Senate Green-lights whistleblowing

During the meeting held on 18 October 2017, the Senate approved with amendments, draft law No. 2208/2016, containing provisions for the protection of whistleblowers reporting offences or irregularities of which they became aware within a public or private employment relationship (the so-called whistleblowing). Concerning the private sector, the draft law establishes amendments to Legislative Decree 231/2001 on the topic of administrative liability for legal persons, companies and associations, including those not recognised as a legal entity. In fact, article 2 of the aforesaid decree introduces the duty for those who hold management roles for the organisation, for those who are subjected to the supervision of the latter and for those who cooperate for any reason with the organisation itself, to report any offences that are deemed to have occurred. In addition, the provisions also establish (i) the prohibition to apply discriminatory measures against the whistleblower with the violation giving rise to a complaint to the Labour Inspectorate; (ii) the invalidity of any retaliatory dismissal ordered against him/her as well as changes to duties and any other measures taken against him/her as a result of the reporting. The legislative process should be completed by the end of this legislature and would allow Italy to align itself with other countries, such as the United States and UK, where whistleblowing has been widely regulated for quite some time.