“There is no better way to protect the reporter than by guaranteeing their anonymity.” This is the main premise on which the bill that will regulate the protection of people who report corruption is based. A text whose parliamentary procedure will be tried to accelerate this Thursday through the vote that will take it directly to the Commission. From there to the Senate.
Spain is late to protect the whistleblower —who uses the whistle to give an alert—, but it will do so with a new law that will force companies, the administration and political parties to establish anonymous complaint channels to report infractions and that will impose fines of up to one million against those who retaliate against informants of corruption. These are the keys to the blueprint.
The text that reaches the Congress of Deputies states that the rule will apply to people who have obtained information about infractions in a labor context in both the private and public sectors. This is where the fight against corruption in the administration or in political parties or unions comes into play. The law will protect informants who are interns and workers in training periods, regardless of whether or not they receive remuneration.
The bill is clear: any actions or omissions that may constitute infractions; whether criminal or administrative serious or very serious “against the general interest”. The Government is convinced that the new law will facilitate the eradication of any suspicion of nepotism, patronage, waste of public funds, irregular financing or other corrupt practices.
Administrations and companies with more than 50 employees will be required to implement an “internal information system” to communicate information on alleged violations. A system that must be managed “in a secure manner” in such a way as to guarantee the confidentiality of the informant’s identity, preventing access by unauthorized personnel. This system must allow the filing of complaints both verbally and in writing.
An external channel is created, where alleged infractions may also be presented, which will depend on a newly created body: the Independent Authority for the Protection of Informants. The text qualifies this new entity as a “basic pillar of the institutional system in matters of whistleblower protection.” It will depend on the Ministry of Justice. In addition to managing the external complaints channel, it also assumes the status of a consultative and advisory body for the Government in matters of whistleblower protection, development of crime prevention models in the public sphere and assumption of sanctioning competence in the matter.
Once the communication is admitted for processing, the investigation phase begins, which, as established in the bill, may not exceed three months. This phase of investigation carried out by the Independent Authority for the Protection of Informants will culminate with the issuance of a report in which the filing of the file or the initiation of the sanctioning procedure may be agreed upon. If the facts could have the character of a crime, they will be brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor.
The text classifies minor, serious and very serious infractions according to the type of action that may leave the complainants unprotected. For example, the adoption of “any retaliation” against the informants derived from the communication will be considered very serious. It will also be a very serious offense to breach the guarantees of confidentiality and anonymity provided by law or to communicate false information. The most serious sanctions will be fined between 600,000 and one million euros in the case of legal persons and between 30,000 and 300,000 euros if they are natural persons.
