QUESTION 7

How does WhistleB's whistleblowing system help you comply with the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive?
Online or telephone hotline, internal or external reporting... how does WhistleB's whistleblowing system help you comply with the EU Whistleblower Protection law? In a nutshell, WhistleB provides a highly secure, digital solution that is compliant with all relevant data protection laws and has deep whistleblowing functionality that corresponds to many of the obligations of the new Directive.

But let's take a couple of specific examples.

Timely response and feedback: As part of WhistleB's solution, the whistleblower automatically and immediately receives a confirmation that the report has been received. This helps organisations comply with the requirement to respond to the whistleblower within seven days of the initial report being received. Further, the person or team responsible for receiving and/or processing reports can be alerted by text message or email as soon as such a report comes in. This facilitates a prompt start to the process so that feedback can be provided to the whistleblower on what is happening with their case. Feedback within three months is also one of the requirements of the Directive.

Case management by competent professionals: The Directive stipulates that there should be diligent processing of the report, by people with the correct competencies. To facilitate this, WhistleB's whistleblowing system includes an online case management tool that is fully integrated with the reporting channel. It allows ongoing dialogue with the whistleblower, even if they are anonymous, and helps to guide the report recipient through a secure, compliant process. Additionally, handling of reports can be delegated to different teams or experts while maintaining full confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity. External specialists can also be added into a case with full security.

Confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity: And regarding confidentiality, which is another requirement of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive, the WhistleB whistleblowing system supports fully anonymous reporting and follow-up, should your organisation allow anonymous reporting. Security is at the heart of our solution, so all communications are encrypted and whistleblowers cannot be traced, for example through IP addresses.

Thorough record-keeping: According to the Directive, organisations will need to keep a record of every report received. The case management tool in WhistleB's whistleblowing system handles reports all the way from receipt to archiving and/or deletion. It also has an advanced statistics and reporting tool so that the status of the report can be monitored.

GDPR compliant data processing: WhistleB's whistleblowing system is fully compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and all applicable national data protection regulations. The system allows deletion of personal data when the case is closed and allows the organisation to inform potential users about differences in national reporting. Finally, all data is stored on servers within the EU.

How does WhistleB's whistleblowing system help you comply with the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive? By ensuring confidentiality, security, prompt feedback, diligent case management, GDPR compliance and much more.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.