Reporting obligation as per the Reporting Persons Protection Act

Authors I Darja Miklavčič and Gregor Novljan

The Reporting Persons Protection Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 16/23; “ZZPri”) came into force on February 22, 2023. The primary purpose of ZZPri is to protect the public interest through mechanisms and procedures for reporting violations of regulations that individuals become aware of in the workplace, ensuring their proper handling, and protecting individuals who report or publicly disclose information about violations (so-called “whistleblowers”). ZZPri transposes the 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 into the Slovenian legal system.

Whistleblowers are natural persons who typically become aware of violations in their workplace, as they are often in an employment relationship. However, whistleblowers may also learn about violations through other forms of legal involvement with a specific organization, such as student work, participation in selection procedures as a candidate, holding a position or performing duties, exercising rights and responsibilities as a shareholder, serving as a member of a supervisory or management body, working under the supervision and direction of external contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers, etc. A whistleblower is entitled to protection under ZZPri if they had reasonable grounds to believe that the reported information about violations was true at the time of reporting and submitted either an internal report, an external report, or publicly disclosed information about violations in accordance with ZZPri provisions.

Internal Reporting Channel

Entities obligated to establish an internal reporting channel include public and private sector entities with 50 or more employees, entities with at least 10 employees if their primary registered activity is in healthcare or in fields such as water collection, purification, and distribution, wastewater management, waste collection and disposal, secondary raw material processing, environmental remediation, and other waste management activities, and state authorities and local self-government units, regardless of the number of employees.

To establish an internal reporting channel, the obligated entity must provide a dedicated email address, phone number, or other contact details for receiving reports, implement measures to prevent the disclosure of the whistleblower’s identity, appoint a trusted person from among the employees, and adopt an internal policy outlining the necessary procedures for receiving and handling reports and for addressing violations.

External Reporting Channel

ZZPri designates 25 external public authorities responsible for handling reported violations within their respective jurisdictions, following procedures defined by sector-specific regulations (e.g., Bank of Slovenia, Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Market Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia, etc.). A whistleblower may submit an external report if the internal reporting channel is not established, the internal report could not be effectively handled, or the whistleblower believes that internal reporting poses a risk of retaliation.

Obligation to Report Statistical Data

According to Paragraph 16 of Article 9 of ZZPri, each obligated entity must submit a report to the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption by March 1 of the current year for the previous year via an electronic form available on the Commission’s website. The report must include the number of received, anonymous, and justified reports, the number of cases involving retaliatory measures, and information about the trusted person.

The transitional and final provisions of ZZPri required obligated entities to establish an internal reporting channel by May 23, 2023 (for private-sector entities with 250 or more employees and all public-sector entities) and by December 17, 2023 (for private-sector entities with up to 249 employees). The calendar year 2024 is the first full year following the introduction of the reporting obligation under ZZPri.

The electronic reporting form for internal reports is available on the Commission’s website at the following link: https://zzpri.kpk-rs.si/notranja-prijava.

Reporting is mandatory, even if the obligated entity has not received or processed any reports under ZZPri in the given year. If no events occurred in a specific section of the online reporting form, the corresponding field must be marked “0” (zero), otherwise, the form cannot be submitted. The Commission has provided an important practical tip regarding reporting via the online form. Obligated entities do not automatically receive a confirmation of successful submission of the online form. Therefore, it is recommended that they take a screenshot of the final step of the submission process, showing successful submission, for their own records. The screenshot can serve as proof of submission or fulfilment of the reporting obligation under ZZPri for their internal needs.

The reporting obligation will continue annually until further notice.