just and transparent society.

The term whistleblowing refers to a corporate compliance tool, through which a company's employees or third parties (such as a supplier or customer) can report, in a confidential and protected manner, any offenses encountered during their activity.

From a regulatory point of view in 2017, Italy approved law no. 179/2017 on the protection of the "whistleblower" (one who denounces or reports to the authorities, publicly or secretly, illegal or fraudulent activities), providing a more solid legal basis for reporting illegal and fraudulent activities in public and private organizations. Furthermore, clear rules have been established for the protection of whistleblowers and a specific body responsible for receiving and managing reports has been established.

One of the most relevant innovations on the subject of Whistleblowing concerns Legislative Decree no. 24/2023, published on the 16 March, which implemented the EU Directive 2019/1937 on whistleblowing, which introduced important protections for the person who reports crimes committed within the organization to which he or she belongs, imposing a series of obligations at the expense of the entities.

The main objective of the aforementioned decree lies in the preparation of a solid system of protection, necessary so that the whistleblower can make known the violations and offenses of which he becomes aware in a more effective manner.

The legislation has already become applicable for public sector bodies, for private sector entities that have employed an average of 250 workers in the last year and for entities that operate in particular sectors (services, products and financial markets , prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, protection of the environment and transport safety).

From 17 December, the legislation will also apply to private sector entities who:

- have employed, in the last year, an average of at least 50 subordinate workers;

- have adopted Organizational Models pursuant to the Italian  Legislative Decree 231/2001 if in the last year they have reached an average of at least 50 employed workers;

- have adopted Organizational Models pursuant to the Italian Legislative Decree 231/2001 even if they have not reached the average of 50 employed workers, but in this case only violations pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/2001 can be reported.

These subjects will be able to report violations and offenses of which they become aware in the working context, both when the legal relationship that binds them to the public or private body is ongoing, or even when the same has ceased or has not yet begun (e.g. trial period).

They will be able to present their report through the channels introduced by the reform, as regards the choice of the reporting channel it is not left to the discretion of the "whistleblower", as the use of the internal channel, in which the employee reports, is a priority illicit conduct within the organization itself. The internal whistleblowing system has the role of receiving reports, managing them and providing feedback on them. Only when certain conditions are met, it is possible to carry out an external report or the protections provided for by the Decree following the so-called public disclosure. In the external system, the report is made to entities external to the organization, such as the judicial authority, associations or bodies.

In both cases, the person who will manage the reports must be autonomous and adequately trained.

These latest innovations represent an important step in order to guarantee transparency, clarity and legality within organisations.

author: Dott. Federico Benedetti