Whistleblower Protection

Internal Channel

Makes it possible for individuals who are or were related to SFE in employment or contractual/pre-contractual relations to submit information about a violation to SFE, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers

Report a violation to SFE – Report of a violation form (Word)

A person providing information about a violation to SFE must identify himself and can submit information through the Internal Channel, in one of the following ways:

directly to the competent entity of SFE – the Prevention and Risk Management Department, upon arrival at this department at the address: Savanorių pr. 176, Vilnius;
by email: [email protected];
by mail (Savanorių pr. 176, Vilnius).

The information submitted through the Internal channel is registered, analyzed and decisions are made on the submitted information by the competent entity of the SFE – the Prevention and Risk Management Department.

It is possible to submit a violation report in a free form. If the person providing information about a violation wants to submit a free-form report, instead of filling out a prescribed form for reporting a violation, he must indicate in such a report that the report is submitted in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers.

When providing information about the violation, as far as possible, it is necessary to indicate:

who, when, in what way and what kind of violation is planning to do, is doing or has committed, etc.;
the date and circumstances of becoming aware of the violation;
your name, surname, personal identification number or date of birth, if there is no personal identification number – workplace, contact details;
available documents, data or information revealing signs of a possible violation, indicate information about the possible motives of the person who committed the violation, if known, data about witnesses of the violation.
whether this violation has already been reported; if notified, who was notified and whether a response was received.

A person can also submit a report of a violation to SFE directly to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania, which is considered a competent institution according to the Law (more information in the FAQ section) or submit a report publicly.

The competent entity of the SFE provides confidential consultations to individuals who are considering providing information about a violation or who have submitted it, both directly at the SFE and by phone.

Notifications to the SFE are processed in accordance with the order of the General Director of the SFE on 27/04/2022, No. ĮS(E)-64 approved.

We inform you that a person does not incur any contractual or tort liability for providing information about a violation, as well as liability for insulting honor and dignity for defamation, if, when providing information about a violation in accordance with the procedure established by the Whistleblower Protection Law, if he reasonably believed that he was providing correct information. A person is liable for damages caused by providing information about a violation only if it is proven that the person could not reasonably have believed that the information he provided was correct.

Providing known false information, as well as information constituting a state or official secret, does not provide a person with guarantees according to the Law. A person who has provided known false information or disclosed a state or official secret, or a professional secret shall be liable in accordance with the procedure established by legal acts.

The Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter – the Law) establishes the rights and duties of individuals who have reported violations in institutions, the bases and forms of their legal protection, as well as the means of protection, promotion and assistance of these individuals, in order to create appropriate opportunities to report violations of the law that pose a threat public interest or those that violate it, to ensure the prevention, disclosure and prosecution of such violations.

A person can provide information about a violation:

SFE through the Internal Channel;
To the competent institution (Prosecution Office of the Republic of Lithuania) directly;
When a person becomes aware of the signs of a possible criminal act committed or committed, the report is submitted directly to the prosecutor’s office.

The person submitting the information about the violation may directly apply to the Competent Authority (Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania) regarding the violation when at least one of the following circumstances exists:

the violation is of fundamental importance to the public interest;
it is necessary to prevent or terminate the violation as soon as possible, as significant damage may occur;
the individuals in charge, associated with the institution through work or service or contractual relations may themselves commit or have committed violations;
a violation was reported through the Internal channel, but no response was received or no action was taken in response to the information provided, or the measures taken were ineffective;
there is reason to believe that reporting a violation through an Internal channel may not ensure the anonymity of the whistleblower or the confidentiality of the individual, or will attempt to conceal the reported violation, or will have a negative impact on the person who submitted the report;
the institution does not have a functioning Internal channel for reporting violations;
the person cannot use the Internal channel for providing information about violations, because he no longer has a job, service or other legal relationship with the institution.

The person submitting information about the violation applies to the Competent Authority with a report approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or its authorized institution, or in a free form, indicating that the report is submitted in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Law.

Report processing scheme

Public information about a violation may be provided in order to report an imminent danger to human life, public health or the environment, when in order to prevent such a threat, it is necessary to take urgent action and due to lack of time there are no opportunities to report the violation in other ways, or other ways of reporting the violation were not taken in time necessary actions. A person who has publicly provided information about a violation, in order to obtain the guarantees applicable to whistleblowers established by this law, must apply to the competent authority. The provisions of Article 3, Paragraph 3 of the Law, as well as the measure specified in Article 8, Paragraph 1, Clause 2 of the Law, shall not apply to the person who publicly submitted information about the violation.

Prohibition of negative impact

It is prohibited to take, threaten to take, or attempt to take measures with a negative impact against the person who submitted information about the violation or the whistleblower due to the submission of such information from the date of submission of this information:

suspend him from office temporarily;
dismiss from work or service;
stop the transfer to a higher position;
transfer to a lower position or another workplace;
not to change a fixed-term employment contract to an open-ended employment contract when the employee has a legitimate expectation that he will be offered a permanent job;
not to extend a fixed-term employment contract or terminate a fixed-term employment contract early;
to intimidate;
resort to violence;
harass;
to limit the possibility to participate in previously usual formal or informal activities or to remove them from them;
to discriminate;
threaten to fight;
limit career opportunities;
suspend training;
reduce wages;
to unreasonably change working hours or unreasonably assign additional tasks or transfer them to other persons;
question competence;
to negatively assess performance or provide negative feedback about an employee;
transmit negative information about him to third parties, which may prevent him from finding work in that sector or industry in the future;
cancel the right to work with information constituting a state or service secret;
impose or impose any disciplinary sanctions or other sanctions (including financial sanctions);
cause damage (including damage to a person’s reputation, especially in social networks);
incur financial losses (including loss of business and income);
terminate the contract for the supply of goods or the provision of services ahead of time;
revoke a license or permit;
send to psychiatrists or doctors of another field;
apply any other adverse impact measures.

The prohibition to have a negative effect on the person who submitted the information about the violation or the whistleblower applies to the employer and other employees of the institution.

It is prohibited to have a negative effect on the family members, relatives, colleagues of the person who submitted the information about the violation or the whistleblower working in the institution or another legal entity related to the institution by subordinate relations, where the family member, relative, colleague of the person who submitted the information about the violation may suffer as a result of submitting information about the violation negative effects. The provisions of Article 11 of the Whistleblower Protection Law apply mutatis mutandis to these people who have suffered a negative impact as a result of providing information about the violation.

The person who provided information about the violation, or family members of this person, have the right to apply to the court due to the negative consequences they experience.

A person who submitted information about a violation, which the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania recognized as a whistleblower, or the family members of this person, may also apply to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania due to the negative consequences experienced.

The main means of protecting, promoting and helping individuals:

1) ensuring safe channels for providing information about violations;

2) ensuring confidentiality;

3) prohibition of negative impact;

4) the right to receive compensation for valuable information;

5) the right to receive compensation;

6) provision of free legal assistance;

7) release from liability;

8) the right to receive detailed, unbiased information and free consultations regarding procedures for providing information on violations and providing remedies.

The measures specified in points 1, 2, 3 and 8 shall be applied from the moment of receiving information about the violation at the institution or competent institution (Prosecutor’s office) to all individuals who submitted information about violations in accordance with the procedure established by this law, regardless of whether the person who submitted information about the violation was recognized as a whistleblower or not.

The measures referred to in points 4, 5, 6 and 7 may be applied from the day the competent authority (Prosecutor’s office) recognized the person who submitted information about the violation as a whistleblower.

Useful Legal Acts:

Whistleblower protection law

By the Government of the Republic of Lithuania 2018 November 14 resolution No. 1133 “On the Implementation of the Whistleblower Protection Law of the Republic of Lithuania” to approve:

1) Description of the procedure for remuneration of whistleblowers for valuable information

2) Description of the procedure for compensating the whistleblowers for the negative impact or possible consequences due to the submitted report;

3) Description of the procedure for implementing internal channels for providing information on violations and ensuring their functioning.

Report processing scheme

Privacy Notice

Whistleblowers and Their protection

A whistleblower is considered a person who submits information about a violation in the Lithuanian State Forest Enterprise (hereinafter – SFE), about which he learned from his existing or expected employment or contractual (consulting, contracting, subcontracting, internship, internship, volunteer activities, etc.) relations with SFE or during employment or other pre-contractual relations, as well as a self-employed person providing information about the violation, a shareholder or a person belonging to the administrative, management or supervisory body of SFE, if such are constituted (including non-executive members, as well as volunteers and paid or unpaid interns), or any person who works under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and/or suppliers and who is recognized by the competent authority (Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania) as a whistleblower.

A violation is considered to be a criminal act, an administrative offense, a violation of work duties, a violation of a corrupt nature, as well as a gross violation of mandatory professional ethics norms or internal legal acts of the SFE related to anti-corruption obligations, an attempt to conceal a violation or other threat to the public, violation of the law or other violation of legal acts that raises or violates the interest.

Information about violations is provided to protect the public interest. Providing information for the purpose of defending exclusively personal interests is not considered a report.

According to the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers, information about violations is provided for:

danger to public safety or health, personal life or health;
environmental hazards;
obstructing or unlawfully influencing investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities or courts in the administration of justice;
financing of illegal activities;
illegal or non-transparent use of public funds or assets;
illegally acquired property;
concealing the consequences of the committed violation, preventing the determination of the extent of the consequences;
violations specified in the list approved by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, prepared taking into account the scope of application of the European Union legal acts specified in Directive (EU) 2019/1937;
damage to the financial interests of the European Union, as specified in Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and described in more detail in the related European Union instruments;
violations related to the internal market as referred to in Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including violations of the European Union’s competition and state aid rules, as well as violations related to the internal market due to actions that violate corporate tax rules or agreements aimed at to obtain a tax advantage detrimental to the object or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law;
other violations.

The whistleblower will be treated with confidentiality.

The confidentiality of the person providing information about the violation or the whistleblower is ensured during public administration, investigation procedures for the violation of work duties or administrative or criminal proceedings to the extent that it is objectively possible taking into account the data provided and their relationship with the person providing information about the violation or the whistleblower.

SFE ensures the confidentiality of information about the person submitting the violation or the whistleblower. When providing information anonymously, the person loses the opportunity to use the whistleblower status and receive feedback on the outcome of the investigation.

The data of the person who submitted the information about the violation, the reporter or the person related to the violation, allowing to determine their identity, can be submitted only to the person or institution that examines the information about the violation.

Information about persons who submitted violations, whistleblowers, persons related to the violation, or assistants may not be provided to persons not participating in the investigation.

The requirement to ensure confidentiality does not apply when:

the person submitting or submitting the information about the violation or the whistleblower requests it in writing;
the person who submitted information about the violation provides known false information.

FAQ about Whistleblower protection

Statistics

2020-2023 no whistleblower protection reports were received through the Internal channel.

Analysis of reports received through Internal channels for 2023