Who can report breaches?
Any person who has or had a service or employment relationship or contractual relationship (consultancy, contracting, subcontracting, internship, traineeship, volunteering relationship, etc.) or employment or other pre-contractual relationship with the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures (hereinafter Office) may provide information on a breach in the Office through its internal channel for providing information on breaches.
Information on breaches may be provided:
1) by filling-in report on a breach (in Lithuanian) as provided in the Description of the Procedure for the Establishment of Internal Channels for Providing Information on Breaches and Ensuring Its Functioning approved by Resolution No. 1133 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania “On the Implementation of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers” of 14 November 2018 (as last amended on 14 February 2022 – No 129), annex,
2) free form.
When reporting on breaches in free form it should be specified that this information is provided in accordance with the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers (in Lithuanian) (as last amended on 16 December 2021 – No XIV-783).
A person may provide information on breaches:
1) through the internal channel for providing information on breaches in the Office (hereinafter – internal channel) by email pranesk@etikostarnyba.lt,
2) directly to a competent authority – the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania,
3) by reporting such information in public.
The Procedure on Providing and Analysing Information on Breaches Through the Internal Channel in the Office
Description of the Procedure for Provision and Examination of Information under the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers in the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian)
The rights and duties, and forms of legal protection of persons reporting breaches are ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers (hereinafter Law)
The confidentiality of a person who has provided information on a breach or a whistleblower is ensured.
The requirement to ensure confidentiality does not apply when:
• this is requested in writing by a person who is providing or has provided information on a breach or a whistleblower,
• a person provides knowingly false information.
A person who provides information on a breach shall not, by this reason, be subject to any contractual or non-contractual liability, or any liability for defamation or slander if, at the time of the provision of information on the breach in accordance with the procedure laid down by this Law, he reasonably believed that he was providing true information.
A person shall be liable for the damage caused by providing information on a breach only if it is proven that the person could not reasonably believe that information provided by him was true.
The rights and duties, and forms of legal protection of persons reporting breaches are provided in the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
Statistics on the reports on breaches submitted through the internal channel in the Office
No reports were submitted through the internal channel in the Office in 2023.
Links
Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers (in Lithuanian) (as last amended on 16 December 2021 – No XIV-783).
Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers (as last amended on 20 December 2018 – No XIII-1850; no latest translation of amendments is available)
Description of the Procedure for the Establishment of Internal Channels for Providing Information on Breaches and Ensuring Its Functioning approved by Resolution No. 1133 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania “On the Implementation of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers” of 14 November 2018 (as last amended on 14 February 2022 – No 129) (in Lithuanian)
Updated: 5 March 2024