Whistle UP, the Platform Supporting Compliance with the Whistleblowing Legislation, Has Recently Been Launched

In the context of the entry into force of the whistleblowing legislation, business lawyers Claudiu Damian and Costin Teodorovici have launched Whistle UP – https://www.whistleup.eu/ – a platform aiming at helping organisations impacted by the whistleblowing legislation to comply with the applicable legal framework and avoid fines of up to RON 40,000.

The platform will also act as a deterrent to malicious employees or collaborators from taking actions harmful to organisations, contributing to an ethical and safe working environment.

Whistle UP is intended to help all the organisations falling under the scope of the whistleblowing legislation – i.e. all companies with over 49 employees, organizations acting in areas such as banking and finance, capital markets, civil aviation, insurance, oil & gas, audit, e-payments, maritime activities, social entrepreneurship etc, as well as public authorities and institutions.

The whistleblowing legislation enacts several obligations that have an important impact on the targeted organisations – and here are some of the most significant:

The obligation for companies with more than 49 employees to establish reporting channels;
Full protection of whistleblowers from retaliation for reporting illicit activities;
Protection of whistleblowers’ identity and ensuring confidentiality of reports;
Obligation for companies to acknowledge receipt of reports and provide feedback on further action;
The possibility of anonymous reporting, for enhanced whistleblower protection.

“As of December 17^th, companies with over 49 employees can risk fines ranging from 2,000 to 40,000 lei, if they don’t comply with the whistleblowing legislation. That’s why we created Whistle UP as one of the safest, most effective, yet intuitive compliance tools on the local market. The platform can support both whistleblowers in reporting irregularities in the organizations they collaborate with, but also companies in analysing and addressing the reports they receive. Moreover, implementing Whistle UP is also a good opportunity for companies to familiarise with the ESG reporting, which will soon become an essential element of the EU business ecosystem,” declared Claudiu Damian, co-founder of Whistle UP.

Penalties under whistleblowing legislation include:

Fines between 3,000 and 30,000 lei for failure to establish internal reporting channels and procedures or for unjustified refusal to respond to requests from the competent authorities;
Fines between 2,500 and 30,000 lei for whistleblowers reporting false information or facts;
Fines between 4,000 and 40,000 lei for failure to comply with the obligation to set up security mechanisms related to the receipt, management and resolution of reports or those related to the protection of the whistleblowers’ identity.

„Even from the testing stage, we have received enormous positive feedback about the need for such a platform on the Romanian market, as well as about the efficiency and innovation of this mechanism, whose cost-benefit ratio is, we believe, exceptional. Thus, both companies and whistleblowers can benefit of the platform’s numerous advantages, among which: an intuitive interface, which allows easy and quick registration of any report, increased information security, confidentiality of user identification data, traceability – the platform recording all user interactions. Ultimately, the aim of the platform is to help organisations reduce the risk of sanctions and encourage the professional integrity of their employees and collaborators”, added Costin Teodorovici, co-founder of Whistle UP.