What types of reports can be submitted?

The mechanism is designed to enable, among other things:

• the collection of reports from the employees of the company and its subsidiaries relating to the existence of conduct or situations contrary to RTE's Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct, in application of article 17 of the Sapin 2 law
• the collection of reports from external and occasional staff and employees of the company and its subsidiaries, in application of the decree on Procedures for Collecting Reports. This may concern a crime or misdemeanour, a serious and manifest violation of an international commitment duly ratified or approved by France, a unilateral act of an international organisation taken on the basis of such a commitment, law or regulation, or a threat or serious prejudice to the interest of RTE, of which the whistleblower has personal knowledge.
• the collection of reports from the company's employees, its subcontractors, its suppliers or its subsidiaries relating to a serious breach of international agreements, laws and regulations and/or commitments and policies of RTE and its subsidiaries with regard to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the health and safety of persons and respect for the environment.

Who can use the system?

The persons likely to use the professional report are the personnel of RTE and its subsidiaries, as well as, for the “Sapin 2” law, “external and occasional employees” and, for the law on the duty of vigilance, the personnel of RTE's subcontractors, suppliers and subsidiaries.

They must login, as the system does not take into account anonymous reports.

They must act disinterestedly and in good faith, and have had personal knowledge of the facts reported. If these conditions are respected, the Sapin 2 law protects the confidentiality of the identity of the whistleblower and ensures its protection against any sanction.

What is the process for submitting a report?

If you wish to send a report, click on “Submit report” on the top left-hand side of our introduction page.

If this is your first report, the reporting process will consist of four steps:

1. First, you will be asked to read the information on the protection of the confidentiality of your identity and to answer a security query (so-called “captcha”).
2. On the following page, you will be asked to choose the category of your report.
3. On the report page, you can elaborate your report or your enquiry in your own words and answer the questions by selecting predefined responses. In the blank fields, fill in the facts, information or documents (if available), regardless of the form or media in which they are held, to substantiate your report. Following the submission of your report, you will receive a reference number to confirm that you have sent your report or enquiry.
4. Please subsequently set up your own secured postbox. The “Sapin 2 Referent” in charge will use it to answer your questions and to keep you informed, if necessary, about the progress of the processing of your report.

If you already have a secured postbox you can access it directly by clicking on the “Login” button. Please note, that you will first need to answer the “captcha” again before starting your report.

Important :Unless you explicitly authorise him/her to contact you by other means that you will have indicated, the responsible referent will only answer you through this platform. In this case, if you wish to be kept informed of the follow-up to your report, you must create a secured postbox and check it as necessary.

How does the “Sapin 2 Referent” process the report?

• As soon as the report is received, depending on the type of report, the responsible referent (Sapin 2, duty of vigilance or psychosocial risks) will provide the author of the report with a reasonable and foreseeable time-frame for examining its admissibility (i.e. verify that the report meets the legal and regulatory requirements) and will give details about the way in which follow-up information will be provided.
• RTE's management will verify the facts, if necessary by consulting an external expert.

The persons in charge of verification have access only to the information necessary to fulfil their mission and are bound to secrecy when conducting the audit in accordance with the rules of Ethics.

What assurances does a whistleblower reporting in good faith have?

The whistleblower reporting in good faith has several assurances:

Confidentiality

The system guarantees strict confidentiality of the identity of the whistleblower, the identity of the persons targeted by the report as well as the documents and information disclosed, including communication with third parties where this is necessary solely for the purposes of verifying or processing the report.

Information likely to identify the whistleblower may not be disclosed, except to the judicial authority, without the consent of the latter and only if the report has been proven justified. In particular, the identity may not be revealed to the persons who are potentially implicated, even if they request access to the information regarding the investigation of the report concerning them.

Ability to obtain a copy of the final audit result

The whistleblower may, if he so wishes, ask for an oral report of the audit findings by submitting a written request to the “Sapin 2 Referent” (by email or via the platform). The names of the other persons mentioned in the report are not communicated to him in the oral rendition.

Protection of the whistleblower under the Labour Code

Anyone using the whistleblowing system of RTE and its subsidiaries in good faith shall benefit from protection in accordance with the second paragraph of Article L.1132-3-3 of the Labour Code (new paragraph introduced by law already quoted from 9 December 2016, namely that they cannot be excluded from recruitment procedures or from access to an internship or a period of professional training, be punished, dismissed or be the subject of direct or indirect discriminatory measures, in particular as regards remuneration, profit-sharing or distribution of shares, training, reclassification, assignment, qualification, ranking, professional promotion, transfer or contract renewal).

Risks involved in submitting a report in non-compliant conditions

Use of the whistleblowing system in bad faith, in particular if the reports are made with the intention of discrediting one or more natural or legal persons or, in the case of deliberately misleading reports, is likely to expose the perpetrator to disciplinary proceedings and to legal proceedings on the basis of false accusation.

What is the policy regarding the protection of personal data?

The amended French data protection legislation “Informatique et Libertés” of 6 January 1978 and European Regulation n° 2016/679/EU of 27 April 2016 (“GDPR”) constitute the legal framework applicable to the processing of personal data. In particular, these texts set out various obligations relating to the protection of employees' data and to informing employees of the processing of their personal data.

“Personal data”, within the meaning of the regulations in force, means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, whether the identification be made directly or indirectly (in other words, data that would allow a natural person to be identified by cross-referencing with other data sources: identification number, or other elements that are specific to the data subject).

In order to determine whether a person is identifiable, all means must be considered in order to allow his identification to be accessed by the controller or any other person with access to the data.

The person who is subject to the processing of personal data is the person to whom the data relates.

The concept of “processing” broadly refers to any transaction or set of transactions that may or may not be performed using automated processes and applied to data or sets of personal data.

By applying the legal framework defined above, all data subjects have the right of access, rectification, objection, portability, restriction or erasure of data, or withdrawal of consent of their data.

For queries relating to the exercise of these rights, the data subjects can contact the data protection officer at the following email address:

rte-informatique-et-libertes@rte-france.com

For further information, data subjects may also consult the website of the “Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés” - “CNIL” (National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties). Data subjects may also make a complaint to the supervisory authority under the conditions provided by the existing regulations.