(1) ‘breaches’ means acts or omissions that:

(i) are unlawful and relate to the Union acts and areas falling within the material scope referred to in Article 2; or

(ii) defeat the object or the purpose of the rules in the Union acts and areas falling within the material scope referred to in Article 2;

(2) ‘information on breaches’ means information, including reasonable suspicions, about actual or potential breaches, which occurred or are very likely to occur in the organisation in which the reporting person works or has worked or in another organisation with which the reporting person is or was in contact through his or her work, and about attempts to conceal such breaches;

(3) ‘report’ or ‘to report’ means, the oral or written communication of information on breaches;

(4) ‘internal reporting’ means the oral or written communication of information on breaches within a legal entity in the private or public sector;

(5) ‘external reporting’ means the oral or written communication of information on breaches to the competent authorities;

(6) ‘public disclosure’ or ‘to publicly disclose’ means the making of information on breaches available in the public domain;

(7) ‘reporting person’ means a natural person who reports or publicly discloses information on breaches acquired in the context of his or her work-related activities;

(8) ‘facilitator’ means a natural person who assists a reporting person in the reporting process in a work-related context, and whose assistance should be confidential;

(9) ‘work-related context’ means current or past work activities in the public or private sector through which, irrespective of the nature of those activities, persons acquire information on breaches and within which those persons could suffer retaliation if they reported such information;

(10) ‘person concerned’ means a natural or legal person who is referred to in the report or public disclosure as a person to whom the breach is attributed or with whom that person is associated;

(11) ‘retaliation’ means any direct or indirect act or omission which occurs in a work-related context, is prompted by internal or external reporting or by public disclosure, and which causes or may cause unjustified detriment to the reporting person;

(12) ‘follow-up’ means any action taken by the recipient of a report or any competent authority, to assess the accuracy of the allegations made in the report and, where relevant, to address the breach reported, including through actions such as an internal enquiry, an investigation, prosecution, an action for recovery of funds, or the closure of the procedure;

(13) ‘feedback’ means the provision to the reporting person of information on the action envisaged or taken as follow-up and on the grounds for such follow-up;

(14) ‘competent authority’ means any national authority designated to receive reports in accordance with Chapter III and give feedback to the reporting person, and/or designated to carry out the duties provided for in this Directive, in particular as regards follow-up.