Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as “the PAE”) establishes a mechanism for the protection of persons who have provided information about an irregularity in an institution with which they have or have had a service, employment or contractual relationship. The PAA also establishes the rights and obligations of persons who report infringements in the institutions, the grounds and forms of their legal protection, as well as measures to protect, encourage and assist such persons, with a view to enabling them to report infringements of the law which threaten or infringe the public interest, and to ensure the prevention and detection of such infringements.
According to the PAE, information on infringements is provided on:
- endangering public safety or health, or a person’s life or health;
- danger to the environment;
- obstructing or improperly influencing investigations by law enforcement authorities or the administration of justice;
- the financing of unlawful activities;
- illegal or non-transparent use of public funds or property;
- illegally acquired assets;
- concealment of the consequences of an infringement or obstruction of the ascertainment of the extent of the consequences;
- other irregularities..
A person can provide information about an infringement by:
- UAB ,,Lietuvos Žirgynas” through its internal infringement reporting channel;
- directly to the competent authority (prosecutor’s office);
- public.
A person may provideinformation about the infringement toUAB ,,Lietuvos Žirgynas” in the following ways:
- UAB ,,Lietuvos Žirgynas” through the internal infringement reporting channel (send information about the infringement to the email address pranesk@lietuvoszirgynas.lt;
- by the competent person in person at UAB Lietuvos Žirgynas, Žirgų g. 2, Riešė k., LT-14265 Vilniaus r. sav., Lithuania.
We recommend that you report the infringement by filling in the following Infringement Report Form. The notification may also be submitted in a free-form notification, but must state that the notification is made in accordance with the PAE and must include the following information: who, when, how and in what manner has committed, is committing, is committing or is about to commit the infringement, etc.; the date and the circumstances on which it came to the attention of the notifying person; the name, surname, personal identification number, place of work and other contact details of the person reporting the infringement; and, where possible, any available documents, data or information which may reveal the nature of a potential infringement. Please be informed that if you submit information on the infringement in accordance with this form, or if you submit a free-form notification stating that information on the infringement is submitted in accordance with the PAE, the information on the infringement will be forwarded to the competent authority (the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania) within 2 working days.
Directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania:
Description of the procedure for submitting reports on irregularities in institutions to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the procedure laid down in.
A person may apply directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania for a violation when at least one of the following circumstances exists: the infringement is of fundamental importance for the public interest; the infringement must be prevented or terminated as soon as possible because of the risk of serious damage; the persons who are in charge of the management or who have an employment, service or contractual relationship with the institution may be committing, or may have committed, the infringement; the information about the infringement has been submitted through an internal channel for the submission of information about the infringement, but either no reply has been received or no action has been taken in response to the information submitted, or the measures taken have been ineffective; there are grounds for believing that the anonymity of the whistleblower or the confidentiality of the individual may not be ensured by the submission of the information on the irregularity through the internal whistleblowing channel, or that the intention will be to cover up the reported irregularity; there is no internal whistleblowing channel in operation in the institution; the person is unable to make use of the internal whistleblowing channel because he or she no longer has an employment, service or other legal relationship with the institution.
In public:
Information on an infringement may be made public in order to report an imminent threat to human life, public health or the environment, where urgent action is necessary to prevent such a threat and time constraints do not allow the infringement to be communicated in other ways, or where other means of communicating an infringement have not resulted in the necessary action being taken in a timely manner.
Confidentiality:
Confidentiality is guaranteed to the person who provides information on the infringement under the PAA. The requirement of confidentiality shall not apply where:
- the person submitting or providing information about the infringement so requests in writing;
- the person provides knowingly false information.
A person shall not incur any contractual or tortious liability, including liability for defamation, as a result of the provision of information on an infringement, if, when providing information on the infringement in accordance with the procedure laid down in the PAA, he or she reasonably assumed that he or she was providing truthful information.
A person shall only be liable for damages resulting from the provision of information relating to an infringement if it is proved that the person could not reasonably have assumed that the information he or she provided was correct.
The provision of information that is known to be false, as well as information that constitutes a state or official secret, does not confer any guarantees under the PAA. A person who has provided knowingly false information or who has disclosed a State or official secret or a professional secret shall be liable in accordance with the procedure laid down in the legislation.
Consultant:
Renatas Steponavičius
