1.Introduction
The topic of “whistleblowing” is trending today. Most articles on this topic have been written from an HR point of view. However, institutions for occupational retirement provision (hereinafter “IORP”) should not be forgotten.
As of 2017, these IORPs already implemented procedures to receive and handle internal reports.
In 2019, the new Directive of the European Parliament and Council on the protection of persons reporting breaches of Union Law was published. The Whistleblowing Directive was then transposed into a new act.
Following the Belgian transposition Act, IORPs must review their policy and procedure on internal reporting.
2. Scope
Upon publication of the act, there was discussion about its scope and, more specifically, whether IORPs were included in this scope. The answer to that question seems unequivocally to be yes.
In principle, the obligation to set up internal reporting channels and procedures applies to legal entities with 50 employees. Since most IORPs in Belgium do not have employees, let alone reach the threshold of 50 employees, it was said that IORPs were not obliged to set up internal reporting channels. Nothing could be further from the truth, as there is an exception for “financial services, markets and products”. Legal entities operating in financial services, markets and products must set up an internal reporting channel regardless of the threshold of 50 employees. The act also defines what “financial services, markets and products”...
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