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  Who can make a whistleblower report?

The report may be submitted by natural persons connected to the University by virtue of one of the following legal relationships:

1. employment relationship;
2. occasional, continuous or professional self-employment relationship, including consultants, also free of charge, and any other formalized collaboration relationship with the University, including also the holders of: i) contracts for teaching activities pursuant to art. 23 of Law no. 240/2010; ii) grants, contracts or research scholarships, including doctoral students; iii) collaboration contracts for ‘200 hours’ students;
3. employment or collaboration with companies and third parties that provide goods or services or carry out works in favour of the University;
4. traineeships and voluntary work, including universal civil service operators;
5. appointment to carry out functions of administration, management, control, supervision or representation of the University, including student representation and external members of the Board of Directors, the Evaluation Board and other University bodies.

The protections also apply to reports made:
- during selection procedures and the establishment of the legal relationship with the University;
- during the probationary period;
- after termination of the relationship with reference to facts occurring during the period in which a legal relationship with the University was in place.

The protections provided for the whistleblower are extended to the following subjects (Article 3(5) of Legislative Decree no. 24/2023):

1. internal facilitators, i.e. natural persons operating within the University who assist the whistleblower in the reporting process;
2. persons who have a legal relationship with the University and who are linked to the whistleblower by a stable emotional or kinship relationship up to the fourth degree;
3. work colleagues of the reporter;
4. entities of which the reporter is the owner or at which he/she works or which operate in the same work context.

  What can be reported

Reports must relate to breaches of (national or European) regulatory provisions, of which the reporter has become aware in the university working context.
In particular, only criminal, administrative, accounting or civil offences affecting the public interest or the integrity of the University may be reported.

This is without prejudice to the application of the provisions on:
- classified information;
- forensic and medical professional secrecy;
- protection of workers' rights and trade union prerogatives.

Exclusions:
The protected computerised procedure cannot be used to report mere irregularities.
The rules introduced by Legislative Decree no. 24/2023 do not apply to reports:

1. linked to an interest of a personal nature of the reporting person relating exclusively to his individual employment relationships (such as, for example, discrimination between colleagues, interpersonal conflicts between the reporting person and another worker or with hierarchical superiors);
2. already mandatorily regulated by European Union acts or national implementing measures (for further information, see the lists referred to in Article 1(2)(b) of Legislative Decree no. 24/2023);
3. in matters of national security.

  Anonymous reports

The Regulation does not apply to anonymous reports. If the reports are of particular seriousness or are adequately substantiated and not manifestly contradictory, the University's Head of Corruption Prevention and Transparency shall refer to the offices or bodies competent to deal with reports and whistleblowing in the ordinary way.

If the identity of the anonymous whistleblower is identified in the course of the investigation or in subsequent communications, the protections provided for by Legislative Decree no. 24/2023 for whistleblowers are activated from the moment of identification.

  Prohibition of retaliation

Acts or measures constituting retaliation against the whistleblower are null and void (Article 17, Legislative Decree no. 24/2023).

The reporting person may report to the ANAC the retaliation* he/she believes he/she has suffered.

*Retaliation: any conduct, act or omission, even if only attempted or threatened, carried out as a result of the reporting and which causes or may cause the reporting person, directly or indirectly, unjust damage (Article 2(1)(m) of Legislative Decree no. 24/2023).

  University Regulation for the Reporting of Offences

Regulations for reporting wrongdoing in the University's work environment (Whistleblowing policy) (R.D. rep. no. 5328/2023 of 20 December 2023) 
Effective from 5 January 2024

  Reporting to ANAC and public disclosure

The reporting party may make a report to the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) in the following cases:

1. the internal report sent to the University's RPCT has not been followed up within the deadline set out;
2. the whistleblower has reasonable grounds to believe that an internal report would not be effectively followed up or could give rise to the risk of retaliation;
3. the breach could constitute an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest.

 As a last resort, the reporting person may only resort to public disclosure of violations if:

1. he/she has previously made a report to the University's RPCT and a report to the ANAC or directly to the ANAC, when the conditions are met, and no response has been received within the prescribed time limit;
2. he/she has justified reason to believe that the breach constitutes an imminent or obvious danger to the public interest;
3. he/she has well-founded reason to believe that the report to the ANAC may entail the risk of retaliation or may not be effectively followed up, by reason of the specific circumstances of the case (e.g. risk of concealment or destruction of evidence, well-founded fear that the addressee of the report is in collusion with the perpetrator or directly involved in the commission of the breach).