Compliance with legal requirements and internal regulations is of paramount importance and any misconduct must be identified, investigated, and remedied. This involves providing reporting channels so that employees and external parties (business partners, customers and other third parties) can simply and confidentially report any possible breaches of the law obtained in a professional context.
The Integrity Reporting Channel, within the meaning of Law no. 361 of 2022, is a dedicated channel through which a whistleblower, individual, company employee or third party, is given the opportunity to report a specific situation of which he/she becomes aware that does not comply with applicable laws and regulations, internal policies and the company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
What is a whistleblower
A whistleblower is an individual who makes a report or publicly discloses information about violations of law occurred in a professional context.
Who can be a whistleblower
Whistleblowers can be (but are not limited to):
- Company employees
- Shareholders and persons who are part of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of a company, including non-executive members of the board of directors
- Paid or unpaid volunteers and trainees
- Any person working under the supervision and direction of the natural or legal person with whom a contract has been concluded, its subcontractors and suppliers
- Persons whose employment relationship has not yet commenced and who report through internal or external reporting channels or publicly disclose information on violations of law obtained during the recruitment process or other pre-contractual negotiations or when the employment or service relationship has ended
- Persons who report or publicly disclose information on violations of law anonymously
To benefit from whistleblower protection, the person making the report must act impartially, in good faith and provide factual and clear information so that the report can be properly processed and investigated.
What can be reported
Reports can refer to:
- Breaches of the law in areas such as: public acquisitions, services, products and financial markets, prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, product safety and compliance, transportation safety, environmental protection, radiation protection and nuclear safety, food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, public health, consumer protection, privacy and personal data protection, network and information systems security
- Any serious threat to the public interest
- Reasonable suspicion of actual or potential breaches of the law which have occurred or are likely to occur within the company in which the whistleblower works or has worked in the public interest or with which he or she is or has been in contact through his or her work, and information about attempts to conceal such breaches
- Breaches of internal company regulations
- Conduct contrary to the company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
Report processing
For a report to be processed, it must meet the conditions mentioned below.
- Reports can be submitted anonymously or the person making the report can assume their identity.
- In the case of an identified whistleblower, the company is obliged to protect his/her identity.
- The non-anonymous report shall include, at a minimum, the following: the full name and contact details of the whistleblower in the public interest, the professional context in which the information was obtained, the person concerned, if known, a description of the fact that may constitute a violation of the law, and evidence to support the report.
- Reports that do not include the name, surname, contact details or signature of the whistleblower will be considered and dealt with to the extent that they contain reasonable evidence of a breach of the law.
- In both cases, investigations will be initiated to establish the veracity and severity of the facts reported. To this end, the elements constituting the report must be precise and demonstrable. The report should cover five basic questions: Who? What? When? How? Where?
- The time taken to process each referral depends on the complexity of the case, the evidence, and the documents under consideration.
- Strict confidentiality of information is guaranteed throughout the process in accordance with legal and internal regulations.
- The whistleblower is protected against any retaliation, discriminatory measures or sanctions.
- The whistleblower must act in good faith, without intent to cause harm or defame others. If a report is found to be false or has been made with a clear intention to defame, the company will take the measures required by internal or legal regulations.
Who will process the report
Access to the information included in the report is on a need-to-know basis and is limited to the person designated by the company or group of companies, possible authorised internal experts and mandated external experts.
Confidentiality requirements also apply to external experts who may receive the report to provide guidance or conduct investigations.
Other reporting channels
If for any reason you do not agree to use this reporting channel, you can access the following alternative reporting channels:
– By email at compliance@tiuim.com
– In hard copy at the following address: UTI Research and Development Center, 107A Olteniței Av, sector 4, Bucharest, Romania
