# Council Decision (EU) 2016/1351 of 4 August 2016 concerning the Staff Regulations of the European Defence Agency, and repealing Decision 2004/676/EC, Article 28

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

1. A member of temporary staff who further discloses information as defined in Article 27 to the President of the Council of the European Union or of the European Parliament, or to the European Ombudsman, shall not suffer any prejudicial effects on the part of the Agency provided that both of the following conditions are met:
(a) the member of temporary staff honestly and reasonably believes that the information disclosed, and any allegation contained in it, are substantially true; and
(b) the member of temporary staff has previously disclosed the same information to the Agency and has allowed the Agency the period of time set by it, given the complexity of the case, to take appropriate action. The member of temporary staff shall be duly informed of that period of time within 60 days.
2. The period referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply where the member of temporary staff can demonstrate that it is unreasonable having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to documents, deeds, reports, notes or information in any form whatsoever held for the purposes of, or created or disclosed to the member of temporary staff in the course of, proceedings in legal cases, whether pending or closed.
4. In accordance with Articles 29 and 168, the Agency shall put in place a procedure for the handling of complaints by members of temporary staff concerning the way in which they were treated after or as a consequence of their fulfilment of their obligations under Article 27 or under this Article. The Agency shall ensure that such complaints are handled confidentially and, where warranted by the circumstances, before the expiry of the deadlines set out in Article 168.
The AACC shall lay down internal rules, inter alia, on:
the provision to the members of temporary staff referred to in Article 27(1) or in this Article of information on the handling of the matters reported by them,
the protection of the legitimate interests of those staff members and of their privacy, and
the procedure for the handling of complaints referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2016/1351/article/28 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2016-1351/article-28
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.