Whistleblower system
Reporting of suspected cases
Compliance with laws, rules and internal regulations is a top priority for us. We can only protect our company, our employees and our business partners if we act in accordance with the law and with integrity.
But where people work, mistakes can also be made. We have introduced a whistleblower system in order to fulfil the requirements imposed by various laws and to be able to follow up on reports of violations or misconduct fairly and appropriately. Suspicious cases can be reported to the whistleblower system confidentially and, if national legal requirements permit, anonymously if desired. This includes, for example, breaches of our Code of Conduct, antitrust law, environmental regulations, violations of human rights and suspicions of corruption, theft, discrimination or harassment, applicable laws or other regulations. In addition to employees, business partners, customers and other third parties can also report specific information on breaches of rules. A report can be submitted in any language. A translation will be arranged if required. .
Particularly in the case of anonymous reports, please ensure that the report is formulated as specifically as possible and, if necessary, that documents are attached to support your suspicions. It is also helpful if you are available to the reporting centre for further questions. Otherwise, the facts of the case cannot be discussed and you will not be informed of the progress of the proceedings.
Contact
In order to guarantee the greatest possible protection for whistleblowers and those affected, we have set up an independent trust centre, the atarax group of companies. Trust is their business, here you are in good hands.
The following communication channels are available to ensure complete confidentiality:
- Whistleblower telephone hotline at: 0049 / 160 / 96210839 (Monday - Friday from 08.30 - 17.00, except on public holidays)
- by e-mail to: compliance@atarax.de
- via a whistleblower portal with contact form: https://www.atarax.de/de/startseite/leistungen/hinweisgeberportal The link will redirect you to the atarax Group's whistleblower portal. Of course, this forwarding will not be traced.
- Written notification by post to: atarax group of companies, Luitpold-Maier-Str. 7, D-91074 Herzogenaurach
- Digital whistleblower system at https://food-family.whistleblower-system.de
- At the request of the whistleblower, it is also possible to make a report via these channels within a reasonable period of time as part of a confidential personal meeting.
- Information on the processing of your data can be found in our data protection notice at the bottom of the page.
Procedure
Once the report has been received, the reporting person will receive a confirmation of receipt from the Reporting Centre in due time. This also applies in the case of an anonymous report by post, provided that a reporting channel intended for the submission of anonymous reports, e.g. via a third party (lawyer or authorised person) is used or another anonymous contact option is left.
The report or complaint is then carefully checked for plausibility. If there are concrete indications of a breach of the rules, a specific internal investigation will be initiated if necessary and further appropriate follow-up measures (e.g. improvement of internal processes) are introduced.
The information is processed as part of a fair and confidential process and in compliance with data protection regulations. Furthermore, the principle of proportionality is observed. The information and complaints are also documented.
Where possible, contact is maintained with the whistleblowers in accordance with the relevant legal requirements and, if necessary, the facts of the case are discussed. In addition, the whistleblowers are informed of the progress of the proceedings in a timely manner.
Information provided will only be passed on to those persons who must be involved in processing the report, insofar as this is absolutely necessary to determine the facts of the case.
All information received will be documented, stored and deleted in accordance with the statutory provisions.
Transparency and information obligations for whistleblowers and other persons involved in the matter as part of the whistleblower system
in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
This document informs you about the processing of your personal data by the Erbacher - The Food Family group of companies and its participating companies2 and the rights to which you are entitled under data protection law.
Responsible organisation/data protection
VThe entity responsible for data processing is the participating company to which the notification relates.
Josera GmbH & Co. KG,
Josera Petfood GmbH & Co. KG,
food family Agency GmbH & Co. KG,
foodforplanet GmbH & Co. KG,
Josera Erbacher Service GmbH & Co. KG,
Erbacher Food Intelligence GmbH & Co. KG,
FarmChamps GmbH & Co. KG
Address: Industriegebiet Süd, 63924 Kleinheubach
Josera Polska Sp. zo.o.,
Josera petfood Sp. zo.o
Address: Paproć 95, 64-300 Paproć, Polen
Contact information: https://food.family/kontakt/
Contact data protection:
datenschutz@josera-erbacher.de and datenschutz@foodforplanet.de
Categories/origin of the data
If you make a report via our whistleblower system, the personal data you provide will be processed in order to process your report and, if necessary, take further action. In principle, you have the option of making anonymous reports. Which personal data is processed accordingly depends on the content of your report.
If you are an accused person or other person involved in the matter, we may process your personal data in order to check the report made via the whistleblower system and investigate the suspected compliance and legal violations. Which data is processed depends on the specific report in each individual case and also on what information, for example, a whistleblower has provided about you. For example, the following data may be processed:
- Contact details (e.g. private address, mobile phone number, landline number, e-mail address)
- Personal data (surname, first name, name affixes, date of birth)
- Photos/video recordings
- Time recording data
- Special types of personal data:
Health data
Purposes and legal basis of data processing
When processing your personal data, the provisions of the GDPR (in Germany additionally the BDSG and all other statutory provisions such as BetrVG, ArbZG, etc.) are always complied with. If you are a reporting person, your data will be processed on the basis of your voluntary information and within the framework of the statutory provisions, Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a, lit. c GDPR (in Germany additionally in conjunction with § 10 HinSchG, 8 LkSG) and, in the event that you are employed by us, in accordance with Art. 88 GDPR (in Germany additionally in conjunction with § 26 para. 2 BDSG). If we provide the whistleblowing system without being legally obliged to do so, your data will be processed on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR.
In addition, we process your personal data as a data subject if this is necessary to safeguard the legitimate interests of the company or a third party in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f, lit. c GDPR (in Germany additionally in conjunction with § 10 HinSchG, § 8 LkSG or § 130 OWiG). We have a legitimate interest in the processing of personal data for the prevention and detection of violations and abuses that are reported via the whistleblower portal of our group of companies. Your personal data will also be processed if this is necessary to fulfil legal obligations.
Storage period of the data
As soon as your data is no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes and there are no further retention obligations, it will be deleted.
Recipients of the data/categories of recipients
In our company, we ensure that only those persons receive your data who need it to process the report submitted via the whistleblowing system.
The internal reporting centre is handled by atarax. Further information on the processing of your data can be found at https://www.atarax.de/de/datenschutz.
Furthermore, in certain cases, service providers (e.g. IT service providers) support us in the fulfilment of our tasks. The necessary data protection contracts have been concluded with all service providers. Depending on the focus of responsibility of the report and the effective initiation of follow-up measures, the personal data may be passed on to our relevant specialist departments.
Furthermore, in cases prescribed by law, we are obliged to transmit certain information to bodies such as investigating authorities.
Third country transfer/intended third country transfer
Data will only be transferred to third countries (outside the European Union or the European Economic Area) if this is absolutely necessary for processing the report, is required by law or if you have given us your consent to do so.
We do not (currently) transfer your personal data to any service providers or group companies outside the European Economic Area.
Rights of the data subjects
The rights for you as a data subject are standardised in Art. 15 - 22 GDPR. This includes:
- The right of access (Art. 15 GDPR)
- The right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR)
- The right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR)
- The right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
- The right to object to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)
- The right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
If you have voluntarily provided data as the reporting person, you can revoke your consent for any future data processing at any time.
To revoke your consent and assert your other rights, please contact compliance@atarax.de. The same applies if you have any questions about data processing in our company. You can also lodge a complaint against data processing with a data protection supervisory authority.
If we process your data to protect legitimate interests, you can object to this processing at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation.
We will then no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Automated decisions in individual cases. We do not use purely automated processing to reach a decision.