Whistleblowers’ Protection
With the entry into force of Law No. 93/2021 of June 18, 2022, which establishes the general regime for the protection of whistleblowers of offenses, transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 23, 2019, on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, all entities based in Portugal that have more than 50 employees, or that are considered obligated entities within the scope of the acts of the European Union on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, are required to adopt an internal reporting channel for irregularities and illegalities.
This law aims to provide mechanisms and procedures applicable to reports of offenses made on the basis of information obtained in the course of professional activity, as well as measures for the protection of whistleblowers.
The impact of non-compliance with the applicable regime
The general regime for the protection of whistleblowers of offenses establishes a punitive framework for non-compliance with the measures provided in this Law, with the imposition of serious and very serious administrative offenses, punishable by fines of up to €250,000.00 for legal entities and €25,000.00 for individuals.
Our Solution
We guarantee a secure and confidential way to report illegal activities.
Our solution is much more than an online channel designed for legal compliance. It incorporates the services of legally qualified professionals to provide legal assistance regarding any possible reported administrative or criminal offense. In other words, a person who receives a report and who is not a lawyer may not be able to correctly classify the report as an administrative offense or a crime and may not suggest an appropriate solution to the company in question. With our solution, there is zero risk that something like this will happen.
LEGAL SPACE has a whistleblowing channel that can be used by all employees, partners, suppliers, and other interested parties (it is important to clarify that the law requires the whistleblowing channel to be accessible not only to the company’s workers but to all subjects who have a professional relationship with the company, including suppliers, for example) to report independently and anonymously or not, situations of infringements or well-founded suspicions related to compliance with legislation and regulations, good management practices, and the company’s code of ethics and conduct.
Such reports may involve topics such as money laundering, financing of terrorism, corruption, conflicts of interest, fraud, harassment, discrimination, information security, and privacy, among others.
This channel ensures the integrity and preservation of reports, confidentiality of the identity, anonymity of the whistleblowers and third parties mentioned in the report, as well as rules that prevent unauthorized access.
The data collected by our team will be treated exclusively within the scope of the report’s handling, guaranteeing the confidentiality of the author’s identity until the information is required, namely by supervisory or judicial entities.
Our platform allows you to generate reports, automate information, and analyze the indicators of your ethics and compliance program, which brings together all the necessary tools in one place to achieve the whistleblowing solution, as required by the new Law No. 93/2021.
Learn about the main implementation process phases:
1st PHASE
Diagnostic meeting. Presentation, clarification, identification of your company’s needs;
2nd PHASE
Delivery of all documentation prepared specifically for your company associated with the internal procedure;
3rd PHASE
Implementation of the channel and training of participants (online or in person);
4th PHASE
Surveillance and treatment of reports in strict compliance with national and community legislation.
Phases 1, 2, and 3
Complete Implementation of the Whistleblower Channel:- During the first year of implementing the Whistleblower Channel with the integrated solution of complementary services from the LEGAL SPACE team, you will benefit from:
- a complete whistleblowing system – no need to worry about compliance with the law, we do everything for you;
- result of the preliminary diagnosis of your company – the solution is designed specifically for your company;
- delivery of the online technical solution already including the first year of subscription;
- all documentation and training provided and tailored to your company.
- +VAT at the legal rate
Monthly fee
in subsequent years (not paid in the first year of implementation)- Companies and organizations with up to 49 employees – 40€
- Companies and organizations with 50 to 249 employees – 50€
- Companies and organizations with 250 to 499 employees – 55€
- Companies and organizations with 500 to 999 employees – 65€
- Companies and organizations with more than 1000 employees – 75€
- + VAT at the legal rate
Phase 4
Fixed value for the management process of each report- Our team assigned to the LEGAL SPACE Whistleblowing Channel solution acts in a professional and qualified manner to receive the reports and process them within the legally prescribed deadlines and in the manner required by the national and European legislation that governs the entire system of whistleblower protection.
- As external managers of your organization we are responsible for:
- receiving and previously analyzing the reports;
- complying with the preliminary measures within the legal deadline of 7 days;
- ensuring contact with the whistleblower;
- legal qualification of the report (a report may indicate an administrative offense or even criminal conduct, so we recommend that the evaluation be carried out by qualified professionals), preparation of the report and suggestion of measures to be taken by the Client.
- +VAT at the legal rate
Do you need to comply with this legal framework?
Request more information or schedule a meeting so that we can implement the most suitable plan for your company.