Data Protection Notice Whistleblowing
1. General Information
a) Introduction
The following data protection notices are intended to inform you about the processing of your personal data in connection with using our whistleblowing channels and your rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and similar applicable data protection laws relating to this processing.
b) Data Controller
A distinction must be made in terms of data protection responsibility for the data processing carried out in our whistleblowing channels:
In the case of a local reporting channel of a group company (contact details) for which an own employee of the company is responsible, the respective group company is jointly responsible within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR together with METRO AG.
In the case of a local reporting channel of a group company (contact details) for which an employee of another company is responsible ("Assisting Company"), the respective group company is jointly responsible within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR together with METRO AG and the Assisting Company.
In the case of the central online whistleblowing system ("Whistleblowing System"), the affected group company for which the report is made is jointly responsible within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR together with METRO AG.
METRO AG is responsible for the operation of the Whistleblowing System and the assignment of the reports received via this system to the respective group companies. The Corporate Compliance Department based at METRO AG is generally responsible for the management and follow-up of all whistleblowing reports within the group. METRO AG's responsibility is limited to this for reports received via local reporting channels, unless it is itself affected by the report in another function.
The Assisting Company performs the tasks of the internal reporting channel for the respective group company and is responsible for the data processing carried out in this context. As a rule, the Assisting Company is METRO AG.
The group company affected by the respective report is responsible for handling and processing such reports. This includes, in particular, the measures to remedy a violation and the obligation to report back to the person providing the report.
The contact address of METRO AG is Metro-Straße 1, 40235 Düsseldorf. Contact addresses of the respective group companies can be found in the data protection notices on the websites where the respective local reporting channel is published.
General aspects to the joint control between METRO entities can be found at:
https://www.metroag.de/en/data-privacy/jointcontrol
c) Data Protection Officer
You can contact the corresponding data protection officers at any time at the following contact details:
METRO AG, Data Protection Officer, Metro-Straße 1, 40235 Düsseldorf, E-Mail: datenschutz@metro.de
The contact details of the data protection officers of the respective group companies can be found in the data protection notices on the websites where the respective local reporting channel is published.
2. Information regarding the Processing of Personal Data
a) Purpose and Legal Basis
The whistleblowing channels serve the purpose of securely and confidentially receiving, processing and managing reports regarding violations of the compliance rules of the METRO Company Group (METRO).
Insofar as a group company is legally obliged to maintain a reporting channel, the processing of personal data that follows on the report is legally based on Art. 6 p. 1 s. 1 lit. c) GDPR. Insofar as special categories of personal data are processed, further legal basis is Art. 9 p. 2 lit. g) GDPR or the applicable national legal basis for special categories of personal data. Otherwise, the data processing is based on the legitimate interest of the group companies to detect and prevent misconduct and thus avoid damage to METRO, its employees and customers. This processing is legally based on Art. 6 p. 1 s. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Insofar as the data processing is based on consent, in particular when transferring information about identity, the legal basis is Art. 6 p. 1 s. 1 lit. a) GDPR or – in the case of special categories of personal data – further Art. 9 p. 2 lit. a) and lit. g) GDPR.
Follow-up measures of the individual group companies may be necessary for the performance or termination of service or employment relationships and are legally based on Art. 6 p. 1 s. 1 lit. b) GDPR and corresponding national legal bases.
b) Type of the Collected Personal Data
Use of the whistleblowing channels takes place on a voluntary basis. If you submit a report via the whistleblowing channels, we collect the following personal data and information:
- your name, if you choose to reveal your identity,
- whether you are employed at METRO, and
- the names of persons and other personal data of persons that you name in your report.
c) Confidential Handling of Reports and Recipients
Incoming reports are received by a small selection of expressly authorised and specially trained employees of the Compliance Department of METRO and are always handled confidentially. The employees of the Compliance Department of METRO will evaluate the matter and perform any further investigation required by the specific case. During the processing of a report or the conduction of a special investigation, it may become necessary to share reports with additional employees of METRO or employees of other group companies, e.g. if the reports refer to incidents in other group companies. The latter may be based in countries outside the European Union or the European Economic Area with different regulations concerning the protection of personal data. We always ensure that the applicable data protection regulations are complied with when sharing reports. All persons who receive access to the data are obligated to maintain confidentiality.
As a basic principle we are bound by law to inform the accused persons that we have received a report concerning them, unless this threatens further investigations into the report. In doing so, your identity as whistleblower is not revealed as far as is legally possible.
With your consent, information from the reports will be passed on to external parties; otherwise, it will only be passed on – to the extent permitted by law – to the relevant investigating and prosecuting authorities or, in this context, to courts and advisors bound to secrecy under professional law.
d) Retention
Personal data is retained for as long as necessary to clarify the situation and perform an evaluation of the report or a legitimate interest of the company exists or it is required by law. As a rule, the data is stored for up to three years after the final assessment of the case. If indicated by special needs, in individual cases the period may be up to seven years.
e) Data Security in the Whistleblowing System
Communication between your computer and the Whistleblowing System takes place over an encrypted connection (SSL). Your IP address will not be stored during your use of the Whistleblowing System. In order to maintain the connection between your computer and the Whistleblowing System, a cookie is stored on your computer that merely contains the session ID (a so-called null cookie). This cookie is only valid until the end of your session and expires when you close your browser. It is possible to set up a postbox within the Whistleblowing System that is secured with an individually chosen pseudonym / user name and password. This allows you to send reports to the responsible employee at METRO either by name or in an anonymous, safe way. This system only stores data inside the Whistleblowing System, which makes it particularly secure. It is not a form of regular email communication.
When submitting a report or an addition, you can simultaneously send attachments to the responsible employee of METRO. If you wish to submit an anonymous report, please take note of the following security advice: Files can contain hidden personal data that could compromise your anonymity. Remove this data before sending. If you are unable to remove this data or are unsure how to do so, copy the text of your attachment into your report text or send the printed document anonymously to the address listed in the footer, citing the reference number received at the end of the reporting process.
The Whistleblowing System is operated by a specialised company, Business Keeper AG, Bayreuther Str. 35, 10789 Berlin in Germany, on behalf of METRO. Personal data and information entered into the Whistleblowing System are stored in a database operated by Business Keeper AG in a high-security data centre. Only METRO has access to the data. Business Keeper AG and other third parties do not have access to the data. This is ensured in the certified procedure through extensive technical and organisational measures. All data are stored encrypted with multiple levels of password protection so that access is restricted to a very small selection of expressly authorised persons at METRO.
3. Your Rights
As the data subject, you can contact our data protection officer at any time by sending an informal communication to the contact details mentioned above under 1. c) to exercise your rights according to GDPR. These rights are as follows:
- The right to receive information about the data processing and a copy of the processed data (Right of access, Art. 15 GDPR)
- The right to demand the rectification of inaccurate data or the completion of incomplete data (Right to rectification, Art. 16 GDPR)
- The right to demand the erasure of personal data and, if the personal data has been made public, the information to other controllers about the request of erasure (Right to erasure, Art. 17 GDPR)
- The right to demand the restriction of the data processing (Right to restriction of processing, Art. 18 GDPR)
- The right to receive the personal data concerning the data subject in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to request the transmittance of this data to another controller (Right of data portability, Art. 20 GDPR)
- The right to object to the data processing in order to stop it (Right to object, Art. 21 GDPR)
- The right to withdraw a given consent at any time in order to stop a data processing that is based on your consent. The withdrawal has no affect on the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent before the withdrawal (Right of withdrawal, Art. 7 GDPR)
- The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you consider the data processing to be an infringement of the GDPR (Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, Art. 77 GDPR).
If your personal data are processed on the basis of legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 p. 1 s. 1 lit. f) GDPR, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data pursuant to Art. 21 DSGVO, provided that there are reasons for doing so arising from your particular situation. If you wish to exercise your right of objection, all you need to do is send an email to the contact details mentioned above under 1. c).
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