The Whistleblowing Channel is a tool for maintaining ethical principles and trust and reporting suspected abuses. We expect the entire university community to comply with the ethical principles in their everyday work, the legislation concerning the University as a public organisation, and the values and internal instructions of the University.
If a university employee or a person otherwise dealing with the University on behalf of their work duties has received information about activities that are in violation of the legislation in their work or in connection with it and suspects abuse, we want to know about it. In matters related to the Whistleblower Directive, you can report the matter through the Whistleblowing Channel.
The Whistleblowing Channel allows you to report a suspected offence, violation or abuse related to the University's activities in a safe and confidential manner. The identity of the whistleblower working through the whistleblower protection channel is strongly protected throughout the process. However, a general prerequisite for the whistleblower protection is that the reporter has a justified reason to believe that the information on the violation is accurate at the time of reporting and that such information falls within the scope of the Act. If you are not sure whether the suspected abuse involves the activities of the University or another organisation, you can submit a notification to the central reporting channel of the Chancellor of Justice.
Reporting suspected abuse
The Whistleblowing Channel can be used for reporting suspected abuse in cases mentioned in the so-called Whistleblower Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law 2019/1937, OJ L 305/34 of 26 November 2019) in the matters specified below.
The purpose of the legislation on whistleblower protection is to ensure that a person who, in the course of their work, detects or suspects activities contrary to the public interest in specified areas of EU law can report the matter safely without fear of any possible consequences for them as a result of the report. Nationally, more detailed provisions on whistleblower protection are laid down in the Act on the protection of persons reporting infringements of the European Union and national law, which will become effective on 1 January 2023.
Reports are only processed by separately appointed, independent persons who, as representatives of the university, have a duty of professional secrecy and duty to protect the whistleblower. Topics for which you can report suspected (university) abuse through this Channel are:
- public procurement (except defence and security procurement);
- financial services, products and markets;
- preventing money laundering and terrorist financing;
- product safety and compliance;
- road safety;
- environmental protection;
- radiation and nuclear safety;
- food and feed safety, and animal health and welfare;
- public health within the meaning of Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
- consumer protection;
- the protection of privacy and personal data; and
- security of network and information systems.
Notifications must be made in good faith. The Whistleblowing Channel is not intended, for example, for providing customer/supplier feedback related to invoicing or contractual terms, and such customer/supplier feedback is not investigated. Deliberate false reports are prohibited and may lead to legal consequences. Although whistleblower protection also applies to suspected abuses, whistleblower protection is not provided for whistleblowing that are meant to harm - therefore whistleblower protection only applies to reporting made in good faith. The notifier may be liable for damages if a falsified report causes harm to the subject of the report or the university. However, the reporter's liability for damages is always limited to deliberate action in which the reporter has reported or disclosed false or misleading information for the purpose of damages.