Whistleblowing Channel under the GDPR

They can lodge complaints:

• FCT workers;
• Service providers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, as well as any persons acting under their supervision and direction;
• Natural persons belonging to the FCT's administrative or management bodies or supervisory bodies, including non-executive members;
• Volunteers or trainees, paid or unpaid;

In this channel, infringements can only be reported in the areas mentioned in Article 2 of Law 93/2021, namely:

• Act or omission contrary to European Union rules, which includes crimes in the following areas:
  • Public procurement;
  • Financial services, products and markets and the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing;
  • Product safety and compliance;
  • Transport safety;
  • Environmental protection;
  • Radiation protection and nuclear safety;
  • Food safety for human consumption;
  • Food and feed safety, animal health and animal welfare;
  • Public health;
  • Consumer protection.
  • Protection of privacy and personal data and security of the network and information systems.
  • Fraud and any other illegal activity detrimental to the European Union's financial interests (Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU))
  • An act or omission contrary to market rules, including competition and state aid rules (Article 26(2) TFEU).
  • Violent, especially violent and highly organized crime, as well as the crimes provided for in Article 1(1) of Law no. 5/2002 of 11/01.

No. This channel should not be used to submit complaints about harassment in the context of work or the functioning of a higher education institution or other infractions that are not included in those mentioned in article 2 of the aforementioned Law no. 93/2021, which are for the purposes of this law considered an infraction.

Complaints regarding infractions committed by bodies/services of higher education institutions should be submitted to the General Inspectorate of Education and Science.

The complaint is processed, but the complainant is not notified:

• Upon receipt of the complaint by the department responsible for its analysis and investigation, within 7 days of receipt of the complaint;
• The measures planned or adopted to follow up on the complaint, within a maximum period of 3 months from receipt of the complaint.
• The result of the analysis carried out on the complaint, within 15 days of its conclusion, if the authority so requests at any time.
• To clarify or complete the information contained in the complaint and/or documentation that supports the facts or complaint made, in order to avoid the complaint being closed for lack of elements.

No. This channel only accepts written complaints.

They are guaranteed:

• The confidentiality of the complaint, in particular the identity of the complainant and any third parties mentioned in the complaint, as well as any information that might make it possible to deduce their identity.
• The impossibility for unauthorized persons to access the report.
• The exhaustive treatment of the complaint submitted and its integrity.
• Use of the information communicated exclusively for the legal purposes envisaged for the reporting channel, in strict compliance with the rules on the processing of personal data established in the General Data Protection Regulation, which are set out in the notice attached to the form.
• The retention of the complaint for the 5-year period established in Law no. 93/2021 of December 20

Anyone who in good faith has serious grounds for believing that the information they report is true is guaranteed a ban on retaliatory acts, such as threats, changes to working conditions, negative performance appraisals or dismissal.

If such acts occur up to 2 years after the complaint, they are presumed to be motivated by the complaint.

The following situations may lead to the complaint being closed:

• Failure to fit the facts reported in the infractions into one of the areas / matters provided for in article 2 of Law no. 93/2021, identified here in question 2.
• Failure to provide clear and unequivocal evidence of the facts reported.
• Failure to comply with the minimum requirements/elements for drawing up the complaint and the complainant's failure to submit these elements after being notified to do so.
• The FCT is not the competent body to consider the complaint, in which case it will be sent to the responsible body.
• The situation has already been reported to a competent judicial or administrative authority.
• The infringement complained of is repeated and does not contain new elements that justify a different course of action from a previous decision.

The whistleblower has a duty to act in accordance with the law:

• The complaint must be made in good faith, in the clear conviction that the facts reported are true and irregular.
• The information complained of was obtained legitimately in the context of the professional activity with an FCT department.
• Do not undermine the confidentiality of the identity and persons targeted or associated with it and, in particular, the presumption of innocence and the legally recognized guarantees of defence.