whistleblowing

Whistleblowing – Report Management

It. Legislative Decree no. 24 of 10 March 2023, (published in the Official Journal of the Italian Republic on 15/3/2023), implemented EU Directive no. 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019, concerning the protection of people who report violations of EU law, and containing provisions regarding the protection of people who report violations of national regulatory provisions.

The Group companies subject to the aforementioned legislation and about which it is possible to file a report are:

Tampieri Financial Group S.p.A.;
Tampieri S.p.A.;
Tampieri Energie S.r.l.;
Faenza Depurazioni S.r.l.;
Fin-Ceramica Faenza S.p.A.

(hereinafter, jointly, the “Companies” and severally the “Company”)

In compliance with the foregoing, the Tampieri Group has put in place a system to manage reports, including any that are submitted anonymously.

Definitions

Who is the “Whistleblower”

The following individuals can file a report:

Top Management (President/Director/Administrator and Board of Directors) and the members of the statutory bodies of the Company.
All employees (including those who, though not falling within the category of employees, work for the Company and/or are under the control and direction of the Company) and volunteers of the Company.
Suppliers, consultants, collaborators and anyone with an interest relationship with the Company (including Boards of Auditors, auditing firms and members of the Supervisory Body).

What is “Whistleblowing”

Any news regarding suspected violations or alleged illicit conduct that may cause damage or prejudice to the Company, even if only to its image.

The report must concern acts or behaviours that are believed to constitute a violation or induce a violation of laws, regulations, the Code of Conduct or internal procedures/processes.

The illicit conduct to be reported must concern situations of which the individual became directly aware “as a result of the employment relationship”, i.e., resulting from or in the discharge of one’s professional duties.

With regard to the conduct, a report based on suspicions or rumors is not considered worthy of protection, as precise knowledge of the facts is necessary for the purposes of the report.

By way of example, the report must refer to the following actions or omissions, whether committed or attempted:

violations relating to the protection of workers, including accident prevention legislation;
alleged illicit acts by Company representatives in the interest or for the advantage of the Company, which violate the provisions of the current Model 231;
illicit conduct in relations with representatives of Public Administrations;
failure to comply with the ethical values and behavioural rules set forth in the Company’s Code of Ethics, or failure to comply with the Company’s internal procedures, of which one becomes aware during and/or in the discharge of one’s professional duties or as a result of the employment relationship/collaboration;
violations of national and European provisions consisting of offenses concerning the following sectors: public procurement; financial services, products and markets and prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety and animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; protection of privacy and protection of personal data and security of networks and information systems;
violations of European provisions, consisting of: acts or omissions detrimental to the financial interests of the EU; acts or omissions relating to the internal market; acts and behaviours that frustrate the object or purpose of the provisions of EU laws in the sectors mentioned above.

What “Whistleblowing” IS NOT
Simple grievances of a personal nature expressed by the whistleblower or claims/requests that fall within one’s duties or volunteering activities, or reports based on mere suspicions or rumors or relationships with direct supervisors or colleagues/volunteers, cannot be the subject of reports.

Subject of the report

The report must contain the following elements:

details of the circumstances of time and place in which the facts were committed;
information on documents that can confirm the validity of the facts reported and, if available, such documents must be attached to the report;
all the information necessary to unequivocally identify the authors of the illicit conduct;
where possible, the details of any other subjects who can report on the facts covered by the Report;
discuss any private interests linked to the report.

Without prejudice to the above provisions, the Company reserves the right to also take anonymous reports into consideration, where adequately substantiated and detailed in such a way as to allow facts and situations to emerge by relating them to specific contexts. Such reports will, therefore, be taken into consideration only if they do not appear at first sight to be irrelevant, unfounded or unsubstantiated. In order to protect the person(s) being reported, the requirements concerning the accuracy of facts or situations reported are always applicable.

Reports submitted with the aim of damaging or causing harm to the person reported, as well as any other form of abuse are a source of liability for the person making the report, in disciplinary proceedings and in other relevant settings, in particular if the facts reported and the accusations made are ascertained to be unfounded. To this end, if during the investigation the facts reported turn out to be intentionally defamatory as well as unfounded and made with malice or gross negligence, consistently with what is described above, the Company reserves the right to apply appropriate disciplinary measures.

How to file a report

In order to make the submission process easy, a single channel has been made available for reports involving any of the 5 Companies that are subject to the relevant legislation, and, specifically, a dedicated IT platform accessible via a link on this page of the Tampieri Group website.
The whistleblower can prepare a report on the predefined form, selecting the relevant Tampieri Group company that is the subject of the report, attaching files and supporting documentation and even speaking in greater detail with those responsible for evaluating the report.
It is also possible to submit a report in written form by sending a letter to the registered office of the concerned Company and, specifically, to the attention of the “Report Manager” (in this way the Company personnel will not be able to open the envelope, which must be delivered exclusively to the Report Manager).

How the report is processed

The reports are subject to a preliminary evaluation involving the following steps, which may result in:

Archiving the report, ensuring the traceability of any supporting reasons, in cases where the absence of sufficiently detailed elements emerges or if the facts reported are deemed to be unfounded, or
The request of any additional information in furtherance of the investigation.
Authorising the start of the “due diligence” phase, taking care to promptly inform the Company’s Top Management.

After due diligence has been conducted, it is established whether:

The report must be archived, providing the reasons for such decision;
The report must be qualified as report made with intent or gross negligence and, in such cases, decide on any actions to be taken against the whistleblower;
The report can be deemed valid and any appropriate subsequent steps taken.

At the end of the preliminary investigation and due diligence, the relevant information and the processing status of the report are updated within the IT platform

Personal data processing

As part of the reporting management process, personal data are processed in compliance with current legislation on the matter (EU Regulation 679/2016 and Legislative Decree 196/2003, as amended by Legislative Decree 101/2018).

Information on the processing of personal data