Whistle-blower system 'B Honest'

Within the Biesterfeld Group, adherence to applicable laws and the group’s internal guidelines as well as the resulting lawful and honourable behaviour are top priorities. We are therefore implementing a whistle-blower system (named 'B Honest') designed to allow anonymous reporting of any grievances, criminal behaviour or special risks within the company. The system should protect the company from any behaviour with potentially detrimental consequences.

Anyone - both employees and business partners - can use the system to submit notifications of infringements and offences contrary to the company's interests on the following subjects:

• Corruption / Anti-competitive practices
• Incorrect accounts
• Money laundering
• Fraud / breach of trust / embezzlement
• Violation of Data Privacy Laws
• Hazard / Violations of environmental protection regulations
• Violation of occupational health and safety regulations (discrimination or harassment)
• Potential damages / risks to the disadvantage of the company or a third party
• I am looking for advice / Compliance Office 

The system will be monitored by the Compliance department of the Biesterfeld Group. The department's task is to investigate the notifications received, forward technical issues to the relevant areas and implement any required actions. As well as the Compliance Officer, both the Human Ressources & Legal Manager and the Accounting & Treasury Manager will be responsible for the associated areas.

The following link allows you to submit notifications: whistle-blower system 'B Honest'

 The notification process consists of four steps:

1. Users are first asked to read an information message on protection of anonymity and to answer a security query.
2. On the next page, they are then asked to specify the subject of the notification.
3. They can formulate the notification in their own words on the submission page and then answer some questions about the issue using simple multiple choice selections.  When the notification has been submitted, the sender receives a reference number as confirmation.
4. A special protected mailbox is then created to provide feedback.

Biesterfeld uses the whistle-blower system of the Business Keeper AG, which is the only data protection-certified system in the world. Cutting-edge security and encryption technologies ensure whistle-blowers’ anonymity and allow them to submit notifications securely. Provided that no information is entered that allows the person's identity to be detected, the BKMS^® system technically ensures anonymity.