Regulations for receiving reports of violations of law and taking follow-up actions

introduced pursuant to the provisions of the Act of 14 June 2024 on the protection of whistleblowers.

§ 1 Purpose of the Regulations

These Regulations define the principles and procedure for reporting violations of the law, understood as actions or omissions that are unlawful or intended to circumvent the law, concerning:

1) corruption;

2) public procurement;

3) services, products and financial markets;

4) counteracting money laundering and terrorism financing;

5) product safety and compliance with requirements;

6) transport safety;

7) environmental protection;

8) radiological protection and nuclear safety;

9) food and feed safety;

10) animal health and welfare;

11) public health;

12) consumer protection;

13) protection of privacy and personal data;

14) security of networks and IT systems;

15) financial interests of the State Treasury of the Republic of Poland, local government units and the European Union;

16) the internal market of the European Union, including public law principles of competition and state aid and taxation of legal persons;

17) constitutional freedoms and rights of persons and citizens – occurring in the relations of an individual with public authorities and not related to the areas indicated in points 1-16 (hereinafter referred to as „Violation of the law„).

§ 2 Definitions

Whenever the content mentions:

Follow-up action –means any action taken by eLeader to assess the veracity of the information contained in the Internal Report and, in appropriate cases, to counteract the Violation of Law that is the subject of the Internal Report, in particular the actions referred to in art. 2 item 1 of the Act, e.g. explanatory proceedings.

Retaliatory action –means direct or indirect action or omission by eLeader, which is caused by the Report or Public Disclosure and which violates or may violate the rights of the Whistleblower or causes or may cause unjustified damage to Whistleblower, in accordance with the definition contained in art. 2 item 2 of the Act;

eLeader –should be understood as eLeader Sp. z o. o. with its registered office at ul. Nałęczowska 16, 20-701 Lublin,Poland;

Information on a violation of the law –should be understood as information, including a reasonable suspicion regarding an existing or potential violation of the law that has occurred or is likely to occur in eLeader, if the Whistleblower participated in the recruitment process or other negotiations preceding the conclusion of a contract, works or worked in eLeader, or in another organization with which the Whistleblower maintains or maintained contact in a Work-related context, or concerning an attempt to conceal such a violation of the law;

Committee –should be understood as a team appointed to receive internal Reports and to take follow-up actions, including communication with the Whistleblower. The eLeader Management Board has appointed members of the eLeader Legal Department as members of the Committee. In the event that an Internal Report concerns any member of the eLeader Legal Department, the persons appointed to perform the tasks of the Committee are members of the eLeader Management Board. Members of the eLeader Management Board are authorized to receive Internal Reports and to take Follow-up actions also in any other case than the one described in the preceding sentence, unless the Internal Report concerns a member of the eLeader Management Board;

Work-related context –should be understood as all the circumstances related to the provision of work or the performance of a function in eLeader in accordance with the definition in art. 2 item 5 of the Act;

Person to whom the report concerns –should be understood as a natural person, legal person or organizational unit without legal personality, to whom the law grants legal capacity, indicated in the Report or Public Disclosure as the person who committed the Violation of the Law or with whom this person is associated;

Person helping in making the report –should be understood as a natural person who helps the reporting person in the Report or Public Disclosure in the Work-related context;

Person associated with the Whistleblower – this should be understood as a natural person who may experience Retaliatory Actions, including a co-worker or family member of the reporting person;

Regulations –should be understood as these Regulations regarding the receipt of Internal Reports and taking Follow-up Actions;

Whistleblower –should be understood as a person reporting a Violation of the Law, in the context of work for eLeader;

Public Disclosure –should be understood as making the Information about the Violation of the Law public;

Act – the Act of 14 June 2024 on the Protection of Whistleblowers (link);

Report – this should be understood as Internal Report and/or External Report;

Internal Report – this should be understood as forwarding the Information about the Violation of the Law to eLeader;

External Report – this should be understood as forwarding the Information about the Violation of the Law to the Commissioner for Human Rights or another public body or, in appropriate cases, to an institution, body or organizational unit of the European Union;

§ 3. Procedure for submitting an Internal Report

An Internal Report may be submitted in the following forms:
1. in writing – by sending an Internal Report by letter to the eLeader address with the note respectively „eLeader Legal Department” or „eLeader Management Board„,
1. verbally – in person or by phone +48 502 526 544. In such a case, the Committee shall prepare a protocol of the conversation,
1. in electronic form – by sending an Internal Report to the e-mail address: sygnalista@eleader.biz.
Internal reports submitted anonymously will not be considered.
An internal report must contain an explanation of the subject of the report and at least the following information:
1. date and place of the Violation of the law or date and place of obtaining information about the Violation of the law,
1. description of the situation or circumstances of the Violation of the law or creating the possibility of a Violation of the law,
1. indication of the Person or Persons to whom the Internal Report concerns,
1. indication of any witnesses to the Violation of the law,
1. presentation of the evidence in possession that substantiates the Violation of the law,
1. indication of the preferred method of return contact together with providing contact details.
It is prohibited to knowingly submit false reports.
If the Internal Report does not contain the necessary information, it may be left without consideration or the Whistleblower may be requested to supplement it, provided that he or she provided his or her contact details.

§ 4. Receipt of Internal Notification

The Committee is obliged to provide the Whistleblower with confirmation of receipt of the Internal Report within 7 days of receipt of the Internal Report, unless the Whistleblower has not provided his/her contact details.
Confirmation of receipt of the Internal Report is made by one member of the Committee in the form indicated by the Whistleblower as the preferred method of return contact.

§ 5. Investigative proceedings

The explanatory proceedings are preceded by a preliminary analysis of the Internal Report, conducted by the Committee, the purpose of which is to determine whether the Internal Report is not manifestly untrue or whether it is possible to obtain the information necessary to conduct the explanatory proceedings.
If, at the stage of the preliminary analysis, the Committee finds that the Internal Report is manifestly unfounded, untrue or it is not possible to obtain the information necessary to conduct the explanatory proceedings, it shall refrain from initiating the explanatory proceedings and shall inform the Whistleblower of this fact within 14 days from the date of refraining from initiating the explanatory proceedings, in the form indicated by the Whistleblower as the preferred form of contact.
During the explanatory proceedings, in order to determine the validity and truthfulness of the Information on the infringement of the law indicated in the Internal Report, the Committee shall, with due diligence, undertake appropriate follow-up actions.
In particular, the Committee may summon witnesses to testify and analyze the documentation necessary to examine the Internal Report.
After conducting the explanatory proceedings, the Committee shall decide on the validity of the Internal Report.
If the Committee finds that a Violation of the Law has occurred, the decision shall include short-term recommendations regarding corrective or disciplinary actions in relation to the Person concerned by the report and long-term recommendations aimed at preventing similar Violations of the Law in the future. In cases requiring it, the Committee may notify the appropriate public authorities of the Violation of the Law.
The Committee shall conduct the explanatory proceedings, undertake follow-up actions and provide feedback to the Whistleblower within 3 months from the date of confirmation of receipt of the Internal Report, and if confirmation has not been provided – within 3 months from the expiry of 7 days from the date of making the Internal Report, unless the Whistleblower has not provided a contact address to which feedback should be sent.
The feedback shall include information on the finding or lack of finding of a Violation of the Law and any measures that have been or will be applied in response to the identified Violation of the Law.

§ 6. Retaliatory actions

No retaliatory actions or attempts or threats to apply such actions may be taken against the Whistleblower.
Retaliatory actions include, among others, refusal to enter into, termination or termination of employment, as well as other actions indicated in Art. 12 and 13 of the Act.
The Whistleblower is subject to the protection specified in the Act only if he or she had reasonable grounds to believe that the information on the Violation of Law that was the subject of the Report or Public Disclosure was true at the time of making the Report or Public Disclosure and that such information constitutes Information on the Violation of Law.
The provisions of § 6 shall apply to the Person assisting in making the report and the Person associated with the Whistleblower if they are in an employment relationship with eLeader.

§ 7. Personal data

The controller of the personal data of the Whistleblower, the Person concerned by the report, the Person helping to make the report and the person associated with the Whistleblower is eLeader.
The Whistleblower’s personal data and other data allowing to establish his/her identity are not subject to disclosure to unauthorized persons, unless with the express consent of the Whistleblower or if it is necessary for the purposes of proceedings conducted by public authorities, including to guarantee the right to defense of the Person concerned by the Report.
After receiving the Internal Report, eLeader may collect and process the personal data of the Person concerned by the report, even without his/her consent, in order to perform a preliminary analysis and conduct explanatory proceedings.
Personal data processed in connection with the acceptance of the Internal Report are stored by eLeader for the period resulting from art. 8 sec. 9 of the Act.

§ 8. Final provisions

From 25 December 2024, in addition to making an internal report, the Whistleblower may always make an external report in accordance with the procedure announced by the Commissioner for Human Rights or another public body. To do this, the procedure for making external reports applicable in the given public body should be familiarised.
Each Employee is obliged to familiarise themselves with the content of these Regulations. A newly employed Employee is obliged to familiarise themselves with the content of these Regulations before starting work.
These Regulations have been established after consultation with the Employees’ representatives.
These Regulations enter into force after 7 days from the date of announcement on the Productive24 platform and on the eLeader’s websites.