We will be coordinating the reports for you. When a whistleblower report is submitted, we will confirm the receipt of the report to the reporter. According to EU Whistleblowing Directive and the Dutch Whistleblower Protection Act this needs to take place within 7 days. We will ensure that it happens faster.
Next we will contact you to discuss the follow-up of the report. Sometimes the question or report can be answered quickly. In other cases a (thorough) investigation may be required.
The Integrity Coordinator is a member of a network of independent investigators and can therefore coordinate the investigation for you.
It is important to update the reporter from time to time on the status of the investigation, so he or she knows that progress is made. This will increase the trust in the whistleblowing procedure. A substantial response from the organisation must follow within 3 months. Preferably the investigation should be concluded by then. If that is not the case, then the reporter should receive a status update. Eventually the outcome of the investigation will be communicated to the reporter, often in general terms.
The reporter may also report to the authorities directly. Because of this it is important to make sure the reporter knows you are working on the case and that progress is being made. If the 7 days or 3 months time limits are not met, the whistleblower can turn to the authorities or to the press directly. He or she will no longer be bound by a confidentiality clause in the labour contract. So it is important to take quick and decisive action.
In short, we will communicate with the reporter/whistleblower, we can coordinate the investigation for you and monitor the response time. We will be coordinating the reports of the whistleblowers and relieve you from this duty.
