Based on Act No. 171/2023 Coll., on the protection of whistleblowers, effective from August 1st, 2023, issued following the European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of October 23rd, 2019, on the protection of persons that report breaches of European Union law. IVF Clinic a.s. has an obligation to designate a relevant person and to implement the processes resulting from this law into its internal procedures.

According to this law, the effective and comprehensive protection of whistleblowers, i.e. persons who report illegal activities in connection with work, is an essential element of the fight against corruption and part of functioning rule of law.

IVF Clinic a.s. has established an internal reporting system to report potential illegal activity and has appointed a relevant person, i.e. the person responsible for receiving and dealing with reports.

One of the admin employees of IVF Clinic a.s. has been appointed as the relevant person to receive the notification.

The notifier can be anyone who has become aware of illegal conduct in connection with work or other similar activities, e.g. an employee, a job applicant, a supplier, or a person interested in a contract. The Whistleblower Protection Act does not apply to reports submitted anonymously unless the identity of the originally anonymous whistleblower is revealed.

Notification can be made:

• electronically to the e-mail address whistleblowing@ivfclinic.cz
• by phone at +420 606 046 384 on weekdays during working hours 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (a written record of the interview is taken)
• in person after prior agreement with the relevant person, tel.: +420 606 046 384 (the meeting will take place no later than 14 days after the meeting request)
• in written form to the address IVF Clinic a.s., Horní lán 1328/6, Nová Ulice, 779 00 Olomouc. The sealed envelope must be marked with the words “DO NOT OPEN – NOTIFIER”.

Telephone conversations are not recorded. Announcements can only be recorded in the case of a personal meeting. Once the notification has been received, the notifier will receive confirmation of receipt within 7 days.

The notification should include the notifier’s name and date of birth, or other information that can be used to determine their identity, such as work email as long as it is not shared with other employees.

The notification must not contain information that could constitute a breach of medical confidentiality.

The notification is assessed from the point of view of its reasonableness, and if it is assessed to be reasonable, it is forwarded to the relevant public authority for further investigation. The notifier will be notified of the outcome of the assessment within 30 days of receipt of the notification, and in justified cases, this period can be extended by another 30 days.

The authorized employee must not provide data from the notification to a third party who is not also designated as an authorized person, except for providing information to the relevant public authority in accordance with other legal regulations. The whistleblower is always informed in advance about such a procedure.

The notifier should have specific reasons for believing that the illegal act reported by them falls under the protection of the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers. Supplementing the notification with credible or verifiable information or documents about the reported illegal act can positively affect the method and outcome of the investigation of the notification.

The notifier does not need to have proof that objectionable behaviour has been committed for the purpose of filing a report, as long as they have a relevant reason to claim that objectionable behaviour may or might have occurred. The notifier is not obliged to investigate their suspicions; it is the obligation of the IVF Clinic a.s.

When obtaining documents providing the reported facts, the notifier should not engage in conduct that could be a criminal offense.

More can be found at:

Methodology of the Ministry of Justice: https://oznamovatel.justice.cz/

The external notification system of the Ministry of Justice: https://oznamovatel.justice.cz/chci-podat-oznameni/