Monthly Archives: November 2017

New Whistleblowing Legislation Approved in Italy

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Whistleblowers will be granted a higher level of protection under new legislation passed earlier this week in Italy.

The new provisions apply to civil servants as well as employees in the private sector. Whistleblowing protection will shield individuals who submit a good faith report concerning unlawful conduct, provided that such report is based on a reasonable belief and factual elements.

The new legislation prohibits any retaliation or other discriminatory measures against good faith whistleblowers, including termination, demotion, transfer or other organizational action.

In the private sector, the new legislation has a significant impact on organizational models adopted to prevent corporate criminal liability pursuant to Legislative Decree 231 of 2001. In fact, all organizational models will need to set up appropriate channels for the confidential reporting of criminal conduct and violations of the organizational models themselves.  Measures aimed at protecting the identity of the whistleblowers and the confidentiality of the reports, as well as disciplinary sanctions against retaliatory or discriminatory measures against whistleblowers, will also need to be included in such organizational models.

The new legislation is expected to enter into force shortly, upon publication in the official gazette.

New crimes triggering criminal corporate liability introduced.

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Starting from November 19, 2017 and following an amendment of the Anti-Mafia Code, additional criminal conducts will trigger corporate criminal liability pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 231 of 2001. (If you are not yet familiar with “231”, i.e., the Italian law setting forth criminal corporate liability, you may refer to our previous blog post for an overview of such legislation).

Section 25-duodecies of Legislative Decree no. 231 of 2001 has been amended by the introduction of three new paragraphs (1-bis, 1-ter and 1-quater) relating to the following crimes in the area of illegal immigration:

• Procured illegal entry into the State; and
• Favoring illegal permanence into the State.

The full list of crimes and sanctions can be found here.

The idea is to punish companies who take advantage of illegal immigration, as well as to provide an incentive to companies to organize their activities in order to prevent such corporate crimes (in fact, companies are exempt from liability if they set up and actively pursue organizational models aimed at preventing corporate crimes). It is, however, unclear if continuously increasing the list of crimes that companies must prevent is an efficient way to do that.

G7 Health Summit Closed Today in Milan

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On November 5 and 6 the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Health was held in Milan. The meeting had an ambitious agenda, ranging from the impact of climate change on people’s health to antibiotic resistance.

According to the Italian Ministry of Health, hosting the summit on the occasion of the 2017 Italian G7 presidency, the meeting innovated in the way matters have been examined and discussed, by using a so called Delphi method based on the opinions of the world’s leading experts.

A number of satellite events have also taken place across the city, including a conference organized by police forces to address the cross-border fight against “pharmaceutical crime” in all its forms, identifying the critical factors and common responses. The conference focused on the strategies and international collaborations needed to crack down on counterfeit pharmaceutical products, as well as the import and on-line sales of unauthorized products.

Another satellite event focused on the employment of new technologies in the healthcare sector, with particular emphasis on sustainability. Antibiotic resistance has also been a key item on the agenda. Italy is among the countries in the world where deaths linked to antibiotic resistance are higher.

Italian authorities did not conceal that one of the hidden goals of the summit was for them to lobby for the relocation of the European Medicines Agency- EMA headquarters to Milan. The political battle among candidate cities is about to get more intense, as a decision is expected to be adopted before the end of November.

More information on the agenda and materials of the summit can be found here: http://www.g7italy.it/en.