Ethics mailbox, alert channel or complaints: 10 ideas to understand it
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The Ethics Mailbox will begin work on the pilot phase during the last quarter of 2021
So that you can get a clearer and more substantiated idea of the concepts of the ethical mailbox, from the AOC we have created a compilation of ten key ideas that will help you better understand what it is and what the local world needs. to have the service:
1) Nomenclature: The ethical mailbox is also called the internal complaint or alert channel. These brief nuances of difference lie in the layout of the channel in a broader way or specifically limited to the application of the Directive.
2) Directive (EU) 2019/1937: The Directive, on the protection of whistleblowers, was published in 2019. This European regulatory initiative establishes common minimum standards to protect people who report certain infringements of Union law. In this regard, he highlighted the key role that alert people play in preventing and uncovering infringements, cases of fraud and corruption and other conduct that seriously injures the public interest.
3) The transposition period: although Member States should transpose it no later than 17 December 2021, for the time being, it is not expected to be so within the deadline for it. It is unclear at this time whether the directive is directly applicable. The directive applies to all public sector bodies. However, the directive allows, via transposition, to exempt from the obligation to the city councils of less than 10.000 inhabitants or public entities of less than 50 working people.
4) Internal regime: It is an internal channel designed to receive complaints submitted by the local body's own workers or by people who are involved in the workplace, or by third parties contractually linked to the local body; with the aim of showing (alerting) on conduct committed within the corresponding local body. At the very least, it must be possible to report the infringements referred to in the Directive committed within the local body. Those complaint boxes or channels that have a different scope, if they do not meet all the requirements and guarantees required by the Directive, must be indicated in an express and comprehensible manner so that they can not lead to confusion.
5) Design from a legal point of view: The channel must be designed, established and managed in a secure way that guarantees the confidentiality of the identity of the complainant and also of any third party mentioned in the complaint. Also, to prevent access to the complaint to unauthorized personnel. Finally, the processing of personal data must be done in accordance with the applicable regulations, and specifically the General Data Protection Regulations.
6) Channel information: having clear, complete and adequate information can help to promote the communication of information through internal reporting channels.
7) Outsourcing of the Service: The Directive provides that internal alert channels may be managed internally, or may be provided by a third party. We emphasize that in the event that the management is internal, an impartial person or department must be appointed who is competent to follow up on complaints. It could be determined that complaints should be filed in writing or orally, or both.
8) Next Generation European Funds: Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. It must also be borne in mind, that order HFP / 1030/2021 obliges any entity, decision-maker or executor, to participate in the execution of measures of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), to have an “Anti-Fraud Measures Plan” that provides for the existence of detection measures annex II.B.5). It is in this framework that the Ethics Mailbox is one of the proposed (non-mandatory) measures within public integrity policies.
9) The Catalan history of Ethical Mailboxes: Thanks to the impetus given by Barcelona City Council in collaboration with Xnet for ethical mailboxes, the territory has good examples of governments that have had secure electronic participation channels. Some of them are: Barcelona City Council itself, Lleida City Council, Mollet del Vallès City Council, Terrassa City Council and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
10) Piloting phase and future deployment: Currently, the Ethics Mailbox service provided by the AOC Consortium has been piloting since the last quarter of 2021 and aims to deploy it in 2022 to the rest of the bodies in Catalonia that request it.
The ACM, through the Transparency and Good Local Government Foundation, is working on a project for local bodies to incorporate, as a seal of democratic quality, integrity plans as the basis for future compliance with the public sector, which also of regulatory compliance, be a true show of commitment to a culture of institutional integrity and probity.
Pompeu Fabra University has carried out an exhaustive revision of the University's Code of Ethics, providing it with specific and formal monitoring and review mechanisms. On the one hand, the Integrity Commission has been created for the interpretation and permanent updating and application of the ethical principles enshrined in the Code. And on the other hand, an electronic mailbox (“Ethics Line”) has been created, open for inquiries or alerts of possible breaches of the principles of the Code of Ethics.
