Source: anticorruzione.it
Following the adoption of new legislation to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing, the Anticorruption Authority (ANAC) – the public authority nominations as the national whistleblowing authority – has released it’s Guidelines for handling whistleblowing, in particular receiving external reporting.
Consultation on the draft guidelines began in early June 2023.
Anti-corruption NGO Transparency International Italia responded to consultation with an expert comments. Giorgio Fraschini, Whistleblowing Programme Manager at TI Italia said:
“The guidelines are far from perfect and include two particularly concerning flaws:
Firstly, it seems the ANAC have concluded that whistleblowers working in private companies with no obligation to implement internal whistleblowing systems (those with less than 50 employees) are not entitled to make an external report (that is, reports made outside of the employer organization.) This is simply not our interpretation of the Directive provisions.
Secondly, the ANAC appears to be the only competent authority to receive external reports. Whilst other authorities may be involved for matters reported in line with the matters they oversee, they have not been properly been prescribed with responsibilities or duties. As the ANAC also states it will only follow up on reports related to its remit – such as anti-corruption and public contracting it creates a huge uncertainty for whistleblowers reporting other types of wrongdoing.”