WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY The purpose hereof is to explain how the Whistleblower Scheme works and thus to avoid any potential restraint on the reporting of material concerns.
This Whistleblower Policy applies to reports filed under
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra Scheme (here-inafter “the Whistleblower Scheme”) adopted by
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. The data controller for the processing of your personal data is
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Danish CVR reg. no. 44400014, Musikkens Plads 1, 9000 Aalborg.
1. INTRODUCTION TO AALBORG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WHISTLEBLOWER SCHEMEA Whistleblower Scheme is a secure and anonymous possibility to raise a hue and cry if employees or other interested parties affiliated to
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra experience or suspect anything illegal in
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra or in activities, which may inflict a financial loss or damage
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra´s reputation.
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra is a responsible organization with an openminded culture where everybody is free to speak, also if they experience anything irregular or illegal.
The Whistleblower Scheme is a supplement to the direct and everyday communication at work about irregularities or unsatisfactory conditions, etc. The preferred approach must be to speak with the immediate superior, TR or the CEO of
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra; however, if you feel insecure about discussing a specific problem with someone superior, you may file a report – whether or not anonymously – within the framework of
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra's Whistleblower Scheme.
2. WHO CAN REPORT?Reports may be filed by all employees of Aalborg Symphony Orchestra as well as persons connected with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. The following are examples of persons connected with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra:
• Former employees
• Employees having not yet assumed their duties
• Members of the Board of Directors
• Volunteers
• Trainees
• External consultants
• Suppliers
• Sub-suppliers
• Customers
• Cooperation partners, etc.
3. WHO CAN BE REPORTED?All concerns involving employees of
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra or other interested parties attache to
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra may be reported. This applies both to employees, executives and members of
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra´s Board of Directors, as well as other persons attached to
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, including suppliers, cooperation partners, lawyers, and accountants.
4. CONCERNS TO BE REPORTEDThe Whistleblower Scheme is only for reporting serious concerns or suspicion thereof. It must be a matter of contravention of laws, rules, politics, guidelines, etc.
Less serious concerns, e.g.
• dissatisfaction with salary conditions,
• lack of co-operation, etc.,
should never be reported within the Whistleblower Scheme but must be reported via the usual communication channels.
The following are examples of serious concerns to be reported within the Whistleblower Scheme:
• White-collar crime, e.g. embezzlement, bribery, fraud, and forgery
• Submission of incorrect and misleading information to public authorities
• Workplace safety violations
• Environmental damage
• Physical violence and sexual harassment
• Corruption
• Nepotism
• Incidents where system access is grossly misused by employees not having any workrelated requirement but merely wishing to obtain information about colleagues or others
• Irregularities concerning accounting and auditing
The above is merely a list of examples. If in doubt whether your observation must be reported or not, you are recommended to file a report. All reports will be answered and handled appropriately, and any inquiry from you will be highly appreciated.
In the interests of the further investigation of the report, including uncovering the misconduct, it is decisive that you help to clarify the misconduct to best effect. A thorough investigation of a report is not possible if the report is unspecified or if it merely concerns very wide accusations without any detailed specification.
5. WHO WILL DEAL WITH THE REPORTS? Reports must be filed via HjulmandKaptain’s Whistleblower Scheme available on
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra´s website.
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra urges the Whistleblower to state his/her name when reporting a concern in order for
Aalborg Symphony Orchestrato be able to ask clarifying questions and subsequently, if deemed unobjectionable, give information about the further procedure of the investigation. However, a report may also be filed anonymously.
All reports are handled by
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra´s legal counsel, HjulmandKaptain, who evaluates the competence of the person selected to deal with the report with
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. The report must subsequently be sent to the relevant person in charge with
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.All parties involved, including
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and HjulmandKaptain, will treat all reports as confidential.
6. HOW ARE THE REPORTS HANDLED?Upon receipt of a report, the specific concern will be subject to an initial investigation.
If the report turns out to be obviously unfounded, it will be rejected and deleted in the system, and the person having filed the report will be duly notified if having revealed his/her identity.
If the initial investigation concludes that the filed report cannot be characterized as obviously unfounded, it will be subject to a more thorough investigation. The incident will be dealt with internally and may result in disciplinary sanctions for the reported person. The incident is deleted in the system but is retained for up to five (5) years in the personnel file of the person concerned.
The incident may be of such a character that it must be entrusted to the police for further inves-tigation. When the police (and the courts, where relevant) have completed their investigations and any period allowed for appeal has expired, the incident is deleted in the system. The case may end up in the court system and the reported person may be imposed a fine or a prison sentence.
It is important that the system is not used for accusations where a suspicion is directed against innocent persons. Consequently, all reports must be filed in good faith and must be based on information directly known to the Whistleblower instead of merely on rumours.
A report falling outside the category of concerns to be reported within the Whistleblower Scheme (see item 4) will immediately be forwarded to Aalborg Symfoniorkester and deleted from the Whistleblower Scheme.
7. HOW TO REPORTReports must be filed via the Internet portal
https://whistleblowersoftware.com/secure/aalborgsymfoniorkesterIt is not possible to file a report to
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in any other way, e.g. by sending an email to the person in charge of the Whistleblower Scheme, due to the exchange of confidential personal data, which may never be sent in unencrypted form via the open Internet.
It is also possible to file a report to an external whistleblower scheme handled by the Danish Data Protection Agency. It is optional whether you wish to report via this internal Whistleblower Scheme or via the external scheme offered by the Data Protection Agency.
Information about the Data Protection Agency’s whistleblower scheme and about how to re-port is available on this link:
https://whistleblower.dk/Aalborg Symphony Orchestra urges you to use this scheme if you expect the reporting to be handled diligently, and if you feel secure that you will not be subject to retaliation.
8. SUBSEQUENT CLARIFICATION AND OBTAINING OF FURTHER INFORMATIONWhen reporting, you will have the possibility to land into the system anonymously to see if the person in charge has asked any further questions to the case or requests further documentation. Any subsequent dialandue is 100% anonymous and is based solely on the Whistleblower’s willingness to land into the system and reply to the questions from the person in charge.
9. PROTECTION OF THE WHISTLEBLOWERAnyone reporting a concern may freely decide whether to report anonymously. All reports filed in good faith are protected against any form of negative consequences (retaliation). Anyone threatening retaliation against a Whistleblower having reported in good faith will be met by disciplinary sanctions.
If a Whistleblower decides to report non-anonymously,
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra will treat the report as confidential, wherever possible.
If the Whistleblower has decided to reveal his/her identity, and legal proceedings are instituted against the reported person, the Whistleblower may, however, be called as a witness in any such proceedings.
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra will not accept any deliberate submission of false reports from any employee or anyone else. Should anyone deliberately make a false report, it may have legal consequences. If the employee or person concerned is employed with
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, a deliberate false report may result in disciplinary sanctions, including summary dismissal, for the employee. Charges against individuals, which are both anonymous and unfounded, will be rejected by HjulmandKaptain and will not be processed by
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.Generally, the Whistleblower’s identity will not be disclosed to the person being subject to the report. The identity will, however, be disclosed if the report turns out to be deliberately false.
10. INFORMATION ON REGISTRATION OF THE REPORTED PERSONThe recipient of a report is obligated to notify the reported person about the concern being reported by the Whistleblower. Each individual case will be specifically evaluated as to when such notice may be given in order to avoid any consequences for uncovering the reported concern and for the collection of evidence as a result of the notice.
Further, reference is made to the Privacy Policy for the Whistleblower Scheme, according to which the duty of disclosure is handled under the General Data Protection Regulation in relation to reported persons as well as to anyone reporting a concern.
No information will be disclosed about the Whistleblower even if the Whistleblower might have chosen to reveal his/her identity. Please note, however, that a non-anonymous Whistleblower may be called as a witness if legal proceedings are instituted, see above.
11. DATA SECURITYThe system used for recording the reports is hosted by Whistleblower Software ApS, which is an independent company guaranteeing the security and anonymity of the system. The system does not land on any IP address or machine ID, and all data transmissions and data retention are encrypted. Only the person in charge has access to the processing part of the system. Additional information on the security is available in the Privacy Policy for the Whistleblower Scheme.
Secure recordkeeping of all reports is ensured, so that only relevant persons have access to the information. Only
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra's legal counsel, HjulmandKaptain, who has access to the Whistleblower Scheme, will evaluate the competence of the person subsequently dealing with the report with
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.
12. QUESTIONSAll questions about the Whistleblower Scheme may be directed to the Law Office of HjulmandKaptain, tel. no. +45 70151000.