ASIC has released Regulatory Guide 270: Whistleblower policies (RG 270) in order to assist public companies, large proprietary companies and proprietary companies that are trustees of registrable superannuation entities to meet their legal obligation under Pt 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act to have a whistleblower policy by 1 January 2020. Background.
ASIC has granted relief to public companies that are not‑for‑profits or charities with annual revenue of less than $1 million from the requirement to have a whistleblower policy: ASIC Corporations (Whistleblower Policies) Instrument 2019/1146.
RG 270 contains:
(a) the matters that must be addressed by an entity’s whistleblower policy;
(b) examples of content for a whistleblower policy, which entities can adapt to their circumstances; and
(c) some good practice tips, which are contained in grey boxes—the good practice tips are not mandatory.
To ensure disclosers outside an entity can access the entity’s whistleblower policy, ASIC says the policy should be available on the entity’s external website.
Where appropriate, an entity may exclude information that would not be useful or relevant to external disclosers or that would not be suitable for external publication (e.g. the names and contact phone numbers of internal eligible recipients for employees).
