January - 2010


BY: PASCALE GELLY

Whistleblowing system before Supreme Court

On December 8, the French Supreme Court sanctioned the whistleblowing scheme implemented by Dassault Systèmes for having a scope going beyond the  scope authorized under the CNIL’s « unique authorization n° 004». This authorization decision  addresses in particular schemes implemented to comply with the US  Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX): breaches in the accounting and audit fields. Dassault’s code of conduct  also referred to the possibility to report facts threatening the vital interest of the company or the physical or moral integrity of its employees, as made possible under the CNIL’s FAQ. However, the Court took a very restrictive reading of the CNIL’s authorization document and considered that only SOX related facts could be reported via the scheme. Moreover, the Supreme Court considered that the policy describing the whistleblowing scheme should specify the protection measures implemented to protect the accused employee..


Tags:
whistleblowing, ethic line, professional alert, CNIL, autorization, SOX

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