Whistleblowers

Salcef is committed to full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and human rights standards and to protecting the environment. In line with the Salcef’s open communication culture, every employee, supplier, business partner and every person, who within their professional activities comes into contact with Salcef, shall be free to report on violations and/or improper behavior without fearing retaliation. The Salcef whistleblower system serves as an early warning system for Salcef to promptly and effectively address emerging risks or violations.

The Salcef whistleblower system may be used by any person who, in the context of their professional activities or in advance of their professional activities, has obtained information on violations. This includes, in particular, employees, freelancers, applicants, former employees, interns, suppliers, and persons whose professional activities are yet to commence, such as job candidates and contractors.

Circumstances subject to reporting

Reports may concern information on breaches of national and international law, violations of the Salcef’s Supplier’s Code of Conduct, Policy on Human Rights and Code of Conduct acquired in the performance of professional duties. Reports may also concern conducts aimed at concealing breaches (e.g., concealment or destruction of evidence of the beaches).

Breaches or violations are to be understood as conduct, acts or omissions detrimental to the public interest or the integrity of the public administration or private entity and include by way of example:

• administrative, accounting, civil and criminal offences;
• environmental offences;
• corruption, fraud and misappropriation, as well as other property offences;
• violations of data protection;
• antitrust violations;
• discrimination and harassment;
• offences falling within the scope of EU acts (e.g., public procurement, services, financial products and markets, etc.);
• state-aid related violations
• acts or omissions detrimental to the financial interests of the European Union;
• acts or omissions in the context of domestic market (e.g., competition and state aid-related breaches);
• acts or conduct that jeopardize the object and purpose of the provisions of the acts of the European Union.

Reportable information also covers reasonable suspicions of breaches. Please note however that clearly unfounded news, information already publicly disclosed, and mere rumors may not fall within the scope of reportable information.

Content of the report

To ensure proper handling of the reporting process, whistleblowers are recommended to include all the information they hold by submitting a clear and complete report describing all the elements useful for the relevant investigation. Specifically, based on the information they have, whistleblowers are kindly asked to include:

• a description of the alleged facts (including the place and day, where possible) and the manner in which they were found;
• useful indications to identify the reported person(s);
• names of other persons, if any, who can contribute to ascertaining the facts being reported
• for written reports any documents accompanying the report.

Submission of reports to Salcef

Written Reports:

Written reports can be submitted through the Salcef’s Internal reporting channels. All channels are accessible through the IT platform by selecting the company for which you wish to report.

Verbal Reports:

Verbal reporting is possible via the Salcef’s voice messaging system.

Where voice messaging is used, whistleblowers are required to give their express authorization concerning the permanent voice recording of the conversation or the complete and accurate written transcript of the conversation. Whistleblowers using the voice messaging option are kindly asked to provide their contact details (telephone number/email) so that they can be contacted. Face to face meeting upon request of the whistleblower

Please refer to: https://www.salcef.com/whistleblowing-reports/

Procedure for filed reports

The whistleblowing system is designed to automatically notify  the operator every time a report is submitted, in order to guarantee a swift review by the whistleblowing manager.

The whistleblowing manager determines whether the reported violation falls within the scope of the Whistleblower Protection Act and that of this whistleblowing policy, maintains contact with the whistleblower, reviews the validity of the report received, requests further information from the whistleblower if necessary, and takes appropriate follow-up action.

The whistleblowing manager operates independently and is not subject to instructions when assessing or processing reports. It ensures confidentiality and impartiality in all reporting processes.

The whistleblowing manager will confirm receipt of the report to the reporting person within seven (7) days. The whistleblowing manager will provide feedback to the reporting person within three (3) months of confirmation of receipt of the report or, if receipt is not confirmed, no later than three (3) months and seven (7) days after receipt of the report. The feedback will include information on planned or already initiated follow-up measures and the reasons for them. Feedback to the reporting person shall only be provided to the extent that it does not interfere with the internal investigations and the rights of the persons who are the subject of a report or who are mentioned in the report are not affected. The obligation to report back within three months also applies if, in the case of longer investigations, the results of the examination are not yet available after three (3) months. In this case, the feedback is limited to information about the current state of the investigations.

If a report is obviously unfounded or was obviously made solely out of denunciation or if it is a trivial case, no further investigation will be initiated; only the documentation obligations apply.

Whistleblowers are assigned a unique code (generated upon submitting the report via the reporting tool), which can be used to send further information to the operator, as well as to verify the status of the report. Especially in the case of an anonymous report, whistleblowers may only receive feedback (expected within seven (7) days) by accessing the system using the above-mentioned unique code. The unique code may only be known by the whistleblower concerned.

Anonymous reports are explicitly accepted and processed in the same manner as non-anonymous reports. Whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous should retain their unique code to track the progress of their case.

The whistleblowing manager will maintain a permanent and accessible record of all reports received, complying with any confidentiality obligations established by the law.

External Reporting

Whistleblowers may also report violations to the external reporting office of the Federal Office of Justice. For further information on how to submit an external report and the whistleblowing procedures please access the website of the Federal Office of Justice by using the following link: https://www.bundesjustizamt.de/DE/MeldestelledesBundes/MeldestelledesBundes_node.html

We kindly ask you to submit your whistleblowing report to us first and to make use of the external whistleblowing possibility only in the event that Salcef has not remedied a reported violation after at least expiration of the three (3)-months-period mentioned above.

Safeguards, prohibition of retaliation and penalties

Salcef is committed to ensuring the utmost protection and confidentiality (of the identity of the whistleblower, of the reported person, of any person involved, of the contents of the report and of the accompanying documentation) without prejudice to legal obligations and the protection of the rights of Salcef or of the persons concerned, as well as the guarantee of protection against any form of retaliation, discrimination or penalization for reasons connected with the report.

Any form of retaliation, even if only attempted or threatened, is prohibited.

Retaliation is any direct or indirect act or omission in a professional context that is triggered by an internal or external report or disclosure and that results or may result in an unjustified disadvantage for the reporting party. Retaliation includes, but is not limited to, dismissal, refusal of promotion, salary reductions, negative performance evaluations, threats, intimidation, or damage to reputation. The burden of proof lies with the employer, who must demonstrate that any adverse action taken against a whistleblower was not related to their report.

As long as the following persons are not themselves subject of the whistleblower’s report, they are also protected:

• facilitators, i.e. persons aiding the whistleblower in the reporting process;
• persons working in the same professional environment as the whistleblower and who are relatives up to the fourth degree of kinship;
• work colleagues of the whistleblower who have a regular and current relationship with such person;
• entities owned by the whistleblower, by the person who lodged a complaint, as well as those operating in the same work environment as the aforementioned persons;
• the entities where the whistleblower works;
• entities operating in the same work environment as the whistleblower;
• anonymous whistleblowers if they are identified and retaliated against.

Please note, that anyone who intentionally or by gross negligence reports false information about violations is protected neither by law nor by this policy. However, whistleblowers who make reports in good faith, even if the allegations ultimately prove unfounded, will not face any consequences. Protection is provided as long as the whistleblower had reasonable grounds to believe that the reported information was true at the time of submission.

Please note that anyone who breaches the whistleblowing protection measures will be liable to disciplinary or contractual actions (depending on the type of whistleblower) as well as anyone who submits reports with malicious intent or negligence that turn out to be unfounded.

Any employee who intentionally or negligently submits unfounded reports must expect sanctions under labor law (admonishment, notice of termination).

Data Protection

Salcef is the data controller and thus responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable data protection provisions with regard to the reporting procedure; this also applies when external persons and offices are commissioned to carry out the reporting procedure and the follow up measures.

The legal basis for the data processing is the consent of the whistleblower according to Art. 6 (1) lit. a) of the GDPR as well as the valid interest of Salcef to follow up and investigate the report in order to ensure compliance with applicable laws and standards (Art. 6 (1) lit. f) of the GDPR). The consent can be revoked at any time without this making prior data processing under consent illegal. Please note that in case of a valid interest, Salcef may still process the personal data also if the consent is revoked.

The data collected in the course of the reporting procedure will be deleted as soon as there is no longer a legal basis for processing such data.