Whistleblowing Notice

GENERAL PROVISIONS

This Whistleblowing Notice ("Notice") aims to provide you with specific and accessible information regarding the terms and procedures for submitting whistleblowing reports through the internal channel of "Santerra RE" OOD, in accordance with the Bulgarian Act on the Protection of Persons Reporting or Publicly Disclosing Information on Breaches ("the Act").

WHAT KIND OF BREACHES CAN YOU REPORT?

Pursuant to Bulgarian legislation, you may report breaches related to violations of Bulgarian law or specific European Union acts stipulated by law in the following areas:

  • Public procurement;

  • Financial services, products, and markets, as well as the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing;

  • Product safety and compliance, as well as transport safety;

  • Environmental protection;

  • Radiation protection and nuclear safety;

  • Food and feed safety, animal health, and welfare;

  • Public health and consumer protection;

  • Protection of privacy and personal data;

  • Security of network and information systems;

  • Breaches affecting the financial interests of the European Union as defined in Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and further specified in relevant Union measures;

  • Breaches of internal market rules as defined in Article 26(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

  • Breaches related to cross-border tax arrangements;

  • Criminal offenses of a public nature (prosecutable by the state) that you became aware of in connection with your work or the performance of your official duties;

  • Rules on the payment of outstanding public state and municipal receivables;

  • Labor legislation.

WHO CAN SUBMIT A REPORT?

Reports may be submitted and/or information may be publicly disclosed by a natural person regarding breaches that came to their knowledge in their capacity as:

  • A worker within the meaning of Article 45(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including a worker, employee, civil servant, or any other person performing hired labor, regardless of the nature of the work, the method of remuneration, and the source of funding;

  • A self-employed person within the meaning of Article 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including a person performing work without an employment relationship and/or exercising a regulated or free profession and/or craft activity;

  • A partner, shareholder, sole owner of capital, member of a management or supervisory body of a commercial company, or member of the audit committee of an enterprise;

  • A volunteer (paid or unpaid) and a trainee/intern;

  • A person working for a natural or legal person, including contractors, subcontractors, or suppliers;

  • A person whose employment or service relationship is yet to begin, in cases where the information regarding the breaches was obtained during the recruitment process or other pre-contractual negotiations;

  • A worker or employee whose information was obtained within the framework of an employment or service relationship that has been terminated at the time of reporting or public disclosure.

PROTECTION IS ALSO EXTENDED TO:

  • Persons who assist the whistleblower in the reporting process and whose assistance must remain confidential;

  • Persons who are connected to the whistleblower through work or family ties and who may be subjected to retaliation due to the reporting;

  • Legal entities in which the whistleblower holds a shareholding, works for, or is otherwise connected to in a work-related context.

If the report is credible and well-founded, protection under the Act is granted to you from the moment the report is submitted or the information about the breach is publicly disclosed.

WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS TO RECEIVE PROTECTION?

You are entitled to protection provided that you:

  • Had reasonable grounds to believe that the reported information regarding the breach was correct at the time of reporting and that this information falls within the scope specified in the section above.

  • Submitted a report regarding a breach that may pose an immediate or manifest danger to the public interest, or where there is an emergency situation or a risk of irreversible damage.

Note: No proceedings will be initiated, and no protection will be granted, regarding anonymous reports (unless you are subsequently identified) and reports concerning breaches committed more than two years ago.

HOW AND WHERE CAN I SUBMIT A REPORT?

If you wish to report a breach and have reasonable grounds to believe the information is correct, you can do so by sending an email to: [email protected]. We will contact you within 7 days to complete the required form and/or remedy any irregularities.

You can also make an oral report by arranging an in-person meeting with the following contact persons: Vladimir Gagolevichin, Nikolay Marinov, and Radoslav Popov. Upon receiving an oral report, we will document it using a standardized form, which we will ask you to sign.

A report must contain at least:

  • Full name, address, phone number, and email address (if any) of the reporter;

  • Name of the person against whom the report is filed (if known and applicable);

  • Specific details of the breach or a real danger of it being committed;

  • Location and period of the breach (if already committed);

  • Description of the act or situation and other circumstances, to the extent known to the whistleblower;

  • Date, signature, electronic signature, or other identification of the reporter.

If there is a reasonable assumption that a risk of retaliatory or discriminatory action exists, or that effective measures to verify the report will not be taken internally, the report can be submitted through an external reporting channel. The Central Authority for external reporting and protection under the Act is the Commission for Personal Data Protection (CPDP). CPDP-approved templates under the Act can be found at the following address: https://cpdp.bg/%D1%83%D1%82%D0%B2%D1%8A%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8-%D0%BE%D1%82-%D0%BA%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%B4-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%86%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%BE-%D0%B7%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B8/

WHAT CAN I EXPECT AFTER SUBMITTING A REPORT?

We will take immediate action to ensure your confidentiality. Once you submit a report, we will verify its credibility. If it is credible, we will take the necessary follow-up actions to uncover the objective truth and gather all required evidence, including from the affected parties and the person against whom the report was filed, while strictly maintaining the confidentiality of the process and your personal data.

If needed, we may contact you for additional information and documentation.

We will contact you to provide feedback on your report after preparing a report and before the expiry of 3 months from the date the signal was submitted.

The case file may be closed if the breach is minor and does not require additional follow-up actions, or in the event of a repeated report that does not contain significant new information regarding the breach.

The Company reviews all submitted whistleblowing reports in compliance with the principles of confidentiality, impartiality, fairness, independence, and absence of conflict of interest. The Company ensures the protection of whistleblowers against retaliatory actions that have the character of repression or place them at a disadvantage, and does not tolerate such actions within its organization.

YOUR LIABILITY

You bear liability under Bulgarian and Union law for any action or omission that is not related to the reporting or is not necessary for disclosing the breach. You may bear criminal liability under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Bulgaria for malicious false accusation (набеждаване).

In the case of manifestly false or misleading statements of fact, your report will be returned with instructions to correct the claims and a warning about your liability—namely, a fine of up to 3579 euro.

INFORMATION & AMENDMENTS TO THIS NOTICE

This Notice is available on our website at: https://sunterra.eu/text/whistleblowing-notice-sunterrare ("Website"), as well as in a prominent place in our office. More information regarding your rights and the processing of your reports can be found on our Website.

This notice may be subject to changes and was last effective on May 4, 2023. Any future changes or additions to the processing of personal data described in this Notice that affect you will be communicated to you through an appropriate channel, depending on our usual method of communication.

PERSONAL DATA

"Santerra RE" OOD will process your personal data for the purpose of reviewing and handling the submitted report. Only the persons responsible for handling reports, as well as state and supervisory authorities in cases specified by law, will have access to your personal data.