Reporting Procedure

The reporting office will acknowledge receipt of your report promptly, but no later than seven days after receiving it. No confirmation of receipt will be provided if you have expressly waived it or if there are sufficient grounds to believe that confirming receipt could compromise the protection of your identity.

If the reporting office is not responsible for handling the report, or if it is unable to pursue the reported violation within a reasonable timeframe, it will immediately forward the report – while maintaining the confidentiality of your identity – to the authority responsible for clearance, prevention, and prosecution of the violation. You will be informed about this forwarding.

If the reporting office is responsible, it assesses whether the reported violation falls within the material scope of the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) and whether no exceptions to the scope of this Act apply. If this is the case, it will review the credibility of the report and take appropriate follow-up measures.

You will receive feedback on your report within a reasonable period, at the latest within three months. In cases where processing is extensive, this period may be extended to six months. The feedback will include information on planned as well as already implemented follow-up measures and the reasons for these measures. Feedback may only be provided to the extent that it does not affect ongoing inquiries or investigations and does not infringe the rights of the persons who are the subject of a report or mentioned therein.

Once the reporting office has assessed the credibility of your report and conducted the procedure, it will close the case. Documentation is generally deleted three years after conclusion of the procedure.

If a report concerns a matter for which a procedure under the Whistleblower Protection Act has already been concluded, the reporting office may, at its due discretion, close the procedure if the report contains no new facts. This does not apply if new legal or factual circumstances justify a different course of action.

If the reporting office forwards a case to a competent authority (e.g., a public prosecutor’s office) for further investigation, you will be informed of the outcome of that authority’s investigation after its conclusion, to the extent that this is compatible with statutory confidentiality obligations.