Internal reporting, external reporting and public disclosure

1. Regulatory Concept & Core Standards

This video's topic is internal reporting, external reporting and public disclosure. By the end, you should be able to explain the differences between reporting routes and their conditions. We will connect the information available, the criterion guiding the decision and the action that must be recorded. Follow the case and compare your answer with the proposed response. The national regime has its own scope and conditions. An organisation may accept a broader range of concerns under its policy, but this does not mean that all of them automatically receive the same legal protection. The assessment distinguishes receiving information, following it up and respecting people's rights.

Internal reporting is directed to the organisation's channel. External reporting is addressed to the competent authority. Public disclosure makes information available to the public and is subject to additional conditions. Countries do not all adopt the same relationship between internal and external routes. Assess the recipient, national conditions and specific risk, without assuming automatic protection for a social media post.

Apply the following rule: The Whistleblower Protection Office provides advice, receives reports and exercises protection powers. Competent bodies deal with criminal and administrative matters; a prosecutor or administrative authority grants formal protection for a qualified report under sections 3–6. Advice services, internal platforms and competent authorities are not interchangeable. Public disclosure has separate section 2 conditions.

2. Practical Implementation & Procedure

Identify the objective, risks and competent authority. Consult national conditions before explaining the choice of route. A channel hosted by a technology provider may still be internal. The distinction depends on who receives reports and makes decisions, not on where the channel is hosted. Public disclosure requires its own assessment, even where external reporting would have been admissible. 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

An employee has reasonable grounds to fear retaliation if she reports internally. She intends to contact the competent authority. Another employee wants to publish documents on social media because he considers the process too slow. These routes require separate assessments; the second decision does not automatically follow from the first. 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: Does hosting by a technology provider automatically make a platform an external reporting channel? 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.

No. It may remain the organisation's internal channel. External reporting is addressed to a legally competent authority. Public disclosure is a third route with its own requirements, which must be assessed separately.

One mistake to avoid is: teaching an obligatory sequence without exceptions from internal reporting to external reporting and public disclosure.

Now apply the national rule to a second decision. An advice webpage is listed as the only recipient of all reports. What is missing?

A competence check. The Whistleblower Protection Office, prosecutor and relevant administrative authority have different roles. Use the current designated route and distinguish reporting, protection applications and advice. Public disclosure requires a separate assessment of statutory conditions.