Purpose
Envidan A/S (“Envidan”) has established a whistleblower scheme, which aims to enable current and former employees of Envidan, business partners and other external persons associated with Envidan (“whistleblowers”) to report concerns or reasonable suspicions of actual or potential violations that have occurred or are likely to occur, as well as attempts to conceal such violations.
Whistleblowers are encouraged to report such suspicions and concerns as soon as possible, without fear of reprisals, threats, harassment, discrimination or negative employment law consequences as a result of reporting.
Scope
In accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act, the whistleblowing scheme processes reports of breaches of Union law, as defined in Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law, serious criminal offences and other serious matters, including, inter alia, the following:
This could be, for example, the following:
- Criminal offenses, such as fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation of assets, falsification of documents, accounting manipulation, bribery, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing
- Breaches of competition and procurement rules
- Risk to the health and safety of individuals, including serious or repeated breaches of occupational safety
- Significant breaches of environmental rules and pollution of the environment
- Breach of professional secrecy
- Breaches of privacy and personal data protection
- Serious violations of internal Envidan guidelines and rules (e.g. Envidan Staff Handbook and Code of Conduct)
- Discrimination, severe bullying, severe harassment, physical violence, threats and sexual harassment
The above are examples only. Whistleblowers who are in doubt as to whether a report falls within the scope of the whistleblowing scheme or not are encouraged to use our whistleblowing scheme. All reports to the whistleblowing scheme will be assessed. Reports falling within the scope of the whistleblowing scheme will be dealt with in the whistleblowing scheme.
Other matters, including HR matters, minor violations of Envidan’s internal guidelines, complaints about other employees’ behavior or incompetence, including information about less serious personnel-related conflicts in the workplace and cooperation difficulties are not covered by the whistleblower scheme. These types of cases should be reported through the normal management structure, i.e. to the line manager, or to the Managing Director, People & Culture.
Roles and responsibilities
Envidan: This whistleblower policy applies to Envidan A/S.
PwC: The whistleblower scheme is managed in cooperation with an external third party, PwC Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab. PwC is an independent audit, tax and advisory firm that receives reports on behalf of Envidan to ensure an independent and anonymous channel for whistleblowers reporting violations. All reports are received by PwC, which initially assesses whether the report in question falls within the scope of the whistleblowing scheme. PwC will then conduct an impartiality assessment to identify who can handle the report in Envidan so that the report can be processed by an impartial and competent person in Envidan, and thus not forwarded to a person to whom the report relates directly or indirectly or where there may be a risk of conflict of interest.
Employees: All Envidan employees are obliged to cooperate in good faith when investigating reports.
The Head of Legal in Envidan: The whistleblowing scheme is anchored with the Head of Legal at Envidan, who is responsible for Envidan’s whistleblowing scheme.
The Chief Legal Officer is responsible for deciding whether to conduct a proper investigation of the reports received and, if so, whether the investigation should be conducted internally and/or with external assistance. In addition, the Chief Legal Officer is responsible for
Proper management of the whistleblowing scheme, including to follow up diligently on whistleblowing reports
- Maintain guidelines describing the process for conducting internal investigations of whistleblower reports
- Maintaining a record of whistleblowing reports received
- To report the number of whistleblowing reports handled annually to the Board of Directors, and to inform the Board of Directors in cases where a whistleblowing report relates to material issues.
Reporting
Whistleblowers can make confidential and anonymous reports via this link: www.whistleblowersoftware.com/secure/Envidan
Whistleblowers are encouraged to use Envidan’s internal whistleblowing scheme, but whistleblowers may also choose to report to the external whistleblowing schemes established by the authorities.
Procedure for handling alerts
All reports are received by PwC. PwC acknowledges receipt of a report directly to the whistleblower within 7 days of receipt.
PwC initially assesses whether the matters in the report are covered by the whistleblower scheme and assesses whether the Head of Legal in Envidan is competent and can handle the report. If the report concerns the Chief Legal Officer of Envidan, if the Chief Legal Officer of Envidan is disqualified, or if there is otherwise a risk of conflict of interest in relation to the specific report, the report is instead forwarded to the CFO of Envidan. If the report concerns the CFO of Envidan, if the CFO of Envidan is disqualified, or if there is otherwise a risk of conflict of interest in relation to the specific report, the report is instead forwarded to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Envidan. This ensures that the report is processed by an impartial, independent and competent person within Envidan.
If the report does not fall within the scope of the whistleblowing scheme, it will be forwarded to Envidan with a message stating that there are no grounds to process the report, which will then be deleted.
If the report falls within the scheme and there is a basis for a proper investigation, PwC will forward the report to Envidan, which will assess whether there is a basis to launch an investigation and what steps to take as a result of the report.
If a report is manifestly unfounded, contains very broad allegations without further clarification or if the matter cannot be investigated, an investigation will not be launched.
Envidan has the following response options based on an investigation of a report:
- The case is closed as the report is manifestly unfounded.
- The case is closed with a reprimand/warning.
- The case ends with a dismissal/dismissal of the employee.
- The case is closed with a recommendation for a change in policy/guidelines/procedures.
- The case is handed over to the police or other relevant authority for their further investigation.
Procedure for follow-up with the whistleblower (feedback)
Envidan is committed to following up on reports objectively, promptly and confidentially. Envidan has committed to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place.
Envidan will inform the whistleblower within 3 months of the measures that are planned or have been taken as follow-up to the report and the reasons for the choice of this follow-up, cf. section 20(2)(3) of the Whistleblower Act. Envidan will inform the whistleblower of the course and outcome of the investigation to the extent possible. If no action has been taken as a result of the report, the reasons will be explained to the whistleblower.
If the whistleblower has chosen to remain anonymous, PwC will notify the whistleblower.
Confidentiality, objectivity and anonymity
All those who receive and follow up on alerts are subject to a special duty of confidentiality. Investigation of alerts is carried out with due regard to independence, confidentiality, data protection and security.
Envidan and PwC will treat all information about the identity of the whistleblower and persons concerned as confidential to the greatest extent possible. Whistleblowers have the right to remain anonymous.
Protection of whistleblowers
Envidan does not allow any form of retaliation or harassment against whistleblowers. A whistleblower who reports in good faith a reasonable suspicion or concern through the whistleblowing scheme will not be subject to retaliation or negative consequences, including employment law consequences, even if the report is later found to be unfounded.
Personal data
Personal data provided in reports are processed for the purpose of establishing a whistleblower scheme in Envidan, to which potential breaches of law and/or serious matters of major importance to Envidan can be reported.
Personal data is processed in accordance with the processing rules of the Danish Whistleblower Act and the Data Protection Regulation and Act. According to section 22 of the Whistleblower Act, Envidan may process personal data, including sensitive data and information about criminal offenses, which is necessary to process reports received as part of a whistleblower scheme established under the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
Personal data is only stored for as long as necessary to achieve the purpose of the processing, unless there is a legal basis in another law that allows personal data to be stored for a longer period.
If a proper investigation is opened on the basis of the report, the personal data will be kept for the duration of the investigation of the report. Personal data are deleted within six months after the end of the investigation, unless there are objective reasons to keep the data longer. Substantiated reports containing information that could lead to disciplinary, civil or criminal liability are kept until a final decision is taken in the respective cases and in accordance with applicable law.
If a report is made to the police or another relevant authority, the data will be kept for the duration of the investigation by that authority. The personal data are deleted as soon as the case is finally settled by the authority concerned.
All alerts will be stored securely and only a limited number of trusted individuals will be able to access the information.
Data subjects can contact Envidan and ask questions about the processing of personal data under the data protection rules, as well as find general information on the processing of personal data in the whistleblower scheme in Envidan’s general privacy policy: http://www.envidan.com/da/complience/privatlivspolitik
Data subjects have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority, an independent supervisory authority responsible for ensuring compliance with data protection rules.
Rights of the persons concerned
The persons who are the subject of an internal investigation shall be informed by the person responsible for the investigation as soon as possible, but only at a time when such information is not likely to jeopardize the very purpose or conduct of the investigation.
The persons under investigation must be informed about (1) the person in charge of the investigation, (2) the facts of which he/she is suspected, (3) the departments and relevant advisors who are expected to receive information about the investigation, and (4) how he/she can exercise the right of access to data, rectification of data and erasure of data.
For reports through whistleblowing schemes and investigations into these matters, the Whistleblower Act provides for an enhanced duty of confidentiality, a derogation from the duty of disclosure and the right of access to information. Thus, there may be limitations to these rights. Data subjects always have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority or to contact Envidan.
Disciplinary sanctions
Serious breaches of legislation or guidelines issued by Envidan will be sanctioned in accordance with the legislation and Envidan’s applicable rules.
No false or misleading information shall be knowingly submitted through the whistleblowing scheme. If an employee intentionally makes a false report, this will have employment law consequences. Whistleblowers who report a concern in good faith will not be subject to negative consequences, including employment law consequences, even if the concern turns out to be unfounded.