Compliance
The Compliance system gives employees, business partners and third parties the opportunity to report irregular behaviour at any time.
Compliance concerns everyone, as everyone is directly or indirectly affected by violations. On the one hand legal violations — depending on the type and severity of the violation — are subject to personal criminal liability. On the other, violations of the compliance function cause material damage to the company and damage the reputation of Held GmbH in the eyes of the public. This impairs economic performance and thus the success of the company.
In addition to line managers, every employee and every Held business partner is called upon to report potential compliance violations and in doing so contribute to limiting the consequences of such violations and to avoid similar misconduct in the future.
Questions and answers
What does compliance mean?
The term compliance in its narrowest sense means observance of justice and the law by the company and its employees.
Compliance management is thus nothing more than a structured set of internal regulations and guidelines to be observed by employees of the company.
What should I do, if there are compliance violations?
All employees are called upon to report potential compliance violations and in doing so contribute to limiting the consequences of such violations and to avoid similar misconduct in the future. The same applies to business partners and everyone else.
Who can report compliance violations?
- All employees, including trainees
- External people, e.g. temporary workers, employees of external service providers
- Every business partner, e.g. suppliers, customers or cooperation partners
- Any third parties
Which violations should be reported?
It is important that events are reported that may indicate culpable action — such as theft, fraud or corruption —or a systematic violation of the law or internal company regulations such as conscious and sustained non-compliance with quality/safety standards.
Are there any disadvantages that threaten the whistleblower?
Whistleblowers who report potential compliance cases to the best of their knowledge and in good faith do not need to fear any adverse consequences from the company as a result of the report.
Is it possible to report anonymously?
Yes, reporting via the whistleblower system is done anonymously.
What happens with a report?
The company is responsible for investigating and properly dealing with events reported to it.
Documentation and transparency
Every message about potential violations and the measures taken are to be documented by the company. The whistleblower (not anonymously) can find out how the proceedings are going taking into account the legitimate interests of those involved. If the investigation of a case is discontinued because no relevant misconduct could be determined, the person concerned will be informed of this if he was asked to comment during the investigation or if he asks for information.
