Whistleblowing policy

Whistleblower policy 

1. Purpose – Why? 

Our corporate values and behavioural guidelines are elaborated in TEC’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. Through our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, we aim to set out the company values and principles in our professional and personal conduct and commit ourselves to fulfilling our mission in an ethical manner. 

This procedure provides additional regulation of our vision and principles in the context of whistleblowing, as described in the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. It provides a framework for internal reporting and for following up on suspected misconduct. We believe that everyone can and should raise awareness if they believe in good faith that unethical practices or misconduct is going on. 

This regulation was also adopted to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law as well as the Belgian legislation transposing the Directive into national law. The overall aim of the European directive and the Belgian law is to protect whistleblowers from retaliation in any form and to require public and private organisations to establish formal procedures for internal reporting and follow-up of reports. 

We emphasise that everyone has a responsibility to contribute to and maintain a culture of transparency and openness, free from retaliation. More specifically, TEC’s management bears an important responsibility to act in accordance with our core values and policies. They should not only lead by example, but also support their team members in their efforts to uphold these principles. 

1. Scope – Who? 

In accordance with the European Directive and Belgian law, TEC’s Whistleblower policy applies not only to current employees, but also to former employees, self-employed persons, shareholders and persons belonging to the administrative, management or supervisory bodies, volunteers and paid or unpaid trainees, job applicants, all persons working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. 

Consequently, the internal reporting channels described in these rules will be opened to all the aforementioned parties, all of whom will be protected by TEC against retaliation.