Whistleblower system for reporting compliance violations

Notifications can be made to the Compliance Office in a number of ways. Post, telephone and e-mail are all possible methods (contact details). It is important that the following questions are answered in all notifications.

A notification must make it clear who the sender is. Only if the sender can be easily identified can an effective dialogue can be launched. An exception regarding anonymous notifications is explained at the end of these questions.

A notification must be formulated in a way that enables the facts on which the notification is based to be determined. Please note that the Compliance Officers rely on receiving the full facts of each case. Further information may also be required, which is why it is often helpful if you do not submit your notification anonymously, as this will enable further enquiries to be made. For information about what content is not appropriate in a notification, see „What issues must not be notified via the whistleblower system“.

It is important to specify exactly when the events described took place so that responsibilities and other facts relating to the case can be assigned appropriately. The notification should be made promptly (generally speaking, within a few days). There is little that can be done about incidents that took place a long time ago.

The place from which the notification is being made should be specified as precisely as possible; please state the relevant country, location, plant, division and department wherever possible. 

Anonymous notifications deviate from the pattern described above. To make your notification anonymous, please submit it via an e-mail account which prevents you being personally identified, for example, from an address you yourself have set up under a pseudonym; this is easy to do using private e-mail services. When composing the notification, you should focus on the question of WHAT (see Point 2 above). All details you give in relation to places and times must be carefully selected to make it difficult or impossible to identify you. However, further enquiries may still be necessary, so we ask that you continue to check the anonymous e-mail account regularly so the anonymous contact can be kept up. We guarantee that all data and personal rights regarding notifications made via the whistleblower system will be protected to the highest possible degree. Many thanks in advance for your support!