Whistleblowerpolitik at Capidea Management
Introduction
The purpose of the whistleblower policy is to describe the framework for Capidea Management's (hereafter referred to as "our/we/us") whistleblower scheme, including explaining:
- How the whistleblower scheme operates (section 2)
- How reports are handled (section 3)
- What matters can be reported (section 4)
- Who can report to the whistleblower scheme (section 5)
- Confidentiality and anonymity (section 6)
- Deletion of information (section 7)
- The rights of the individual concerned by the report (section 8)
- Protection against retaliation and similar actions (section 9)
The whistleblower scheme is established for the purpose of free and anonymous reporting of well-founded suspicion of legal violations or serious matters as described under section 4. We believe it is crucial to maintain the highest level of ethics and integrity in the way we conduct business. We believe that this is crucial for our continued success and reputation.
If you have well-founded suspicions of legal violations or serious matters with us, as described in section 4, we would very much like to hear about it so that we can take action on the specific cases, improve ourselves, and prevent the recurrence of errors or unwanted behavior.
The whistleblower scheme is intended to ensure that reports of the aforementioned nature are treated seriously, and it should provide reassurance that individuals who make reports in good faith will be protected against reprisals, etc.
How does the whistleblower scheme operate?
Indberetning til vores whistleblowerordning skal ske via vores webbaserede whistleblowersystem, som er tilgængeligt via dette LINK
In the whistleblowing system, you will be guided step by step through the reporting process, including the description of factual circumstances, the option to upload documents, images, and audio clips, the possibility to choose to make an anonymous report, etc.
In addition to reporting to our internal whistleblower scheme, it is possible to report serious matters or illegalities to the Data Protection Agency, which administers an external whistleblower scheme. You can read more about the Data Protection Agency's whistleblower scheme HERE.
It is entirely voluntary whether you wish to make your report to our internal whistleblowing system or to the Data Protection Agency's external scheme. Vi opfordrer dog til, at du som medarbejder, i tilfælde hvor du vurderer, at der ikke er risiko for repressalier, altid foretager indberetning til vores interne whistleblowerordning, hvis du bliver bekendt med forhold, som udgør overtrædelser eller forhold som beskrevet i afsnit 4, da sådanne forhold kan imødegås effektivt internt.
For the sake of clarity, we refer to sections 6 and 9 below, where you can read more about your options for reporting anonymously and confidentially, as well as information on how you are protected against reprisals and similar actions.
How are reports handled?
As we in the group have chosen to establish a common whistleblower scheme, any report in the individual group companies is handled in collaboration with Capidea Management ApS, which assists in receiving and confirming the receipt of the reports and any investigations that need to be carried out in connection with the individual reports.
Once you have made a report, you will receive an acknowledgment that the report has been received in our whistleblowing system.
In collaboration with an external advisor, we will then assess whether the reported matter falls within the scope of the whistleblower scheme.
If the matter falls within the scope of the whistleblower scheme, we will conduct an internal investigation to the extent necessary regarding the matter reported. Depending on the nature of the matter, the case will be handled in accordance with our internal guidelines.
You will receive notification of the handling of the case and any measures taken, as well as the results of the case, no later than three months after we confirm receipt of the report.
What matters can be reported?
Our whistleblower scheme can be used to report violations of EU law covered by the scope of the European Parliament and Council Directive on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law, as well as other serious breaches of the law or other serious matters, which may include
- financial crimes (such as embezzlement, money laundering, bribery, corruption, fraud, forgery, theft, violation of applicable accounting rules),
- Physical violence and sexual abuse, sexual assault or harassment,
- The practice of illegal discrimination,
- Violation of human rights,
- Severe harassment or violence,
- Violation of legally mandated confidentiality,
- Serious breaches of workplace safety,
- Serious threats to the environment, health, and safety, etc.
The precondition for reporting to the whistleblower scheme is that you have knowledge or reasonable suspicion of the specific, serious matter in question. All reports must therefore be made in good faith, and you must have reasonable grounds to believe that the reported information is accurate.
Less significant matters cannot be reported to the whistleblower scheme. You cannot therefore use the whistleblower scheme to report, for example,
- discontent with salary conditions,
- incompetence,
- difficulties in collaboration or bullying,
- absence and illness,
- personal use of office supplies,
- violation of internal policies regarding smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc.
Such matters should instead be directed to your immediate supervisor or our HR department.
Who can report to the whistleblower scheme?
We have chosen to make our whistleblower scheme as accessible as possible. This means that the whistleblower system can be used not only by our employees but also by the other groups of individuals mentioned in the Whistleblower Protection Act § 3, no. 7, including, among others, volunteers, interns, shareholders, members of the management and the board, employees of our contractors, suppliers, and subcontractors, former employees, etc.
Our whistleblower system is publicly accessible via LINK and reporting can therefore be accessed by anyone.
Confidentiality and anonymity
Our whistleblower system allows you to remain anonymous when making your report.
Using the whistleblower system therefore does not require you to disclose your identity, and you are free to choose whether you want to make an anonymous report or if you prefer to disclose your identity.
If you wish to make an anonymous report, we recommend that you refrain from submitting the report via our network, IT equipment, phones, email accounts, or other communication devices owned by us.
This is merely a recommendation, as we must inform you that we are not allowed to attempt to trace anonymous reports back to specific individuals, even if it were technically possible.
Even if you make an anonymous report, you will still have the option to choose whether you want to be available for any further investigations or processing of the case. You can do this by creating a secure and anonymous mailbox within the whistleblower system itself. The anonymous mailbox allows you to communicate with us and our external advisors without us or our external advisors knowing your identity.
As it can be challenging to handle anonymous reports without being able to contact the reporter, we therefore recommend that you create an anonymous mailbox. This way, we can hopefully avoid having to terminate reports of illegalities or irregularities because we are unable to uncover the entire course of events.
If you choose to disclose your identity in connection with the report, we will, to the fullest extent possible, keep this confidential in connection with any subsequent processing of the reported matter. We will thus only disclose information about your identity in cases where
- processing is carried out by an external advisor and disclosure is made to this external advisor,
- the report results in a police investigation and disclosure is made to the police,
- disclosure is required under applicable law, or
- you expressly consent to us disclosing information about your identity.
As described above, since we have established a group-wide whistleblower scheme, a report will be processed in collaboration with Capidea Management ApS, and we may also disclose the information in the report to external partners (data processors) who have access to process reports on behalf of and under instructions from us.
If you wish to learn more about how we process your personal data in connection with reporting to our whistleblower scheme, you can read more about it under the 'Privacy Policy' tab in the whistleblower system itself.
Deletion of Information
Reports received through the whistleblower system are kept for as long as necessary and proportionate in connection with the processing of the report and to comply with the requirements set forth in the Whistleblower Protection Act as well as other relevant special legislation of significance for each report.
What rights does the person the report concerns have?
If the report concerns a named individual in our organization, such as an employee, a management member, a partner, etc., the reported individual will generally be notified.
The reported individual, however, will not be notified if it is deemed that their interest must yield to overriding considerations of private interests, including, for example, if
- the notification must, under the circumstances, be postponed due to the investigation of the reported matter or a significant legitimate interest on our or the whistleblower's part that outweighs the interests of the reported individual, or
- it is impossible, for example, if notification cannot be given without revealing the identity of the whistleblower.
The notification will be accompanied by a privacy policy for the reported individual, informing them about our processing of their personal data.
Protection against reprisals and similar actionsde
If you make a report to our whistleblower scheme, you are protected against negative consequences as a result of this report. For example, if you as an employee make a report, you are protected against reprimands, reprisals, changes in job duties, employee benefits, and career opportunities as a result of this report, as well as against threats or deliberate omissions that may lead to the same results.
However, if you knowingly and in bad faith make a false report about another natural person, this is not covered by this protection. If you make such a report, you may therefore be subject to civil, criminal, or administrative or disciplinary sanctions.