Whistleblowing

WHISTLEBLOWING PRIVACY POLICYTHE WHISTLEBLOWING SYSTEM OF PIACENTI S.P.A.

In order to comply with the new regulations provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023, the Company has intervened on the internal organisational measures and procedures already adopted with the MOGC in implementation of Law 179/2017 by preparing a special System (so-called “Legislative Decree”). Whistleblowing System), which is an integral part of the MOGC and which is composed, in particular:

  1. a special Regulation (Whistleblowing Regulation), which illustrates the reporting channels and principles established by Legislative Decree 24/2023, declining them for the purposes of internal regulation;
  2. the Procedure for the management of internal reports;
  3. of the Disciplinary System, duly integrated due to the provisions of Legislative Decree 24/2023.

In a nutshell:

Subject, content and form of the Internal Reporting

As more fully explained in the Regulations and in the Procedure, internal reports must concern:

  • any Violations pursuant to Legislative Decree 24/2023,
  • other conduct that violates the provisions contained in the Company’s Code of Ethics or MOGC,
  • conduct aimed at concealing Violations or conduct that does not comply with the Code of Ethics and/or the MOGC, of which the Reporting Person has become aware in the work context

Therefore, these must be facts that occurred within the Company or in any case related to it and known by reason of or on the occasion of a qualified relationship with it (of a working or professional nature, even if not remunerated, or not yet formally established or terminated) as better specified in Article 2.1 of the Whistleblowing Regulations.

Within the Report, the Reporting Person must also provide information on the Violations or facts reported, or the elements available to him (including well-founded suspicions regarding Violations committed or which, on the basis of concrete elements, he or she has reason to believe could be committed), which may be useful to the Internal Reports Manager to proceed with the necessary checks and verifications to verify the validity of the Violation and/or the facts or reported behavior.

Specifically, the Internal Reporting must contain the following information:

  • description of the Violation and/or unlawful conduct, or conduct that does not comply with the MOGC;
  • identity of the person making the Report (i.e. Reporting Person), with indication of the relative qualification/function/role performed: in fact, a prerequisite for the recognition and effectiveness of the protections provided for by the whistleblowing regulations is that the Internal Whistleblowing Manager is able to know against which subject these protections must operate. Any reports received anonymously, which are however timely, detailed and supported by appropriate documentation, allowing the identification of the person to whom this fact is attributed, may be taken into consideration but will be managed as ordinary reports and not as whistleblowing reports pursuant to the relevant regulations, without prejudice to the provisions of Legislative Decree 24/2023 for the hypothesis of subsequent identification;
  • clear and complete description of the facts subject to internal reporting or of the well-founded suspicions of facts and/or conduct;
  • if known, the circumstances of time and place in which the acts were committed or could be committed;
  • if known, the personal details or other elements that allow the identification of the person who carried out the reported facts or who is in any case aware of them (so-called “Criminal Investigation”). “Person Involved”);
  • any additional subjects who can report on the facts subject to the Report;
  • any additional documents that may confirm the validity of the facts or suspicions reported;
  • any further information that can provide useful feedback on the existence of the facts/behaviors or suspicions reported.

Internal Reports Manager (art. 4, paragraph 2, Legislative Decree 24/2023)

The Company has identified as the recipient and Manager of the Report the Supervisory Body.

Channels for Internal Reporting (art. 4, Legislative Decree 24/2023)

Channels identified by the Company, pursuant to – and in accordance with – Article 4 of Legislative Decree 24/2023, for the transmission of internal reports.

Specifically, the Company has identified:

  1. ordinary mail or by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt, addressed to the attention of the Supervisory Body, as indicated below: ‘to the attention of the Supervisory Body of Piacenti Spa c/o the office of the President of the Supervisory Body, Dr. Gianluca De Simone, in Viale della Repubblica 36, 59100 Prato (PO), with the wording “reserved for the Internal Reports Manager” and without indication of the sender in the transmission envelope. Two additional sealed envelopes must then be inserted inside the transmission envelope, respectively containing: the first, the Report containing all the elements indicated in the regulations and in the procedure, and the related documentation attached and/or supporting, the second the identification data of the Reporting Person (name, surname, date and place of birth, qualification/relationship with the Company) and an address to be used for subsequent interlocutions and feedback (preferably personal PEC address, alternatively: personal e-mail address and telephone number – or in any case NOT corporate – residence address for communications by registered mail);
  2. For oral reports:
    1. dedicated telephone line entrusted to the Reports Manager (O.d.V.), at the number 3280197726 from Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 13:00 with the exception of holidays: in this case, the Reporting Person must take care, when making the Report/during the Report, to express his/her consent to the recording and storage of the Report on a suitable computer support, in compliance with the confidentiality constraints governed by Legislative Decree 24/2023 and the Whistleblowing Regulation. at the request of the Whistleblower, direct meeting with the Internal Whistleblowing Manager.
    2. Direct meeting: this request may be received by the O.d.V.  in one of the previous ways, or in another and different way deemed useful, as long as it can be documented and respects the protection of confidentiality. The Supervisory Body will verify the request using the address provided at the time of the request and scheduling the meeting within 10 days (except in cases of greater urgency that may be specifically represented at the time of the request).

External Reports to ANAC

In addition to the internal reporting channel, Legislative Decree 24/2023 regulates two additional reporting methods, namely both the so-called “Reporting Channel”. External channel, established and managed by the National Anti-Corruption Authority – ANAC and public disclosure, the use of which, however, is subject to the existence of the precise conditions indicated by the Legislator.

In particular, access to the “external channel” established by ANAC is allowed only under the following conditions, which must be met with reference to the time of submission of the Report:

  • the internal channel, although mandatory, is not active at the Company or, even if activated, does not comply with the provisions of Legislative Decree 24/2023 with reference to the subjects and methods of submitting internal Reports (which must be able to guarantee the confidentiality of the identity of the Reporting Person and other protected parties);
  • the Reporting Person has already made an internal Report and the same has not been followed up by the Recipient of the Report/O.d.v. (i.e. lack of feedback within the terms set by Legislative Decree 24/2023);
  • the Reporting Person has reasonable grounds to believe, on the basis of concrete and alleged circumstances or information that can actually be acquired (and, therefore, not on the basis of mere inferences), that if he or she made an internal Report, it would not be followed up effectively or could lead to the risk of retaliation (e.g.: fear of an agreement between the Internal Reporting Manager and the Person Involved in the facts subject to the Report, hypotheses of conflict of interest, business precedents);
  • the Reporting Person has reasonable grounds to believe that the reported Violation may constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest (i.e. hypothesis in which the Violation requires urgent intervention by a public authority to safeguard an interest that belongs to the community, such as: health, safety or environmental protection).

“External” Reports sent directly to ANAC (through the so-called “external channel”, which provides for the use of a special IT platform, for written reports, and a dedicated telephone line with an operator, for oral reports) are managed by the latter in compliance with the obligation of confidentiality (also guaranteed through the use of encryption tools) of the identity of the Reporting Person, of the Person(s) Involved, or of the person(s) mentioned in the Report, as well as the content of the Report and related documentation.

The methods for managing reports by ANAC are governed by the specific Regulation and the Guidelines adopted by the same Authority, which are available on the Authority’s website at the following link https://www.anticorruzione.it/-/del.311.2023.linee.guida.whistleblowing as well as published on the company intranet and on the company website (click here), to which reference is therefore made.

In any case, it should also be noted here that, in order to be considered admissible, the Reports made to ANAC must contain:

  1. the name and contact details of the Reporting Person;
  2. the explanation of the facts subject to the Report and the indication of the Entity or Administration in which they occurred;
  3. the indication of the Entity or Administration in whose work context the Reporting Person operates and the professional profile held by the latter;
  4. a brief description of the ways in which the Reporting Person became aware of the facts covered by the Report.

The Notice is also considered inadmissible in the event of:

  • manifestly unfounded due to the absence of factual elements attributable to a Violation;
  • manifest non-existence of the legal prerequisites for the exercise of the Authority’s supervisory powers or manifest lack of competence of the same on the issues subject to the Report;
  • ascertained generic content of the Report, such as not to allow the reconstruction and/or understanding of the facts, or Report accompanied by inappropriate, ineffective documentation or in any case such as to make the content of the Report itself incomprehensible;
  • production of documentation only, in the absence of a Report;
  • lack of the essential data referred to in the previous numbering from 1 to 4;
  • existence of minor violations.

In any case, as provided for internal Reports, ANAC is also subject to specific activation and feedback duties pursuant to Legislative Decree 24/2023: the Reporting Person must in fact be notified of the receipt of the External Report within 7 days from the date of receipt of the same, and the Report received must also be followed up, also through an investigative activity, then giving feedback to the Reporting Person within three (or six, if there are justified and motivated reasons). In the event that the Report concerns information or facts that fall outside the competence of ANAC, it is envisaged that the same will notify the competent authority with simultaneous or in any case timely information to the Reporting Person.

Public Disclosure

With public disclosure, information on Violations is made public through the press or electronic means or in any case through means of dissemination capable of reaching a large number of people (web or other media, including in social networks).

This is a tool provided for by the legislator as a last resort, to be used only in specific cases and exhaustively provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023.

In fact, in the case of public disclosure, protection for the Reporting Person (and other protected subjects) is recognized only if, at the time of disclosure, one of the following conditions is met:

  • The Reporting Person has already used the internal and external Channel, or has directly made an external Report, under the conditions and in the manner provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023, but this Report(s) has not been duly acknowledged, not even with regard to the measures adopted or envisaged in relation to the same, within the terms provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023;
  • The Reporting Person has reasonable grounds to believe that an external Report may involve a risk of retaliation or that it may not be followed up effectively (risk of collusion or destruction of evidence in situations of particular negligence or willful misconduct);
  • The Reporting Person has reasonable grounds to believe that the Violation may represent an imminent and obvious danger to the public interest (emergency situation or risk of irreversible damage, including to the physical safety of one or more persons, and such as to require that the Violation be promptly revealed with wide resonance to prevent its commission, if it has not yet been committed, i.e. the effects).

Public disclosure (especially if carried out through the web or social networks) may result in the disclosure of the identity of the discloser: in such cases, the problem does not arise and the regulations relating to the protection of confidentiality do not apply but, in the presence of the conditions provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023 to legitimately proceed with public disclosure, the same may still be granted all the other protections provided for by Legislative Decree 24/2023 for the Reporting Person.

In the case of public disclosure through the press service, the rules on professional secrecy apply with reference to the source of the news.

In the event that the disclosure does not result in the disclosure of the identity of the discloser, the information disclosed will be treated by ANAC as an anonymous Report, with consequent registration or documentation of the same for the purpose of its storage, so as to guarantee the discloser, in the event of subsequent disclosure of the identity of the same, to benefit from the protections granted to the Reporting Person.

INFORMATIVA PRIVACY WHISTLEBLOWING