Whistleblowing channel
In EDUCA EDTECH Group We are committed to transparency and to guaranteeing the best of our services, which is why we make this system available to make us aware of the detection of possible problems or unethical or illegal behaviour that may affect employees, customers, suppliers and all of the company's stakeholders.
This channel may be used to record any alleged irregularities, acts contrary to the law or internal rules, including any irregularities relating to accounting matters, audit issues and/or aspects relating to internal control over financial reporting.
All of them will be treated with the utmost confidentiality, privacy and security, even giving the option to register them anonymously.
We remind you that this Complaints Channel does not handle queries or complaints of a commercial nature. For this purpose, the corresponding telephone numbers and customer service tools are available.
Below you will find the Complaints Channel Management Policy where the principles of confidentiality of the data provided, respect, substantiation and completeness apply.
Introduction and Purpose
Each and every person working at EDUCA EDTECH Group must behave with integrity and comply with the laws and internal rules in their daily activities and also has a duty to co-operate in order to prevent anyone from acting improperly or without integrity.
Therefore, it is the duty of all employees, managers and directors of EDUCA EDTECH Group to report any suspected irregularity or act contrary to the law or internal rules of which they are aware. Only in this way will it be possible for any suspicion or doubt of irregularity to be verified and, if necessary, appropriate measures can be taken to remedy the consequences and prevent the irregularity from being repeated in the future, thus improving the professional, social, ethical and commitment to compliance with laws and regulations of the EDUCA EDTECH Group.
In compliance with law 2/2023, of 20 February, regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption, private sector entities with fifty or more employees are obliged to create a specific channel for the reception and processing of complaints. To this end, the Board of Directors met for this purpose on 28 June 2023.
The Company intends to unify the management regulations of the channels in a single EDUCA EDTECH Group Whistleblower Channel, through which employees, managers, directors and other stakeholders of EDUCA EDTECH Group can communicate any information of which they are aware, by any means - formal or otherwise - on the existence of a possible irregularity, an act contrary to the law or internal rules.
Likewise, employees may also report any potentially irregular conduct to their hierarchical superior, who shall inform the System Manager of the company in which they provide their services; or directly to the Group's System Manager, who shall transfer the corresponding information to the Whistle-blowing Channel as soon as possible, thus fulfilling the aforementioned duty of communication.
The management of the Complaints Channel is governed by the principles of confidentiality of the data provided and of the statements made, respect and basis; so that any decision adopted after its receipt will be made in a reasoned and proportionate manner, considering the circumstances of the facts reported, always with full respect for the rights and due guarantees for the complainant and for the persons affected, if any.
In particular, the Channel guarantees the confidentiality of the identity of complainants and affected persons, as well as the confidentiality of communications. Likewise, the presumption of innocence is guaranteed to all affected persons. All whistleblowers will enjoy due protection and any action against them that could be understood as a threat, discrimination or reprisal will be sanctioned.
The communication through the Whistleblowing Channel may be made anonymously or not. It is advisable to provide a full description of the event reported, identify the persons allegedly affected or involved in the same - if any - and provide specific data, dates, companies or third parties related to the event or action described; all of this in order to facilitate, where appropriate, the subsequent verification of the facts that are the subject of the report.
Allegations made in bad faith, knowing them to be false, will be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with the provisions of the Corporate Policy on the Comprehensive Disciplinary Programme.
2. Scope and General Provisions
This policy applies to all the companies that make up the EDUCA EDTECH Group, as established in art. 11 of this law, whereby the parent company may approve a general policy regarding the Internal Information System applicable to all the entities of the group, without prejudice to the autonomy and independence of each company.
For these purposes, the EDUCA EDTECH Group is understood to include all the entities that make up its business group, as well as those entities that, although they do not currently form part of the aforementioned group, may form part of it directly or indirectly.
In this respect, the System Manager must be an executive of the entity, there may be one for the whole group, and he/she must perform his/her duties independently and autonomously from the rest of the entity's bodies, without receiving instructions of any kind in the exercise thereof, having all the personal and material means necessary to carry them out. In turn, System Officers may be established in each of the companies comprising the group.
The functions of the Board of Directors of EDUCA EDTECH Group include establishing the basis for an adequate and efficient coordination between the Company and the other companies belonging to the EDUCA EDTECH Group, both Spanish and foreign; respecting, in all cases, the decision-making autonomy of the management bodies and the directors of each company, in accordance with the corporate interest of the Company and of each of the companies that make up the Group.
Therefore, the Board of Directors of EDUCA EDTECH Group is responsible for approving this Policy, thus fulfilling its function of establishing the bases, setting the instruments and designing the necessary mechanisms for an adequate and efficient coordination of the activities related to the management of complaints, without prejudice to the autonomous decisions that correspond to each company of the Group and the particularities of its business.
The System Manager shall regularly report on the activity related to the Whistleblowing Channel. In this regard, regular information shall be received on all relevant reports received by the Group.
The area responsible for each company shall be in charge of registering and communicating the reports received in the company itself, passing them on to the Group's general whistle-blowing channel. Once the complaints have been recognised as such, the System Manager shall proceed to verify and review the facts reported. Once such verification has been completed, the file shall be forwarded to the affected areas for the appropriate purposes.
The System Manager shall at all times ensure the widest possible access to the content of the Whistleblowing Channel to the Compliance area, which shall receive any reports issued as a result of reviews of reported events. The areas affected by the reported facts shall participate in the design and follow up of the action plans.
In this regard, and for the purpose of mitigating the consequences associated with a possible infringement, if the reported facts have an impact on compliance aspects, the Compliance area -in the exercise of its remediation function- may request to be involved in the design and monitoring of the respective action plans. Likewise, it shall be informed of the development of the analysis of the reported facts.
Protection of personal data
In the management of the Whistle-blowing Channel, the legal regulations on personal data protection applicable to the various companies of the Group shall be complied with. In particular, the following aspects shall be taken into account:
- All companies must implement the personal data security measures that are applicable according to the level of risk established for the Whistleblower Channel or, as the case may be, the measures that are mandatory by virtue of the applicable legal regulations and the internal regulations relating to this aspect of the Group. The level of security shall be at least equivalent to that provided for in the data protection compliance system for sensitive or special category data, in accordance with the applicable data protection regulations.
- Considering that EDUCA EDTECH Group is the managing entity of the platform on which the complaints channel operates, an agreement must be formalised that establishes the rights and obligations of the parties (EDUCA EDTECH and the companies of the Group), especially those related to data protection.
- Adequate compliance with the processing of personal data must be guaranteed, and in particular with respect to the rights of the holders of such data to be informed about the processing thereof. All of the above, in accordance with the applicable legislation in each country.
4.Operationalisation of the Whistleblowing Channel
4.1 Access to and operation of the Channel
The Complaints Channel will be accessible through:
- The website of EDUCA EDTECH GROUP.
- A telephone number. In such a case, the complaint shall be recorded and retained as an audio recording, in accordance with the law.
- Addresses of e-mail specific to the complaints channel, as determined.
Complaints or grievances may also be submitted by letter addressed to the System Manager or his or her representatives in the companies.
The Whistleblower Channel is unique for all Group companies, although the system managers of each of the companies may receive complaints, which are forwarded to the Group System Manager. Whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous may do so with the sufficient guarantees established in this Policy.
Any action aimed at preventing an employee from making a communication through the Whistleblowing Channel will be sanctioned in accordance with the applicable labour and disciplinary rules.
The set of activities for the registration, admission for processing, verification and resolution of the communications received in the Complaints Channel shall be carried out in the shortest possible time, taking into account the characteristics of the facts reported and the other concurrent circumstances.
4.2 Registration and classification of complaints
All complaints received will be analysed independently by the System Manager and the identity of the person making the complaint and of the reported person(s) will be kept confidential.
Once the communication has been received, it shall be assigned a correlative identification code and shall be entered into a database, in which the classification given to the complaint and its processing status shall be recorded. The database will be updated throughout the different stages of the procedure.
The complainant will be provided, within 7 days, with proof of the submission and registration of the communication made in the channel, for the purpose of accrediting compliance with the general duty of cooperation referred to in section 1 of this policy.
Complaints should be ranked in order of importance. As aspects considered to be of greater relevance:
- Situations that may give rise to potential criminal liability of the company or its directors, including (but not limited to) those that may involve acts that, if confirmed, could be classified as corruption in the public sphere, in any of its forms.
- Situations where there is a risk of violating existing legislation.
- Situations which, if known outside the company, could cause damage to the group's image.
- Situations involving a risk in the "....business continuity".
- High amount associated with the well-founded complaint.
- Number of persons or areas affected by the reported facts.
The assessment indicated in this section will determine the priority when starting the review and allocation of resources. Once the preliminary analysis of the communication has been carried out, the level of relevance will be indicated.
In the event that new information or evidence subsequently comes to light which makes it advisable to change the relevance of the complaint, the change of priority shall be justified and duly documented.
The communications received in the channel shall be classified according to their nature and in accordance with the categories indicated in the Annex. This classification may be updated as information needs evolve.
Complaints received through the Whistleblowing Channel and those relating to situations of discrimination, mobbing and sexual or gender-based harassment shall be processed, where appropriate, in accordance with the specific procedures that may exist for these specific matters in the complainant's employer company.
4.3 Preliminary analysis of the reported facts
Once a communication has been received, the System Manager shall determine whether or not to process it, considering whether it meets the minimum requirements for this purpose. In the event that the communication is manifestly unfounded or that, being anonymous, does not provide sufficient information to verify the facts reported, it shall not be admitted for processing, and such decision shall be documented.
In the event that the reported facts may affect more than one company of the Group or professionals assigned to several of them, the communication shall be sent by any of the affected companies to the Head of the Group System so that the appropriate coordination measures may be adopted, including the transfer of the decision on its admission for processing and the determination of the company responsible for the verification.
4.4 Verification of the alleged facts
When the preliminary analysis of the complaint so requires, the System Manager shall proceed to verify and analyse the facts reported, for which purpose, if necessary, the collaboration of other areas of the company or third parties may be required.
Throughout the investigation process, the presumption of innocence is guaranteed to all persons concerned.
4.5 Resolution of the complaint
Once the verification of the reported facts has been completed, the System Manager will reach conclusions that will be passed on to the competent areas and, in accordance with the provisions that develop this Policy, these conclusions may be formalised in a report.
In addition, adequate compliance with protection legislation must be ensured.
applicable data protection law and in particular with regard to the rights of the data subjects.
- If the existence of an infringement is deemed not to have been established: Closure of the case.
If it is determined that no irregularity has been established, act
If the decision is not in accordance with the law or the internal rules, the file shall be closed without the need to take any action and shall be archived. This decision shall be documented.
- If the existence of an infringement is deemed to be established:
If it is determined that any irregularity or act contrary to the law or the Group's internal rules has been committed, it shall be reported to the head of the affected area and to the Human Resources area for the appropriate disciplinary purposes. Regardless of the fact that the Compliance area has full and permanent access to the Whistleblower Channel and is periodically informed of the progress of the work of verification and analysis of the complaints, it shall have formal access to any reports on the resolution of complaints that are issued.
In those cases which, due to their relevance, are considered necessary, at the request of any of the aforementioned areas, they may be transferred:
- to the Disciplinary Action Committee or equivalent body of the company to which the facts which are the subject of the case refer.
- to the Legal Services of the company concerned.
- where appropriate, to the relevant Global Head.
The maximum time limit for responding to the investigation proceedings may not exceed three months from receipt of the communication or, if no acknowledgement of receipt was sent to the informant, three months from the expiry of the seven-day period following the communication. In cases of particular complexity requiring an extension of the time limit, this may be extended by up to a maximum of a further three months (Art. 9.2.d) Law 2/2023).
The information will be stored and kept in accordance with the legal requirements applicable in each case. The processing of personal data shall likewise be in accordance with the applicable legislation on the matter. In any case, the possible requirements of public administrations, courts and tribunals will be considered, in the terms established by the legislation in force, and only during the period of limitation of the actions that may arise from the processing in question.
All personal data relating to information received and internal investigations shall be kept for the period necessary and proportionate to comply with Law 2/2023. If it is established that the information provided or part of it is not truthful, it shall be immediately deleted, unless such untruthfulness may constitute a criminal offence, in which case the information shall be kept for the necessary period of time. In any case, if three months have elapsed since receipt of the communication without any investigation having been initiated, the data must be deleted, unless the purpose of the storage is to leave evidence of the operation of the system. In no case may data be kept for a period of more than ten years.
4.7 Complaints from staff outside the EDUCA EDTECH Group
If a third party transfers a complaint to an employee, the employee is obliged to report it to the System Administrator.
In accordance with legal requirements, a third party outside the EDUCA EDTECH Group (i.e. a shareholder, customer, supplier, etc.) who has information about an irregular practice and brings it to the attention of an employee of the Group - regardless of the procedure used to pass on this information - that employee is obliged to communicate this information to the Heads of the relevant companies or countries (who must act in accordance with the above provisions of this policy).
Failure to deal with complaints or grievances received by an employee shall, where appropriate, be considered an offence, under the terms established in the applicable legislation in force.
Whistleblower protection
The whistleblowing channel is governed by the principles of confidentiality, respect and substance.
Any person who reports in good faith shall be afforded due protection in accordance with the provisions of
in the applicable regulations.
Specifically, any employee who uses the Whistleblowing Channel in good faith to report any irregularities or acts contrary to the law or internal rules of which they are aware, either anonymously or by disclosing their identity, shall be entitled to protection as provided for in Law 2/2023, of 20 February, regulating the protection of persons who report breaches of regulations and the fight against corruption.
The Whistleblowing Channel has been designed so that a whistleblower who wishes to remain anonymous can do so with sufficient guarantees. In this regard, if the complainant freely chooses not to conceal his or her identity, the report resolving the complaint will endeavour not to make reference to the identity of the complainant or the parties involved, in order to guarantee due confidentiality.
If the name of the whistleblower becomes publicly known, for whatever reason, in the case of an employee, the Human Resources area of the company in which the employee works shall be informed in order to monitor the employee's employment stability and, if deemed appropriate, grant the employee a transfer from his or her current position.
Any action against the reporting employee that could be understood as a threat, discrimination or reprisal for making a report shall be considered a labour offence under the terms established in the applicable legislation in force.
6.Advertising
Without prejudice to the obligation of employees to know and act in accordance with the provisions of the Internal Regulations in the performance of their duties, the proper dissemination of this Policy and the existence of the Whistleblowing Channel shall be promoted and ensured.
Entry into force
This Policy shall come into effect upon approval by the Board of Directors of EDUCA EDTECH Group.
ANNEX: CATEGORIES OF COMMUNICATIONS COMPLAINTS CHANNEL
Labour dispute | Moobing / Harrasment | Moral harassment at work, also known as "mobbing", is any conduct, practice or behaviour that, in a systematic and recurrent manner over time, involves, within the employment relationship, an undermining or attack on the dignity of the worker, attempting to subjugate them emotionally and psychologically and seeking to annul their ability, professional promotion or permanence in the job, creating a hostile environment and negatively affecting the working environment. The concept of harassment at work excludes temporary, localised interpersonal conflicts which may occur in the context of human relations and which affect the organisation of work and its development but which are not aimed at the personal or professional destruction of the parties involved in the conflict. |
Sexual Harassment / Sexual Harrasment | Any conduct of an unwelcome sexual nature that may be perceived as, or cause offence or humiliation to an individual. When such conduct interferes with work, or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment. While it usually involves a pattern of behaviour, it can also take the form of a single incident. Sexual harassment" must be distinguished from "gender-based harassment" as the latter constitutes a type of discriminatory harassment on Effective Equality between Women and Men as "any behaviour carried out on the basis of a person's sex or gender identity, with the purpose or effect of violating their dignity and of creating an intimidating, degrading or offensive environment". | |
Discrimination | Any unfair treatment or arbitrary differentiation based on a person's race, sex, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, age, language, social origin or any other social status. Discrimination can be a single act affecting a person or a group of persons in a similar situation. | |
Misconduct and other conflicts in the work environment | Occasional or recurrent abuse of power by managers or company managers towards their subordinates, as well as mistreatment of an employee that occurs between people who do not maintain a relationship of command or hierarchy between them, or who, if they had one, it would not be relevant. | |
Conditions Labour | Conditions Labour | Errors in the employee remuneration process (payment of salaries, overtime, bonuses, etc.) that are not associated with fraud issues. It also includes situations that pose an occupational hazard for the worker (unhealthy, fire hazard, etc.). |
Privacy/information security | Privacy/information security | Use of company, customer, employee, shareholder or supplier information for own or third party benefit. Breach of processes that manage the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets. |
Acts contrary to the integrity of the company | Conflict of Interests | Situations in which a personal or private benefit or interest influences the professional decisions taken by an employee, and this personal interest or benefit may collide with the interests of any company of the EDUCA EDTECH Group (hereinafter "the Company"). The conflict of interest may be due to kinship, participation in companies or any other cause that the employee considers that limits or conditions his or her objective decision-making capacity in relation to third parties. For these purposes, kinship is understood to mean: the spouse or person with an analogous relationship of affectivity, ascendants, descendants, siblings of the employee or his/her spouse, as well as the spouses of the latter. Likewise, it is considered that the employee's decision-making capacity could be conditioned when he/she, any of his/her relatives or persons associated with him/her hold or may hold, directly or indirectly, control or exercise significant influence or a position of administration or management in companies or entities involved in a potential conflict of interest. |
Corruption of Officials Public | Conduct carried out by EDUCA EDTECH employees or through third parties, against the integrity of the Company, which consists of promising, offering, paying, giving or authorising the giving of gifts, invitations or other types of incentives to an official or public employee with the aim of influencing or obtaining a benefit for the Company. | |
Acts contrary to integrity in the private sphere | These are those conducts carried out by EDUCA EDTECH employees or through third parties, against the integrity of the Company, which consist of: (a) either promising, offering, paying, giving or authorising the delivery of gifts, invitations or other types of incentives to any person, natural or legal, in the private sphere, with whom there is no personal or economic link, with the aim of conditioning the conduct of the person receiving the incentive; (b) or receiving or accepting gifts, invitations or other types of incentives from any person, natural or legal, in the private sphere, with whom there is no personal or economic link, with the aim of obtaining an advantage or reward. | |
Asset fraud | External Fraud | Intentional or deliberate action against the company for the purpose of dispossessing it of property or money by deception, trickery or other unfair means. In this case, fraud does NOT involve employees or persons acting in their capacity as public officials. |
Internal Fraud | Intentional or deliberate action against the company for the purpose of dispossessing it of property or money by deception, trickery or other unfair means. In this case, fraud DOES involve employees, and if external natural persons are involved, they are NOT persons acting in their capacity as public officials. | |
Favourable treatment | Treatment of Favour | An act whereby privileges, concessions or benefits are granted to a third party or a Group employee with whom no personal or economic relationship exists or is unknown, giving the other party an advantage over others in a way that does not compete on equal terms. This category includes situations of favourable treatment that are not contrary to the integrity of the company and are not linked to a Conflict of Interest. |
Financial reporting | Internal Control over Reporting Financial | Accounting irregularities, relating to internal control over financial reporting or auditing issues |
Legal non-compliance / regulatory / contractual | Non-compliance with the law | Any other Non-compliance with laws, legislations and regulatory obligations, both national and international, not included in the above categories. Two non-exhaustive situations: - In case the non-compliance is related to "Corruption of Public Officials" or "Acts contrary to integrity in the private sphere", the category so defined shall be used. |
Non-compliance Normative | Any other intentional or unintentional breaches of local or corporate internal regulations not reflected in the previous sections. Non-exhaustively, if the non-compliance is related to the Conflicts of Interest Regulations, the nature "Conflicts of Interest" will be applied; if it is related to the Anti-Corruption Policy, it will be classified in the corresponding sections "Corruption of public officials" or "Acts contrary to integrity in the private sphere". | |
Non-compliance Customer Commitments | Breaches of commitments made to customers in relation to contracted services, invoicing, quality of products and services, etc. or malpractice contrary to the interests of the customer. | |
Other | Other | Any other complaints that cannot be assigned to any of the above categories. As far as possible, an attempt will be made to use this category as little as possible. |
