The Juice Plus+ Whistleblowing Procedure

Background
The European Whistleblowing Directive (2019/1937), in force since 17 December 2021, provides for the adoption of new protection standards in favor of "whistleblowers".

The objectives of the European Whistleblowing Directive are:
• Detect and prevent misconduct and violations of laws, such as tax fraud, money laundering or crimes related to product safety, environmental protection, public health, consumer, and data protection.
• Improve law enforcement by implementing effective, reliable, and secure reporting channels to protect whistleblowers from possible retaliation.
• Protect whistleblowers by helping them to report illegal actions or irregularities in a safe way, granting anonymity.

On 9 March 2023, the Council of Ministers approved the legislative decree implementing EU Directive 1937/2019 on whistleblowing and the new Italian law on Whistleblowing (Legislative Decree no. 24) officially came into effect.

The purpose of the procedure is to facilitate reporting of misconduct and irregularities (as defined in the Whistleblowing Legislative Decree No.24), eliminating all factors that may hinder reporting, such as doubts about the steps to follow and fears of retaliation or discrimination.

Reportable Violations
The violations that can be reported pursuant to the Whistleblowing Decree must concern behaviors, acts, or omissions that harm the public interest or the integrity of The Juice Plus+ Company; of which the whistleblower became aware in the working context. For example, reporting crimes, such as tax fraud, money laundering, or crimes related to public procurement, product safety, environmental protection, public health, and consumer and data protection.

Reports can be sent using the ad-hoc internal channel, at the following URL:
https://thejuicepluscompany.parrotwb.app/ made available by The Juice Plus+ Company.

Procedure
Once submitted, a report will go through four steps:

1. Taking charge: The whistleblower will have to access the platform (using the pre-assigned token) to verify the ‘taking charge’ status of the report, which must take place within seven days from the submission of the report.

2. Acknowledgment of the report: Within three months from the notification of acceptance of the report by The Juice Plus+ Company (or in the absence of such notice from the expiry of the term of seven days after the submission), a response will be provided to the whistleblower by The Juice Plus+ Company informing them of the actions taken.

3. Waiting for consent: Consent for any disclosure of the interested party's identity will be requested by the Report Manager, if necessary. The whistleblower should periodically check the status of the request to verify whether this authorization is needed in the ‘Your reports’ section.

4. Closing the report: Following the outcome of the investigations, The Juice Plus+ Company will provide a final response to the whistleblower and the report will be closed.