n February 2023, the Whistleblowing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 was finally transposed in Spain by Law 2/2023 for the Protection of persons who report breaches of law and to fight corruption.
In a country where historically reporting about other people was socially unacceptable, the law brings a significant change that goes beyond the legal aspects, a cultural change that aims to protect people who chose to report breaches of law or unlawful behaviors from any kind of retaliation. At the same time, the law intends to reinforce a culture of integrity and speaking up in organizations.
In a nutshell, these are the new requirements applicable to all organizations with more than 50 employees (note that organizations who have between 50 and 249 employees will have until 1 December 2023 to comply with these requirements):
- Creation of internal safe and confidential information systems to report breaches of law or unlawful behaviors ensuring protection of the identity of the reporter. Anonymous reporting is also permitted. These systems may be managed internally or by a third party who is able to guarantee the confidentiality, independence, protection of personal data and secrecy of communications.
- Organizations must have a policy that defines the general principles related to the internal information systems, this policy must be duly communicated within the organization.
- The Board of directors must appoint the Responsible for the System, an individual or collegiate body who will manage the internal information system with autonomy and independence, without receiving instructions and with the adequate resources, human and otherwise.
- Creation of an external channel of information managed by the newly created Independent Authority for the Protection of the Reporter (“Autoridad Independiente de Protección del Informante A.A.I). Any individual may report breaches of law to the AAI directly or following an initial report through any organization’s internal channel.
- The law establishes a framework of measures for the protection of reporters against retaliation. Likewise, leniency is envisaged for those reporters who were involved in the breach of law or unlawful behavior and have decided to come forward and cooperate with the investigation.
-Finally, the law created a rigorous sanctioning framework with fines up to 1 mio. EUR for very severe infringements of the law.
Organizations who have in place internal reporting channels will need to adjust their systems to ensure full compliance with the new law.
Exemplify Consulting is here to help with the implementation and monitoring of confidential internal reporting channels.
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