Report Under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania

This section provides information on when and how you can send a report on possible breaches of legislation at GBY UAB that threaten or violate the public interest.

Under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers, you can report on:

• a threat to public security or health, life, or health of an individual;
• environmental hazards;
• impediment to or unlawful interference with investigations by law enforcement bodies or the administration of justice by courts;
• financing of illegal activities;
• illegal or non-transparent use of public funds or assets;
• unlawfully acquired assets;
• concealment of the effects of a committed breach, obstruction of quantification of the effects;
• breaches referred to in the list approved by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, based on the scope of application of the European Union legal acts referred to in Directive (EU) 2019/1937;
• damage to the financial interests of the European Union, as referred to in Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and further detailed in the relevant European Union instruments;
• a breach relating to the internal market as referred to in Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including breaches of the European Union competition and State aid rules, as well as breaches relating to the internal market as a result of conduct which breaches the corporate tax rules or agreements intended to confer a tax advantage to the detriment of the subject matter or purpose of the applicable corporate tax law;
• other breaches to protect the public interest.

You can submit a report if you are:

• a former or current employee, or a person who has a contractual relationship with UAB GBY (consultancy, contract, internship, traineeship, volunteering, etc.) or other pre-contractual employment relationship;
• a person belonging to the administrative, management, or supervisory body of UAB GBY;
• a natural person involved in the activities of UAB GBY, working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors, and/or suppliers.

Ways in which you can submit a report:

1. through the internal whistleblowing channel, by filling in the Whistleblowing form and sending it to: praneseju.apsauga@gby.lt. If you cannot fill in the reporting form, you can make a free form report, indicating who, when, how, and in what manner is going to commit, is committing, has committed, etc. the breach; the date and the circumstances of the knowledge of the breach; your full name, personal number or date of birth, your place of work, and your contact details for contact. It must be stated that the notification is submitted under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania.

The report shall be assessed under the Procedure for the Submission and Examination of Reports under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania adopted by UAB GBY. The assessment of the information in the report is conducted by GBY’s legal counsel and a member of the GBY Board of Directors, who act as the Competent Entity referred to in the abovementioned Procedure.

We guarantee the confidentiality of the individual and the information they provide. The confidentiality requirement does not apply where the person providing or having provided information about the breach requests it in writing; the person provides manifestly untrue information.

2. You can contact the competent authority (the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania) directly at apsauga@prokuraturos.lt.

The individual must report the breach directly to the competent authority in any of the following circumstances:

• the breach is material to the public interest;
• it is necessary to prevent or terminate the breach as soon as possible, as significant damage may arise;
• managing persons, persons having an employment, service relationship, or contractual relationship with the institution have likely committed or are committing the breach;
• information on the breach has been provided through the internal channel for providing breaches, but no response has been received, or no action has been taken in response to provided information, or the measures taken have proved to be ineffective;
• there are grounds for believing that the anonymity of the whistleblower, or the person’s confidentiality may be compromised, or the reported breach will be concealed after providing information on the breach through the internal channel for proving information on breaches;
• the functioning internal channel for providing information on breaches is not in place at the institution;
• the person may not make use of the internal channel for providing information on breaches because they no longer have an employment or service relationship or any other legal relationship with the institution.

Whistleblowers may be subject to protection, incentive, and assistance measures under the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts. The provision of knowingly false information does not give a person any guarantees under the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania. A person who knowingly provides false information shall be liable under the procedure established by the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania.

Relevant legislation

Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 14 November 2018 on the implementation of the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers of the Republic of Lithuania. This Resolution approves:

• Procedure for the Remuneration of Whistleblowers for Valuable Information;
• Procedure for the Compensation of Whistleblowers for any Adverse Effects or Potential Adverse Consequences Arising from the Submission of a Report;
• Procedure for the Establishment and Operation of Internal Whistleblowing Channels.

Statistics on reports received: we will report them here every year.