Reporting office for whistleblowers
Employees of the University of Tübingen (also those with “Beamte” status, see final paragraph below) may contact the whistleblower office set up in the Ministry of Science if, for example, they discover or suspect that a criminal offense has been committed at the University or that the prescribed procedure under procurement law was not followed before a contract was awarded. The law protecting whistleblowers (HinSchG) shields employees from reprisals if they report violations under § 2 HinSchG in the work environment.
Information about private misconduct is not covered by this law.
Examples of reportable violations:
Rule violations which may be reported under the whistleblower protection act, HinSchG (§ 2), include:
• Violations that are punishable by law
• Violations that are subject to a fine, insofar as the violated regulation serves to protect life, limb or health or to protect the rights of employees or their representative bodies
• Other violations of federal or state legislation or directly applicable EU laws, for example:
- Laws to combat money laundering and/or the financing of terrorism
- Product safety and conformity specifications
- Environmental protection requirements
- Specifications for protection from radiation
- Laws to promote energy efficiency and the use of energy from renewable sources
- Laws on the availability and use of pesticides and on animal health and welfare, insofar as they concern the protection of farm animals, the protection of animals at the time of slaughter, the keeping of wild animals in zoos, the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, and the transportation of animals and related operations
- Violations of quality and safety standards for organs and substances of human origin, drugs used in human and veterinary medicine, medical devices
- Violations of regulations concerning the protection of privacy in electronic communications, the protection of the confidentiality of communications, the protection of personal data in the electronic communications sector, the protection of personal data or information technology security
• Violations of federal and uniformly applicable regulations for contracting entities on the procedure for awarding public contracts
• Violations of tax regulations applicable to corporations
• Statements made by public officials that constitute a violation of the duty to be loyal to the Constitution
The whistleblower must have obtained the information in connection with his or her professional activity or in the run-up to a professional activity because he or she is or was employed by the university or is or was in contact with the University due to his or her professional activity (e.g., a supplier). Employees have the opportunity to report facts to the relevant office without fear of professional reprisals. However, the person providing the information must have sufficient reason to believe that the reported information is true.
The reports are treated confidentially within the framework of the HinSchG.
Whistleblowers may choose whether to submit their report to an internal or external reporting office. The German government has established a central external reporting office at the Federal Office of Justice (www.bundesjustizamt.de/hinweisgeberstelle). The existing reporting systems at Germany’s financial supervisory authority (BaFin’s Contact Point for Whistleblowers) and the German antitrust authority (Bundeskartellamt - Tip-offs about cartel violations) will be continued for their specific areas of responsibility.
The internal reporting office responsible for the University has been established within the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) and may be contacted via the following channels.
• Email: Hinweisgebermeldestelle@mwk.bwl.de
• By post:
Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts
Hinweisgebermeldestelle/ Whistleblower reporting office
Königstrasse 46
70173 Stuttgart
If you wish, you may make a personal appointment with a person from the whistleblower reporting office. It is possible to submit relevant information anonymously, according to the MWK's announcement
Civil servants with “Beamte” status who wish to make a report or disclosure under the law protecting whistleblowers (HinSchG) can now do so without going through the regular official channels ("Dienstweg"). The corresponding insertion of a new paragraph 2 in Section 49 of the State Civil Servants Act (Landesbeamtengesetz) has taken place.
The current version of the law protecting whistleblowers (HinSchG) can be found at: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/hinschg/BJNR08C0B0023.html