SCOPE AND FIELD OF APPLICATION
Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023 implements 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 laying down provisions for the protection of persons who report breaches of national laws.
Carlo Gavazzi Impianti S.p.A. has long since adopted procedures and processes to guarantee the values protected by whistleblowing. Among these, it has made available to its own resources a specific link within the institutional website as a specific reporting channel that would allow any whistleblowing with protection of the whistleblower's rights, including those concerning privacy and therefore anonymity.
The Company's attention continues to be focused on improving processes, also following the requirements of recent legislation on the subject.
Below are the operating instructions for the reporting of the facts envisaged and applicable in all the entity's offices.
DEFINITIONS
Whistleblower: the natural person who makes a report or public disclosure of information on violations acquired in the context of his or her work; becomes aware of unlawful conduct or violations within the meaning of Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023
Reported Fact: Substantiated communication by the whistleblower concerning reasonable and legitimate suspicion or awareness of unlawful conduct or violations pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 24 of 10 March 2023
Reported person: The natural or legal person mentioned in the internal or external report or in the public disclosure as the person to whom the breach is attributed or as the person in any way implicated in the breach reported or publicly disclosed
PERSONS INVOLVED
The Whistleblowing management flow is organised in such a way as to provide the full protection of the Whistleblower under the current Decree. To this end, the whistleblowing system is managed by an external party (Channel Manager), which appropriately communicates the information to the Supervisory Board for its subsequent appropriate investigation/analysis. Communications from the reporting party to the Channel Manager can be made by all the methods provided for in the Decree itself (IT and non-IT written form, oral form and face-to-face meeting).
Below is an outline of the functioning of the SQuadra-Signals platform for your information:
Anonymous reports can also be handled through the IT channel. The system allows for this possibility and interlocution can take place directly through the platform. The Whistleblower must take note of the reporting code and password (which itself chooses), and for confidentiality reasons the code cannot be retrieved in any other way (the code chosen for reporting must not have any reference to personal data). By returning to the computer channel and entering the code and password, he/she will be able to view the reply or any questions or send additional information.
The Whistleblower wish to make an anonymous report, it should take care that its identity cannot be detected from the information provided or from the documents attached (e.g. you should check the author of any documents in Word or Excel format from the File-Information menu before attaching them).
PURPOSE & SUBJECT OF REPORTS
The Channel Manager and the Supervisory Board will accept reports and analyze them if such reports:
- relate to significant illegal conduct in accordance with Legislative Decree 231/2001; in other words, if such reports refer to the commission of one of the offenses that are determined in the aforementioned legislative decree (a list of these offenses is contained in the document OR-051-P, which is available in the corporate documentation stored);
- refer to violations of the Organization, Management and Control Model adopted by Carlo Gavazzi Impianti S.p.A. or of the Carlo Gavazzi Impianti S.p.A. Code of Ethics; namely, if such reports refer to violations of the protocols contained in the Organization, Management ancd Control Model (MOGC), to violations of the corporate processes that are an integral part of the Organization, Management and Control Model (MOGC), or to violations of the Code of Ethics
- relate to breaches falling within the scope of the European Union acts in the following areas:
- public procurement;
- financial services, products and markets, and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing;
- product safety and compliance;
- transport safety;
- protection of the environment;
- radiation protection and nuclear safety;
- food and feed safety, animal health and welfare;
- public health;
- consumer protection;
- protection of privacy and personal data, and security of network and information systems;
- relate to breaches affecting the financial interests of the European Union as referred to in Article 325 TFEU and as further specified in relevant European Union measures;
- refer to breaches relating to the internal market, as referred to in Article 26(2) TFEU, including breaches of European Union competition and State aid rules, as well as breaches relating to the internal market in relation to acts which breach the rules of corporate tax or to arrangements the purpose of which is to obtain a tax advantage that defeats the object or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law.
The Whistleblower must provide precise and concordant elements that describe the events that have occurred, even if such elements cannot be demonstrate such events.
REJECTED REPORTS AND REPORTS THAT FALL OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE WHISTLEBLOWING PROCEDURE
The following types of reports will not be analyzed by Channel Manager and the Supervisory Body:
- reports falling outside the purpose set forth above;
- groundless reports due to lack of factual evidence in the report itself;;
- production of documentation in the absence of specification reporting;
- reports concerning disputes, claims or requests related to a personal interest of the Whistleblower that pertain exclusively to his/her individual working relationships, or inherent in his/her working relationships with the hierarchically superior
- reports that report “rumors”, devoid of reliable references or based on mere suspicion or hypothesis, devoid of testimonial or documentary evidence.
INTERNAL CHANNELS FOR REPORTING
The Whistleblower may make a report:
- In writing to the IT channel (at the link https://segnalazioni.iltigliosrl.it/8C20C7F8-CB2F-4D0C-B21A-C20E1B9C1CE1)
- In written form to the non-IT channel by sending a sealed envelope addressed to: “P.O. Box 656 Firenze Centro” indicating on the inside of the envelope that it is documentation addressed to 'CARLO GAVAZZI IMPIANTI SPA WB'. This channel shall not be used for anonymous reporting.
- in oral form to the telephone number 800 835 973 following the instructions that will be provided; the Carlo Gavazzi Impianti code to enter to report is 79483, the service is active from 00:00 to 24:00. This channel is not active during the closed periods for holidays: in these cases, the Whistleblower will be informed by voicemail.
- The Whistleblower may also request a face-to-face meeting with one of the three methods mentioned above. The Channel Manager will set up a protected computer link that will be communicated to the reporter for the meeting.
EXTERNAL CHANNELS FOR REPORTING
The external reporting channel shall be activated at the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) https://www.anticorruzione.it/.
The Whistleblower may make an external report if, at the time of its submission:
- the internal reporting channel is not active or does not comply with the Decree;
- has already issued an internal report in accordance with the Decree and has not been followed up;
- it has reasonable grounds to believe that, if it issued an internal alert, it would not be effectively followed-up or that the same alert could lead to a risk of retaliation;
- has reasonable grounds to believe that the infringement may constitute an imminent or manifest danger to the public interest.