Whistleblowing Channel under the RGPDI

Complaints may be filed by:

• FCT employees;
• Service providers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers, as well as any persons acting under their supervision and direction;
• Individuals belonging to administrative or management bodies or to fiscal or supervisory bodies of the FCT, including non-executive members;
• Volunteers or interns, paid or unpaid;

On this Channel, only violations relating to the areas mentioned in Article 2 of the aforementioned Law No. 93/2021 can be reported, namely:

• Act or omission contrary to European Union rules, which includes crimes in the following areas:
  • Public procurement;
  • Financial services, products, and markets, and 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 safety for human and animal consumption, 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 activities detrimental to the financial interests of the European Union (Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU))
  • Any act or omission contrary to market rules, including competition rules and state aid rules (Article 26(2) TFEU).
  • Violent crime, especially violent and highly organized crime, as well as the crimes provided for in Article 1(1) of Law No. 5/2002 of January 11.

No. This channel should not be used to report complaints about harassment in the workplace or about the functioning of a higher education institution or other offenses that are not included in those mentioned in Article 2 of the aforementioned Law No. 93/2021, which are considered offenses for the purposes of this law.

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

The complaint is being processed, but the complainant has not been notified:

• From the receipt of the complaint by the competent service for its analysis and investigation, within 7 days from the receipt of the complaint;
• Of the measures planned or adopted to follow up on the complaint, within a maximum period of 3 months from receipt of the complaint.
• From the result of the analysis carried out on the complaint, within 15 days after its conclusion, if at any time requested by the authority.
• To clarify or complete the information contained in the complaint and/or documentation supporting the facts or complaint made, avoiding the complaint being dismissed due to lack of evidence.

No. This channel only accepts written complaints.

The following are guaranteed:

• The confidentiality of the report, in particular the identity of the whistleblower and third parties mentioned in the report, as well as information that could reveal their identity.
• The impossibility of unauthorized persons accessing the complaint.
• The thorough handling of the complaint and its integrity.
• Use of the information communicated exclusively for the legal purposes provided for the reporting channel, in strict compliance with the rules on the processing of personal data set out in the General Data Protection Regulation, which are included in the notice attached to the form.
• Retention of the complaint for the period of 5 years established in Law No. 93/2021 of December 20

A person who, in good faith, has serious grounds to believe that the information they report is true is guaranteed protection from acts of retaliation, namely threats, changes in working conditions, negative performance evaluations, or dismissal.

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

The following situations, in particular, may determine the dismissal of the complaint:

• The facts reported in the violations do not fall within one of the areas/matters provided for in Article 2 of Law No. 93/2021, identified here in question 2.
• Failure to present clear and unequivocal evidence of the reported facts.
• Failure to comply with the minimum requirements/elements for filing a complaint and the complainant has not submitted such elements after being notified to do so.
• If the FCT is not the competent authority to assess the complaint, it will be forwarded to the responsible authority.
• The situation has already been reported to a judicial authority or a competent administrative authority.
• The reported violation 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, namely:

• The complaint must be made in good faith, with a clear conviction of the veracity of the facts reported and their irregularity.
• The information that is the subject of the complaint was obtained legitimately in the course of professional activities carried out for an FCT service.
• Not to prejudice the confidentiality of the identity of the persons concerned or associated with them, and in particular the presumption of innocence and the legally recognized guarantees of defense.