Internal reporting office in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG)

On July 2, 2023, the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) came into force, which serves to transpose the Whistleblower Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937) into German law. The law is intended to protect whistleblowers who draw attention to breaches of the law and regulations in companies and public authorities.

If, in the course of your official activities at Clausthal University of Technology or in connection with the university, you become aware that laws and regulations are being violated, you can contact the Internal Reporting Office set up to implement the HinSchG.

By informing the Internal Reporting Office, you give us the opportunity to clarify the facts and take appropriate measures. Since submitting a report is often not an easy step and is often associated with the fear of suffering disadvantages as a result of the report, the HinSchG regulates the protection of so-called whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are protected against any disadvantages arising from the report/report. Reprisals in connection with professional activities (e.g. being passed over for promotion, issuing warnings, dismissal or other disadvantages) due to a whistleblower must be avoided.

Persons who wish to report grievances can contact either an internal or external reporting office.

If effective action can be taken internally against any violations, please contact the internal reporting office first and foremost. In this way, you will help to ensure the reliability and integrity of the University of Technology, strengthen compliant behavior at the university and ensure fair cooperation. Even after an internal report has been submitted, there is still the option of submitting (further) external reports.

  1. Violations that are punishable by law,
  2. violations that are subject to fines, insofar as the violated regulation serves to protect life, limb or health or to protect the rights of employees or their representative bodies,

  3. other violations of federal and state legislation as well as directly applicable legal acts of the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community

    These include, among others:

    • Combating money laundering and terrorist financing,
    • Product safety and conformity,
       
    • road safety,
    • environmental protection,
    • radiation protection and nuclear safety,
    • promoting the use of energy from renewable sources and energy efficiency,
    • food and feed safety,
    • consumer rights and consumer protection,
    • protection of privacy in electronic communications, protection of the confidentiality of communications, protection of personal data,
    • security in information technology.

  4. Violations of federal and uniformly applicable regulations for contracting authorities on the procedure for awarding public contracts and concessions and on legal protection in these procedures once the relevant EU thresholds have been reached,

    and other breaches of financial and tax law.

    Please note:

    • The Internal Reporting Office is not a point of contact for general complaints.
    • Please report alleged violations of data protection directly to the Data Protection Officer of Clausthal University of Technology.
    • If you have any indications of other violations, please contact the relevant departments.
    • The Internal Reporting Office is not intended to avert acute emergencies or dangerous situations.

The receipt of your report will be confirmed to you within 7 days by the:Reporting Office Officer. The review and assessment will take place within 3 months. You will then be informed of the follow-up measures taken or planned, provided that this does not affect internal inquiries or investigations and the rights of the persons who are the subject of a report or who are named in the report are not impaired.

Your data will be treated confidentially and will not be passed on to third parties. Should it be necessary to provide information about you to third parties due to a legal obligation or to further clarify the violation you have reported, we will contact you beforehand.

Information about you as a whistleblower is voluntary. However, providing contact details will facilitate communication between you and the Reporting Office and speed up the process of investigating the report. The Internal Reporting Office also processes anonymous reports.

If you provide personal details, by submitting the report you consent to us processing and storing this data for the purpose of investigating the report and contacting you. You can revoke your consent at any time for the future.

(14.07.2023)

With this data protection notice, Clausthal University of Technology fulfills its duty to provide information in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) for the processing of personal data by the Internal Reporting Office in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act. With regard to the other terms used, "personal data", "processing", "controller", "third party", etc., please refer to the definitions in Article 4 of the EU GDPR.

1. contact details

Clausthal University of Technology, a public corporation, is responsible for the processing. It is represented by the President (Link: www.tu-clausthal.de/universitaet/leitung-verwaltung/praesidium)

1.1 Contact details of the controller

Clausthal University of Technology
Adolph-Roemer-Straße 2a
D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Phone: +49 5323 72-0
Fax: +49 5323 72-3500

1.2 Technical contact person

E-mail: meldestelle@tu-clausthal.de
Phone: +49 5323 72-3979

1.3 Contact details of the data protection officer

You can contact the data protection officer by post at the address of the controller
Email: dsb@tu-clausthal.de
Website: https://www.datenschutz.tu-clausthal.de/

2. processed personal data and purposes

As part of the submission and processing of reports by the Internal Reporting Office, your personal data will be collected and processed for the following purposes:

For submitting reports

  • Name and contact details, if applicable
  • Personal data relating to the content of your report.

For the initiation of follow-up measures

  • Personal data required for taking follow-up measures.

3. legal basis for data processing

The legal basis for the processing of personal data for the above-mentioned purposes is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c. EU GDPR in conjunction with. § Section 10 of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

4. data transfers

Your personal data processed by Clausthal University of Technology for the purposes mentioned under 2 will not be transferred to third parties.

In individual cases, data may be transferred to third parties on the basis of legal permission, for example, transfer to law enforcement authorities for the investigation of criminal offenses within the framework of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO).

5. deletion periods

Data processed for the purposes mentioned under 2 will generally be deleted or - if the data is in the form of paper documents - destroyed three years after the conclusion of the proceedings in accordance with Section 11 (5) HinSchG.

6 Your rights as a data subject

As a data subject, you can assert the rights granted to you by the EU GDPR at any time:

  • the right to information as to whether and which of your data is being processed(Art. 15 EU GDPR),
  • the right to request the rectification or completion of data concerning you(Art. 16 EU GDPR)
  • the right to erasure of the data concerning you in accordance with Art. 17 EU GDPR
  • the right to request the restriction of the processing of data in accordance with Art. 18 EU GDPR.

In addition to the aforementioned rights, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 EU GDPR), for example with the supervisory authority responsible for the university.

The State Commissioner for Data Protection of Lower Saxony
Prinzenstraße 5 
30159 Hannover

Phone: +49 511 120-4500
Fax: +49 511 120-4599
Email: poststelle@lfd.niedersachsen.de