Equip your company
with the White Alert solution

better prevention of

risks

White Alert works alongside law firms and their clients to promote greater business ethics.

White Alert is a secure digital solution for launching and processing alerts which aims to save organizations time in their compliance efforts, minimize their legal risks and enhance their brand identity, while fully controlling their costs. White Alert is the technological response to the law on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernization of economic life, known as "Sapin II".which requires companies with more than 50 employees, as well as local authorities and municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, to set up a procedure for collecting reports as of January 1, 2018.

This anonymous, secure alerting platform, designed and created by a team of lawyers, is available to made available to European firms wishing to offer their customers a turnkey technical solution which, combined with a legal advice from highly qualified lawyersenables them to prevention of litigation risks and optimized management of criminal risk and situations of harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

The White Alert Solution

By setting up a secure alert portal, employees, customers and stakeholders can anonymously, efficiently and reliably report any violations committed within their organization. With White Alert, companies meet international compliance standards, while benefiting from the efficient handling and processing of alerts by specialized lawyers bound by professional secrecy.

To guarantee the anonymity of the whistle-blower and the confidentiality of the data, the White Alert platform has been designed to comply with data protection regulations. When an alert is filed on the White Alert platform, only authorized lawyers mandated by the client company can access the alert data. What's more, White Alert's servers are hosted in France (or in the country of residence of authorized lawyers), within the OVH infrastructure, Europe's leading web hosting company.

White Alert is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, requiring no installation, and enabling almost instantaneous deployment and immediate service availability. As soon as it is up and running, the alert platform is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Thanks to a privileged dashboard, the customer's internal contact will have access to a reporting tool, and will be able to know the status of an alert.

The White Alert solution is particularly adaptable and meets the needs of all businesses, from SMEs operating locally to multinationals operating worldwide. The technical solution is robust and scalable, and the multi-disciplinary skills of our lawyers enable us to deal with all types of alert that companies may encounter: corruption, harassment, ecology, etc.

The proposed solution is immediately operational, requiring no investment and no installation costs. There's also no need to train staff in the legal precautions involved in handling alerts and crisis management, as everything is handled by qualified lawyers.

Benefits

Prevent your risks

Preventing the risk of litigation and criminal prosecution: detecting and dealing with hazards at an early stage minimizes the risk of reputational damage, sanctions and financial penalties.
Optimized management of the criminal risk associated with the use of sensitive alert data, using a secure platform managed by lawyers bound by professional secrecy.
An ultra-secure tool for collecting and centralizing the company's potentially most sensitive information.

Save time

White Alert's turnkey solution enables immediate implementation of the platform, for instant corporate compliance.

Minimize your costs

The proposed solution is immediately operational, requiring no investment or installation costs. Nor is there any need to train staff in the legal precautions involved in alert handling and crisis management, as everything is handled by Ayache's qualified lawyers.

Delegate with confidence

White Alert brings peace of mind to its customers, helping them to comply with the obligations of the Sapin II law, detecting any risks they may be exposed to and dealing with them with all the professionalism of a rigorous law firm.
White Alert guarantees that your alerts will be dealt with quickly and efficiently by specialized lawyers who are bound by professional secrecy.

Enhance your brand image

Setting up a whistle-blowing platform means improving compliance, proving your commitment to transparency and getting ahead of your market. But it also means protecting the company's reputation by preventing highly sensitive information from being disseminated, thanks to a system that guarantees the confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity and the content of the report.

Promote your employees' well-being

Whistle-blowers can rest easy, since their anonymity is guaranteed by a technical solution that meets all standards of data security on the one hand, and attorney-client confidentiality on the other. White Alert fosters well-being, as employees are encouraged to share what is not compliant. It is also a service that facilitates the work of the internal referent, as he or she will only receive relevant information - legal qualifications and recommendations - in respect of qualified alerts.

The Team

The White Alert platform is the brainchild of a multi-disciplinary team of senior lawyers who see on a daily basis that the inflation of standards and legislation makes it essential to anticipate their application.

It's a strategic alliance between a high-quality consulting business, based on solid expertise, and the technical development of a robust, secure platform.

Regulations

Directive 2019/1973 was adopted on October 23, 2019 with the aim of harmonizing a minima and strengthening whistleblower protection regimes in the various member states.

 

It had to be transposed in member states by December 17, 2021 for the public sector and companies with more than 249 employees, and must be transposed by December 17, 2023 for companies with between 50 and 249 employees, Denmark being the first state to transpose it in June 2021.

 

Certain differences may remain in the transposition of the Directive in EU countries, since the European legislator's intention was to achieve a minimum level of standardization, leaving it up to the Member States to set up a more protective system. In fact, the Directive has a limited material scope, applying only to the areas of EU law listed in the text: public procurement, competition law, state aid, financial services, corporate tax rules, environmental protection, food, product and transport safety, public health, nuclear energy, consumer protection, the right to privacy and the protection of personal data, and the security of networks and information systems.

As of January 1, 2018, the law required French organizations with more than 50 employees to set up a business alert system. Through this regulation, France has risen to the level of international standards in terms of compliance. The legal obligations are numerous, the scope very broad (excluding only facts covered by defense secrecy, medical secrecy and lawyer-client secrecy) and many obligations are penalized.

 

Law no. 2022-401 promulgated on March 21, 2022, transposing the European Directive of October 23, 2019, came into force on September 1, 2022, and aims to improve whistleblower protection in the French legal system. It is accompanied by an organic law no. 2022-400 of March 21, 2022, designed to strengthen the role of the Défenseur des droits, whose role is to support whistleblowers throughout their career.

 

Thanks to the White Alert solution, companies can equip themselves with a system that fully complies with CNIL requirements on the procedure for professional alerts (data protection, secure connection, notification system, etc.), avoids the legal obligations associated with setting up an alert system, and minimizes the occurrence of criminal offenses.

Legal obligations to set up a warning system :

EFFECTIVE DATE : January 1, 2018 and modified as of January 1er septembre 2022

COMPANIES INVOLVED : Private or public companies > 50 employees

TYPES OF ALERTS : a natural person who reports or discloses, without direct financial consideration and in good faith, information concerning :

  • Any felony or misdemeanour
  • Any violation or attempted concealment of a violation of an international commitment or European Union law, law or regulation
  • Any threat or harm to the public interest

SYSTEM TYPES Open to employees and external and occasional collaborators, protection extended to certain natural persons and non-profit legal entities (trade unions and associations) who are in contact with the whistleblower (the "facilitators" helping to make the report or disclosure).

PENALTIES : In the absence of a system set up by the company, the whistle-blower can only report the matter directly to the competent authorities, as he or she is unable to do so internally. The whistleblower may also make a public disclosure if he or she considers that there is a serious and imminent danger. Risk of serious damage to image.

EFFECTIVE DATE : June 1, 2017

COMPANIES INVOLVED : Private or public companies > 500 employees and > 100 M euros annual sales (and their foreign subsidiaries)

TYPES OF ALERTS :

  • Any breach of the internal code of conduct on corruption and influence peddling

SYSTEM TYPES : Open to employees

PENALTIES : Warning; injunction or fine of up to 200,000 euros (individuals) or 1,000,000 euros (legal entities)

 

EFFECTIVE DATE : 1st fiscal year 2018

COMPANIES INVOLVED : Public limited companies (or SAS) employing more than 5,000 employees within the company and its subsidiaries having their headquarters in France, or more than 10,000 employees within the company and its subsidiaries having their headquarters in France or abroad.

TYPES OF ALERTS :

Any serious injury : 

  • Human rights and fundamental freedoms
  • Droits de l'homme et libertés fondamentales
  • To the environment

SYSTEM TYPES : No legal definition of potential users

PENALTIES : Formal notice; injunction; compensation for damage caused by failure to comply with obligations (1240 and 1241 of the French Civil Code)

EFFECTIVE DATE : Transposed by law n°2022-401 promulgated on March 21, 2022ENTREPRISES

COMPANIES INVOLVED : 50+ employees

TYPES OF ALERTS : The directive's contribution concerns whistleblower protection, which applies only to the reporting of wrongdoing covered by European Community law, such as tax fraud, money laundering or public procurement offences, product and road safety, environmental protection, public health and consumer and data protection (the EU encourages local regulators to extend this scope in their legislation).

SYSTEM TYPES : Open to employees, job applicants, former employees, whistleblower supporters and journalists.

PENALTIES : Companies that obstruct or attempt to obstruct the reporting of abuse will face penalties. The same applies if companies fail to treat whistleblowers' identities with confidentiality. Retaliation against whistleblowers will also be penalized. It is up to local regulators to determine the degree of these sanctions.

EFFECTIVE DATE : January 1st, 2019

COMPANIES INVOLVED : 250+ employees

TYPES OF ALERTS :

  • acts of sexual harassment and gender-based violence

SYSTEM TYPES : the first referent has a guidance role, and the second is appointed from among the members of the CSE to follow up the alert

Penal obligations :

HYPOTHESES :

  • A manager receives an alert and discloses its content and/or the name of the respondent.
  • The internal recipient who is not trained in secrecy talks about it without malice.

FACTS COVERED BY CONFIDENTIALITY : 

  • Identity of the persons who issued the alert and any identifying information, except to the judicial authority or with their consent;

  • Identity of the persons concerned by the alert and of any third party mentioned in the alert, as well as any information likely to identify them, except to the judicial authority and except once it has been established that the alert is well-founded;

  • Information gathered by all the recipients of the alert.

PENALTIES : 2 years' imprisonment and €30,000 fine for individuals (€150,000 fine for legal entities)

RISKS OF OCCURRENCE : high

Alerts may only be kept for as long as is strictly necessary and proportionate for their processing and for the protection of their authors, the persons they concern and the third parties they mention, taking into account the time required for any further investigations.
Data relating to alerts may be retained beyond this period if the individuals concerned are not identified or identifiable.
Personal data relating to alerts is stored in compliance with the RGPD.

HYPOTHESES :

  • The recipient is involved in the facts reported and does not disclose the alert
  • The internal system is non-existent or defective / failure to set up a warning system
  • A manager wants to avoid litigation for the company or an attack on its image and hushes up the affair.

PENALTIES : 1-year prison sentence and €15,000 fine for individuals (€75,000 fine for legal entities)

RISKS OF OCCURRENCE : Very high

PLEASE NOTE: the organization must disseminate the reporting procedure it has established by any means, including notification, posting or publication, where appropriate on its website, under conditions that enable it to be made accessible to members of its staff or agents, as well as to its external or occasional collaborators. This information may be provided electronically (art. 6 of Decree no. 2017-564 of April 19, 2017).

HYPOTHESES : In particular, dismissal, direct or indirect discrimination, particularly with regard to remuneration, reclassification, intimidation, damage to reputation, particularly on social networks, improper referral for care, blacklisting of a whistleblower, a facilitator or a person linked to the whistleblower...

PENALTIES : Adjustment of the burden of proof, possible payment of a provision that could become definitive for the whistleblower's legal costs, 3 years' imprisonment and €45,000 fine (€225,000 for legal entities). 

RISKS OF OCCURRENCE : Very high

HYPOTHESES :

Gagging procedures against the whistleblower, a facilitator or a person in contact with the whistleblower

Defamation proceedings: attack by respondent finally dismissed

PENALTIES : possible payment of a provision, which may become definitive, for the whistleblower's legal costs, €60,000 fine (€300,000 for legal entities), damages to the party suffering from dilatory or abusive proceedings, additional penalty of posting or broadcasting the decision. 

RISKS OF OCCURRENCE : high

HYPOTHESES : Violation of Article 17 of the Sapin II Act

PENALTIES : 200,000 euros fine for individuals (1,000,000 euros for legal entities), publication, distribution or display of the injunction or financial penalty decision or an extract therefrom.

Contact us

White Alert

4 rue du Calvaire, 92210 Saint Cloud

T : +33(0)1 58 05 38 53

contact@white-alert.com

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