- 2.5 All UNDP offices and UNDP personnel shall cooperate with the Ethics Office and provide access to all records and documents requested by the Ethics Office, except for medical records that should not be disclosed without the express consent of the individual concerned, and the records of OAI and the Office of the Ombudsman, which are subject to confidentiality requirements.
- 2.6 Notwithstanding staff regulation 1.2 (i), protection against retaliation will be extended to an individual who reports misconduct to an entity or individual outside of the established internal mechanisms, where the criteria set out in subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) below are satisfied:
- (a) Such reporting is necessary to avoid:
- (i) A significant threat to public health and safety; or
- (ii) Substantive damage to UNDP’s operations; or
- (iii) Violations of national or international law; and
- (b) The use of internal mechanisms is not possible because:
- (i) At the time the report is made, the individual has grounds to believe that they will be subjected to retaliation by the person(s) they should report to pursuant to the established internal mechanism; or
- (ii) It is likely that evidence relating to the misconduct will be concealed or destroyed if the individual reports to the person(s) they should report to pursuant to the established internal mechanisms; or
- (iii) The individual has previously reported the same information through the established internal mechanisms, and UNDP has failed to inform the individual in writing of the status of the matter within six months of such a report; and
- (c) The individual does not accept payment or any other benefit from any party for such report.

### Section 3

### Time Frame for Seeking Protection against Retaliation

- 3.1 The individual’s request for protection must be submitted to the Ethics Office no later than six (6) months after the date on which the individual knew, or in the opinion of the Ethics Office should have known, that the alleged Retaliation was threatened or taken.
- 3.2 This time limit may be extended where, in the opinion of the Director of the Ethics Office, it is in the interest of UNDP to do so or is otherwise necessary to give effect to the overall intent and purpose of this Policy.

### Section 4

### Scope of Application

- 4.1 The Protection against Retaliation Policy applies to:
- (a) All staff members holding UNDP letters of appointment, including Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), assigned to work for UNDP.
- (b) All other individuals holding a UNDP appointment or contract and assigned to work for UNDP including:
- (i) Staff members of other organizations on secondment to UNDP or on an inter-organization exchange with UNDP, for actions occurring while they are with UNDP, unless the secondment or exchange agreement provides otherwise. UNDP shall inform the releasing organization prior to charging a staff member with misconduct.
- (ii) United Nations Volunteers (UNVs) and interns serving in UNDP.
- (iii) UNDP National Personnel Service Agreement Holders (NPSAs), International Personnel Service Agreement Holders (IPSAs), Individual Contractors (ICs, formerly SSAs) and Service Contractors (SCs) assigned to work for UNDP. However, Protection against Retaliation may be limited to give effect to the terms of the contract under which the contractor is operating including any other prescriptive content incorporated into their contract directly or by reference.