Prevention and monitoring measures

1. Regulatory Concept & Core Standards

This video focuses on how to organise monitoring that reduces retaliation risks without exposing the reporting person. Follow the sequence of decisions in the example rather than simply memorising a list. Notice who is involved, what information is needed and the expected result. These points help turn the content into a practice that another person can verify. Trust in a channel depends on what happens after someone reports. Protection concerns identity, information and working conditions. This course develops concrete measures to reduce exposure and recognise signs of retaliation while respecting the rights of the person concerned by a report.

Article 20 requires protection against retaliation and measures to stop it and remove its consequences. Supposed protection can itself cause harm if it reduces opportunities or exposes identity. Assess proportionality and actual effects while respecting rights and confidentiality.

Apply the following rule: The Ombudswoman is the competent external reporting authority and can be approached directly without prior internal reporting. The November 2025 amendment extends the same protection, subject to statutory conditions, to direct reports to the police or State Attorney’s Office within their competence. Where those bodies are informed of retaliation or its risk, they must forward the report to the Ombudswoman without delay. Do not generalise this rule to every direct report to any authority. Public disclosure has separate Article 26 conditions.

2. Practical Implementation & Procedure

Assess risk using minimal information and choose an independent person to monitor it. Define contact, frequency and suitable measures. Consider the person's preferences and legal limits. Review the plan when new facts emerge. Give human resources or other functions only what they need to implement particular measures, without disclosing the entire case. Before moving on, turn this procedure into a sequence you could explain to a colleague. Identify the first check, the action that depends on its outcome and the record that allows the decision to be reconstructed. Follow the sequence on screen and identify the point where an error would change the result.

3. Case Study & Compliance Action

A manager proposes removing the reporting person from a project to avoid tension. The team finds that this would reduce career opportunities and identify the person. It seeks an alternative, such as independent review of project decisions, without automatically imposing a transfer. Now read the case carefully. Separate established facts from information you would still need to confirm. Do not add motives or events that have not been described. This distinction matters when choosing a response proportionate to the information available.

The exercise is as follows: Can a measure presented as protection harm the reporting person? Choose an answer and write one sentence explaining it. During the pause, compare your choice with the criteria we have just considered. Also think about the material you would retain to explain the decision later.

Yes. Assess its actual effect as well as its intention. It must be proportionate, respect rights and avoid penalising the person who reported. Monitor the arrangement to ensure it creates no new risks.

One mistake to avoid is: assuming that moving the reporting person to another team is always the safest protection.

Now apply the national rule to a second decision. An advice page is presented as the sole destination for every report. What check is missing?

The recipient's powers and role must be confirmed. Advice, external receipt, investigation and protection may belong to different bodies. Also check the national conditions for the selected route. User information must help people find the correct procedure without requiring steps that do not exist in law.