Peterka Ondřej
In the year 2000, my partners and I launched the PETERKA & PARTNERS law firm in Prague, Czech Republic. Over time we developed an ambitious idea - to create an integrated regional law firm, which at first seemed almost impossible. However, after years of dedication and hard work, we became a strong alternative to the global giants and local law firms active in the CEE region through their networks or best friends.
PETERKA & PARTNERS Law firm registered under company file No. 302/2009 at Sofia City Court, with registered address at 96, G.S. Rakovski Str., 3rd floor, Sofia, Bulgaria, UIC 175688896 (“Company”) has established and maintains an internal whistleblowing channel for violations of certain Bulgarian and European Union legal acts as per the Law on Protection of Persons Filing Reports or Publicly Disclose Information on Breaches, promulgated in the State Gazette on 2 May 2023 (“Act”). You will find below detailed information on the conditions and procedures for reporting breaches under the Act.
WHAT IS A REPORT ON BREACH?
A report on breach is the written communication of any information about breaches of certain Bulgarian and European Union legal acts that has been submitted in accordance with the Act and this procedure, including reasonable suspicions of actual or potential breaches that have been committed or are likely to be committed in the Company, as well as attempts to conceal such breach.
FOR WHAT KIND OF BREACHES CAN YOU SUBMIT A REPORT?
Reportable breaches are actions or omissions that are unlawful and relate to Bulgarian legislation or EU acts in the following areas: public procurements; financial services, products and markets or preventing money laundering schemes and terrorist financing; product safety and compliance; transport safety; environmental protection; radiation protection and nuclear safety; food and feed safety, animal health and welfare; public health; consumer protection; privacy and data protection and network and information systems security. Reportable breaches also cover actions or omissions contrary to the object or purpose of the rules in the said European Union acts.
You can also submit a report for the following actions and omissions:
The procedure described herein can’t be used to report breaches for the protection of classified information according to Art. 1, para. 3 of the Classified Information Protection Act, as well as breaches that became known to individuals practicing law who are under a statutory obligation of professional secrecy.
WHO CAN SUBMIT A REPORT?
Any physical person can file a report on breaches he/she became aware of in the context of his/her relation with the Company (work related context), namely in his/her capacity of: employee or other person who works regardless of the nature of work of the means of payment or the source of financing; person who works without being employed and/or is self-employed and/or performs a craft activity; volunteer or intern; shareholder, sole owner of the capital, member of management or supervisory body; person who works for a natural person or a legal entity, its subcontractors or suppliers; job applicant who acquired as such information on a breach; employee, where the information is received within a terminated employment relationship; any other reporting person, who communicates information on a Breach, obtained by him/her in a work -related context.
HOW CAN YOU SUBMIT A REPORT?
A report can be submitted in written form through the channel established for this purpose, to the following e-mail address: whistleblowing@peterkapartners.bg. The report will be reviewed and subsequent actions will be carried out in such a way that conflict of interests to be avoided.
ARE THERE REQUIREMENTS TO THE REPORTS?
The report should be filed in the form available here and has to contain at least the following information:
Reports which refer to a breach committed in more than two years before the filing of the report as well as anonymous reports and reports on breaches which do not fall within the scope of the Act, indicated above, and the content of which does not provide indication that the report is plausible will not be admissible.
The report can be filed by a proxy explicitly authorized by means of a power of attorney in writing, which does not need to be notarized. In this case the original power of attorney needs to be attached to the report.
COMMUNICATION The person responsible for handling of reports shall maintain the communication with you and will notify you on:
Communication regarding the report and actions carried out in relation to the report will be held through e-mail or, if this is not possible, via mail at the address indicated in the report.
PROTECTION GRANTED TO THE REPORTING PERSON
The Act explicitly prohibits any form of retaliation towards reporting persons, including acts of repression or placing them in an unfavorable position as well as threads or attempts thereto, if the reporting person:
Access to the report and all documents to it is limited to authorized persons only who sign a declaration for the absence of a conflict of interests for each report they handle. In addition, unless consent was granted by the reporting person thereto, his/her identity and any other information from which it may be directly or indirectly deduced can only be revealed in exceptional cases indicated in the Act.