Iravaban.net has made a number of publications regarding the whistleblowing institute.

Whistle-blower
is a natural or legal person, who reports, in good faith and as provided for by this Law, information regarding:

• a case of corruption
• or a violation in respect of conflict of interests, or rules of ethics
• or incompatibility requirements,
• or other restrictions or declaration,
• or other harm to public interests
• or the threat thereof related to the official or the body, with whom he or she is or was in employment
• or civil law, or administrative law relations,
• or to whom he or she has applied for the purpose of rendering services, or who has been mistakenly perceived as a whistle-blower.

The Law of the Republic of Armenia “On the Whistle-Blowing System” defines three types of whistle-blowing:

1. Internal whistle-blowing
2. External whistle-blowing
3. Public Reporting

What does the public reporting imply?

1. If the report by other types of reporting has not been processed in accordance with the law and within the time frame, the whistleblower may make the report known to the public through mass media.
2. The mass media that received the report shall ensure non-disclosure of personal data of the whistleblower, unless otherwise provided by law, or the written consent of the person is not available.
3. The protection afforded to the whistleblower shall extend to the mass media to the extent that such protection is inherently applicable to them.
4. The competent body shall ensure the recording of reports related to its sphere of competence, discussion, taking measures within its competences and, if necessary, adopting the relevant act.
5. Competent body shall:

1) Ensure recording of the report immediately, but not later than within two working days;

2) Initiate proceedings within three working days from the moment of registration of the report if there are grounds within its jurisdiction;

3) Ensure the confidentiality of the proceedings;

4) Take measures within the framework of his powers to verify the authenticity of the transmission;

5) In the event of detecting apparent features of a crime while verifying the authenticity of the report within its jurisdiction, immediately report this to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia.

6) Take measures within the scope of its jurisdiction to protect whistleblowers from harmful actions, as well as to eliminate harmful actions and their consequences;

7) Ensure non-disclosure of whistleblower’s personal data, unless otherwise provided by law;

8) At the whistleblower’s request, ensures the provision of information about the course of proceedings and the measures taken;

9) Enable the whistleblower to submit clarifications, documents and applications.

6. Non-fulfilment of the duties defined by part 5 of this article shall cause liability provided by law.
7. The maximum term of the proceedings initiated on the basis of reporting is 30 days. A corresponding act is adopted as a result of the initiated proceedings, about which the whistleblower (if his identity is known) is notified within three days from the moment of adoption of the act.
8. The procedural rules and deadlines provided for in this article are applied, unless otherwise provided by the relevant sectorial legislation.
9. If during the proceedings it is found that the whistleblower has acted in bad faith in the sense of Article 13 of this law when submitting a report in accordance with this law, the competent body shall cease the provision of protection, and shall notify the relevant person about the decision within three days.
10. If the unscrupulous action of the whistleblower contains features of a crime, the competent authority is obliged to immediately report it to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia.

You can report through the azdararir.am platform, both openly and anonymously.

We do not forget that whistle-blowers are not “snitchers”, they are decent and law abiding citizens.

This publication was prepared within the framework of the program “Multifaceted Whistle-Blowing Promotion in Armenia”, implemented by the “Armenian Lawyers Association” (ALA) NGO with the support of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), funded by the European Union (EU) within the framework of the “EU for Good, Eastern Partnership” project.

This publication expresses the position of the author, the ALA, which does not necessarily coincide with the position of the OGP and the EU.