New obligations regarding whistleblower protection

We inform you that the Whistleblower Protection Act (hereinafter referred to as the WPA), adopted on [date], imposes new obligations on certain entities regarding whistleblower protection, including the mandatory establishment of internal and external reporting channels for whistleblowers.

Whistleblowers are individuals who report or publicly disclose information about wrongdoing obtained in their work environment.

The parties subject to the Whistleblower Protection Act include:

1. public and private companies with more than 50 employees;
2. public and private companies with more than 10 employees, engaged in activities in the field of environment or health.

The main obligations imposed on entities by the ZZPri are:

1. imenovanje zaupnika (odgovornega za prejemanje prijav);
2. definition of the address for receiving reports;
3. adoption of an internal regulation describing the specifics of handling reports to prevent the disclosure of the whistleblower’s identity

One of the central measures of the Whistleblower Protection Act (ZZPri) is also the prohibition of disclosing the whistleblower’s identity. The internal reporting process must therefore be organized in such a way that nobody else but the confidential advisor becomes acquainted with the whistleblower’s identity, which also applies during the handling of the report and addressing the violation, as well as informing the management about the violations, except if the whistleblower explicitly consents to disclosing their identity.

The fines for violations of the ZZPri range from 2,000 EUR to 60,000 EUR, depending on the severity of the violation. For responsible individuals, fines range from 300 EUR to 2,500 EUR.