36 questions and answers about Law 2/2023

BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LAW  What is the objective of Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of people who report on regulatory violations and the fight against corruption?  Its objective is to protect people who report or denounce violations in their workplace from retaliation they may suffer. The Law transposes Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament on the protection of persons who report violations of Union Law. Law 11/2016 creating the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community, anticipated the Directive, creating an external complaints mailbox open to all citizens and a statute of protection of people who denounce, whether natural or legal persons. Who can report or denounce an irregularity in their workplace? Any person linked by a labor or professional relationship may report to the Independent Informant Protection Authority (AIPI), which has not yet been created, or to the corresponding authorities or autonomous bodies. In the case of the Valencian Community, the competent authority is the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency.  What type of information or complaints are included within the scope of application of the Law and give the right to protection? Actions or omissions that may constitute a serious or very serious criminal or administrative offense. For example: passing the questions on an exam, manipulating a contract, building where you can’t, accessing a grant without having the requirements… In the case of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, these are those facts or conduct that may constitute corruption, fraud, administrative irregularities, conduct constituting an administrative or disciplinary offence, and conduct or activities that are reprehensible for being contrary to integrity and public ethics. Does the Valencian Antifraud Agency have powers in the private sector? It could only have said competence if Law 11/2016 creating the Agency is modified, expanding its scope of action. Therefore, for the private sector, the competent body is the Independent Informant Protection Authority (AIPI), which has not yet been created.  What are the ways and means to report or denounce an infringement in accordance with Law 2/2023? Through the internal channel that each entity must have, or through the external channel, which in the case of the Valencian Community is that of the Valencian Antifraud Agency. The Law allows the whistleblower to choose between the internal or external channel, depending on the circumstances and the risks of reprisals that he considers. The complaint may be anonymous or identified, and may be made by any means: written, verbal, by email, postal mail, voice mail, etc. Who can be reporting persons according to Law 2/2023? Law 2/2023 uses the term “informant” as a synonym for whistleblower to refer to people in the public or private sector who communicate or reveal information about irregularities of which they are aware in their professional or work environment. Are included: People who work in public administrations regardless of their employment relationship (career officials, interim, labor, temporary…) People who work in the private sphere. People who are doing internships, interns, in training or who are participating in a selection process. People who work for companies related to the administration, whether they are contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, etc. In any case, these people who report violations must report in accordance with the requirements of the Law and have reasonable grounds to believe that the information they are providing is true.  Can I go to the external reporting channel or should I first report through the internal channel?  The internal channel should be used preferentially, since a diligent and effective action within the organization itself could paralyze the harmful consequences. However, the Law allows the whistleblower to choose the internal or external channel, depending on the circumstances and the risks of reprisals that he considers. In any case, the AVAF is the external channel that may be used in accordance with the provisions of Law 2/2023 and in its regulatory regional regulations. What are the support measures established by Law 2/2023 for the person who denounces or informs?  Free information and advice on the procedures and resources available, protection against retaliation and the rights of the affected person. Effective assistance by the competent authorities before any authority involved in their protection against retaliation, including the certification that they can avail themselves of protection under this law. Legal assistance in criminal proceedings and cross-border civil proceedings in accordance with community regulations. Financial and psychological support, exceptionally, after assessing the circumstances. All this, regardless of the assistance that may correspond according to Law 1/1996 on free legal assistance, for the representation and defense in judicial proceedings derived from the presentation of the communication or public disclosure. Who can access the protection measures included in the Law? In addition to the informants or denouncers, those related to them who may be harmed or retaliated against, such as family members or co-workers, will be able to access. What about retaliation?  Acts of retaliation, including threats and attempted retaliation, are expressly prohibited. Retaliation is understood as any act or omission prohibited by Law, or that directly or indirectly involves unfavorable treatment that places the people who suffer it at a disadvantage with respect to another in the labor or professional context, solely because of their status as informants. What are the most common reprisals?  Opening of disciplinary files and dismissal. Demotion or denial of promotions and substantial modifications of working conditions. Damages, including those of a reputational nature, or economic losses, coercion, intimidation, harassment or ostracism. Denial or cancellation of licences, permits or training. Discrimination, or unfavorable or unfair treatment. What are the protection measures against retaliation?  The best protection is anonymity. The Law requires the creation and implementation of secure channels that guarantee confidentiality, admitting both anonymous and identifying complaints. The people who communicate this information are not liable, provided that access to the information does not constitute a crime and except for legal liabilities that may arise. However, the protection does not exempt the complainant from the responsibilities that may have been incurred for events other than the complaint.…

The EPAC/EACN. An approach to these organizations and the importance of the participation in them of the AVAF

Urban planning and the risk of corruption

Under the slogan “Urban planning and the risk of corruption” the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community commemorated on December 12, for the sixth time, the International Day of Fight against Corruption. A handful of chosen experts haveblended the very important role of citizens in the face of the phenomenon of urban corruption that, in an organized way, can and should, defend the public space of which we are all legitimate owners. They told us first-hand cases in which the fight against this scourge, despite being very hard, manages not only to reverse situations, but also to impose deserved sentences on those who grossly break the law for their own benefit. We also had the opportunity to learn about the legal vision of this unfortunate outrage against the common good. The legal good protected in urban corruption is the rational use of the environment as a limited natural resource and the adequacy of its use to the general interest. It is a community asset that does not have a specific owner, but its injury harms, to a greater or lesser extent, an entire community, sincecorruption scandals linked to urban planning have an enormous impact: economic, environmental and social. Among the causes of this phenomenon is the excessive discretion with which the City Councils have exercised and exercise the planning function. Urban planning agreements with individuals that give them a decisive role, real estate developments as a breeding ground, or civil servant technostructures, either by abandoning their functions, or actively serving as a transmission belt. The NGO Transparency International has pointed out that the area where corruption is highest in Spain is the local one. In these governments, especially in those located on the coast or in the vicinity of large cities, the qualification of urban land is the origin of the greatest cases of corruption. There are serious problems in at least four major areas: regulatory, bureaucratic, political and judicial. Hyper-regulation, or sometimes even tricky regulation, leaves the door open to arbitrariness, confusion and opacity, arrogance in decision-making and bad governance. The opening of activities and their operation without the granting of the appropriate licenses turning a blind eye or the excessive delay of authorizations in simple issues that should be resolved more effectively, are dysfunctions of the system that need to be corrected. Training and information, both of civil servants and of elected and unelected officials, are essential to prevent deviation from any behavior. The consequences are not trivial: possible crimes of prevarication, embezzlement of public funds, bribery, money laundering, criminal organization, influence peddling, illegal financing of political parties; or at the very least, administrative sanctions, which must be proportionate, dissuasive and effective; In addition to those consequences that, despite being intangible, have an even more harmful impact: reputational damage, the distrust of citizens in their institutions and those who govern them, the breakdown of the principle of equality and the disconnection of the common good and the general interest for the benefit of a few. We cannot deny the slowness of the judicial process, with cases that last an average of eight years; justice that is burdensome, and that cannot be afforded by the average citizen. In addition, often tangled: The matter turns out to be contentious when it was raised through criminal proceedings, or vice versa, if the criminal action was raised, the facts end up not conforming to the elements of the type, since not everything that is corruption is included in the Criminal Code. The Criminal Code would also require a thorough reform, as well as the procedural law. The complexity of these matters makes it impossible for them to be adequately addressed, with the scarce personal and material resources available. From our point of view, corruption crimes should be known to a specialized justice, as has happened with issues as particular and reprehensible as gender violence. It is curious that, although urbanity and urbanism, come from identical etymology, urbs-urbis in Latin, their most common current meanings are extremely distant. According to the RAE, urbanity is behavior consistent with good manners that demonstrates good manners and respect for others. However, according to the RAE, urbanism is the planning of the buildings and spaces of a city; the concentration and distribution of the population in cities. Given this and with all my respect to academics, it is preferable in this case to go to Wikipedia, which defines urbanism as the study of how the inhabitants of urban areas, towns and cities, interact with the built environment. The free encyclopedia adds the need for urban planning, focusing on the physical design and management of urban structures. As a whole, it studies the social, economic and environmental relations that take place within the urban phenomenon. We owethe term urbanism to the Catalan civil engineer Ildefonso Cerdá, in the late nineteenth century. A multifaceted man, he wrote the General Theory of Urbanization (1895), a pioneering work for which he is considered one of the founders of modern urbanism. His most important project was the urban reform of NINETEENTH-CENTURY Barcelona through the Cerdá Plan, with which he created the Eixample neighborhood. According to Cerdá, urban planning is the planning of the various places and environments in which material, sentimental and spiritual life takes place in all its manifestations, individual and collective, and includes both urban and rural settlements. The well-being of the population, resident or foreign, constitutes the ultimate object of urbanization. Cerdá said: “Here are the philosophical reasons that induced me and decided to contribute the word urbanization, not only to indicate any act that tends to group the building and regularize its operation in the group already formed, but also the set of principles, doctrines and rules that must be applied, so that the building and its grouping, Far from compressing, distorting and corrupting the physical, moral and intellectual faculties of social men, they serve both to promote their development and vigour and to increase individual well-being, the sum…