At Versandmanufaktur, we are committed to clear ethical principles.

This is a fundamental pillar of our company’s success. Every employee shares responsibility for ensuring that we live up to these values. Misconduct by just a few individuals can undermine the good reputation of an entire company. It is therefore important to us to detect potential legal violations by employees, suppliers, or other third parties at an early stage so that we can respond quickly and take effective corrective action.

Whistleblower Protection Act – What Can Be Reported?

Since July 2, 2023, the German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) has been in effect. Under this law, we are required to establish an internal reporting office. Whistleblowers can use this office to report potential violations that they become aware of in the course of their professional activities.

The internal reporting office is available for the following matters:

  • Information about suspected criminal offenses

  • Information about suspected administrative offenses, if the relevant regulations serve to protect life, limb, or health, or the rights of employees or their representative bodies (e.g., works council members)

  • Information about other violations within the meaning of § 2 para. 1 no. 3 HinSchG (e.g., suspected violations of the GDPR in the handling of personal data)

Reports concerning the above-mentioned violations are treated with strict confidentiality to protect whistleblowers as well as the persons named in the report. Whistleblowers are also legally protected from retaliation.

Internal Reporting Office

The internal reporting office according to §§ 12 ff. HinSchG is Compliance.

Please note that you, as the reporting person, are only protected if, at the time of the report, you had sufficient reason to believe that the information provided was true. Whistleblowers are not protected if they knowingly submit false reports.

You can contact the internal reporting office via the EQS Integrity Line or through our Ombudsman Dr. Rainer Buchert:

EQS Integrity Link

Dr. Rainer Buchert
Attorney at Law
Kaiserstraße 22
D-60311 Frankfurt am Main
Phone: +49 69 710 33 330 or +49 6105-921355
Fax: +49 69 710 34 444
Email: kanzlei@dr-buchert.de

Alternatively, you may use the electronic contact form: https://versandmanufaktur.com/de/kontakt/

External Reporting

In addition to the internal reporting office, you also have the option of contacting the competent authorities directly (external reporting). These are:

  • Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz, BfJ) – generally responsible for reports

  • Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) or the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, BKartA) – in legally defined cases

Further information can be found here.

Internal or External?

According to the law, you are free to choose whether to contact the internal reporting office first or to approach the external authority directly.

Nevertheless, we kindly ask you to always contact the internal reporting office first. We take every report very seriously and are committed to taking effective action against violations. If, from your perspective, an internal report has not been effectively addressed, you are of course free to then turn to the competent external authority.

Questions?

Do you have questions about this? Please feel free to contact us at: compliance@versandmanufaktur.de