EHF introduces disclosure policy

Following a motion submitted by the Irish Olympic Handball Association at the Ordinary EHF Congress in June 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland, to provide an opportunity for people to report any potential wrongdoings in handball, the European Handball Federation has introduced a disclosure policy.

The EHF has a strong commitment to safeguarding its competitions both on and off the court. By introducing the ‘EHF Disclosure Policy’, the federation ensures that people can report any potential wrongdoing with complete anonymity.

EHF Disclosure Policy breakdown

The EHF Disclosure Policy is a document adopted by the EHF Executive Committee in September 2018 following consultations with relevant stakeholders.

The EHF’s Disclosure Policy encourages people to report any alleged wrongdoings they might be aware of. Information provided by third persons (‘informant’) may constitute a valuable contribution in identifying and rectifying potential wrongdoings.

Once the informant has reported a wrongdoing, the disclosure policy ensures full anonymity and guarantees transparency, independence and impartiality at every stage in the report processing.

All reports are handled by the ‘Initiator of Proceedings’ who receives and reviews reports submitted by the informant.

The full EHF Disclosure Policy can be downloaded here.

Reporting a potential wrongdoing

People wanting to report potential wrongdoings are guaranteed full anonymity and cannot be identified because the reporting process is conducted through an independent platform and is not handled internally.

A wrongdoing is any conduct that does not comply with the EHF’s Statutes, regulations, Code of Conduct or competitions integrity.

The report can be submitted here: https://report.whistleb.com/ehf. A person needs to type it into the browser or copy/paste it. Providing any personal or contact information is not necessary. Anonymity is protected unless the informant decides otherwise.

The link to the reporting platform is not available on the EHF website because this could allow for tracking of individual IP addresses and the potential identification of the individual.

Handling the report

The reports are handled by the ‘Initiator of Proceedings’ who is independent of any EHF body or commission and will treat the report impartially.

The IoP is the direct point of contact for the informant and is the only person aware of the content of the report. He or she can request additional information or documents about the alleged wrongdoing ensuring anonymity.

The IoP is solely responsible to investigate the allegations and decide if the further proceedings should be requested with the Court of Handball in accordance with the EHF Legal Regulations.

Visit the reporting website : https://www.eurohandball.com/en/services/ehf-reporting-platform/