Whistleblowing

What is an ethical alert ? 

An ethical alert is the act by a individual of revealing or reporting, without any direct financial consideration and in good faith, facts that have arisen in the course of their professional activities relating to a crime, an offence, a threat or harm to the general interest, or a violation or attempted concealment of a violation of international or European Union law, the law or regulations.
To be admissible, the alert must therefore be made without financial consideration and in good faith. The Defender of Rights specifies that the whistleblower must "have reasonable grounds for believing that the facts reported are true in the light of the information available to (their) and that they are indeed likely to be the subject of a warning"; the person concerned cannot be recognised as a whistleblower if they are "aware that the facts on which (they rely) are false or (if they act) with the intention of causing harm". The Human Rights Defender also points out that "the disclosure of information must be necessary and proportionate to safeguard the interests at stake".
Excluded from the system are facts whose revelation or disclosure is prohibited by national defence secrecy, medical secrecy, the secrecy of judicial deliberations, the secrecy of judicial enquiries or investigations or the professional secrecy of lawyers.

Who can benefit from Ofpra's whistleblowing procedure?

The procedure applies to all Ofpra staff, regardless of their status, including former staff members when the information was obtained in the course of their duties at the Office and persons who have applied for a job with the Office, when the information was obtained in the course of their application. 
This procedure is also open to external and occasional employees, such as interpreters working at the Office, and to service providers.
Internally, a procedure specific to Ofpra staff has been published on the institution's intranet. 

To whom should an ethical alert be addressed ?

Ofpra's "ethical alert" officer collects and processes alerts.

An external alert must be submitted in writing :

• by post, to the following address : Référent alerte éthique - Ofpra - 201 rue Carnot - 94136 Fontenay-sous-Bois Cedex. The first envelope must be marked "Confidentiel". The second envelope, which contains all the information in the file, must be marked "Signalement d'une alerte au titre de la loi du 9 décembre 2016".

• by mail, to the following address : alerte-ethique[a]ofpra.gouv.fr 

In support of their alert, the individual report any facts, information or documents in their possession that may support and justify it. For the purposes of investigating the alert, the ethical alert officer may ask the person for any additional information.

Except in cases where the alert is anonymous, an acknowledgement of receipt is sent to the person making the alert within seven working days of receipt. 
This document indicates the confidentiality guarantees enjoyed by the person reporting the alert; sets the foreseeable and reasonable timeframe for examining the admissibility of the alert; specifies the procedures for informing the person reporting the alert of the action taken. 

How is an alert handled ?

In all cases, there are three stages in processing an alert issued by an agent:

• examination of the admissibility of the alert: this phase verifies that the scope of the alert has been respected and that the information brought to the attention of the "ethical alert" officer is sufficiently precise to enable they to deal with the alert. If the alert is inadmissible, it is closed. The author of the alert is informed of the reasons for its closure;

• verification of the facts: this phase may involve discussions with the person who issued the alert;

• transmission to the competent authorities or closure of the procedure.

Except in cases where the alert is anonymous, the author of the alert will be informed by the "ethical alert" officer, on a regular basis and throughout the procedure, of the action taken on the alert and of the foreseeable time taken to deal with it, which may not exceed three months from the date of acknowledgement of receipt of the alert or, in the absence of acknowledgement of receipt, three months from the expiry of a period of seven working days following the alert. 
When an admissible report requires the implementation of measures, the "ethical alert" officer will refer the matter to the competent administration or authority in order to put an end to the acts, threats or harm reported. To do this, the "ethical alert" officer may refer the matter to :

• the superior of the staff member in question, so that the latter can take the necessary measures to put an end to the acts or order the staff member concerned to put an end to the situation within a period of time that they shall determine ;

• the disciplinary authority when the acts reported are liable to disciplinary action.

Data relating to an inadmissible alert will be destroyed immediately. 
When disciplinary or judicial proceedings are initiated against the person concerned or the author of an alert which has not been issued in accordance with Articles 6 to 8 of the Law of 9 December 2016, the data relating to the alert shall be kept until the end of the proceedings. 
Where an alert is not followed by disciplinary or judicial proceedings, the data relating to the alert shall be kept for two months after the end of the operations to process the alert and then destroyed. The persons concerned will be informed. 
Data relating to alerts may, however, be kept for longer periods, provided that the individuals concerned are neither identified nor identifiable.

Guarantees of confidentiality 

The procedure guarantees the integrity and confidentiality of the information collected in an alert, in particular the identity of the author of the alert, the persons concerned by the alert and any third parties mentioned in the alert. 
If it is necessary to communicate with third parties, in particular to carry out checks or to deal with the alert, every precaution is taken to restrict access to information to those who need to know it. Third parties are informed of the need to respect confidentiality rules. 
Information that could identify the person making the alert may not be divulged without the consent of that person. Any person disclosing this confidential data exposes themselves to criminal liability, pursuant to article 9 of the law of 9 December 2016. 
This information may, however, be communicated to the judicial authorities, in cases where the "ethical alert" officier required to report the facts to them. The whistleblower is then informed, unless this information could compromise the legal proceedings. Written explanations are attached to this information.