Search
A network of people
© pixabay
Jahresbericht 2021 / Top topics / The EU Whistleblower Directive

The EU Whistleblower Directive

On December 17, 2021, the deadline for the implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive EU/2019/1937 into national law officially ended. What exactly this directive, which is intended to ensure minimum standards for the protection of whistleblowers, means for domestic institutions and companies, what needs to be taken into account during implementation and also what opportunities and challenges the topic of compliance and the associated whistleblowing tools harbor, also concerns the TU Wien with its nearly 5,500 employees. With foresight, the TU Wien already established the “Compliance department” and appointed two female lawyers as “Compliance Officer Central Area” and “Compliance Officer Research” (cf. 7.4. “Compliance at TU Wien “). In this way, the TU Wien , as a legal entity under public law, set a visible sign for compliance and transparency of its processes at an early stage. At TU Wien, the Compliance Officers are responsible for the establishment and expansion of a Compliance Management System as a strategic instrument, as well as for the implementation of a reporting system in accordance with the EU Whistleblower Directive. In addition, it is their task to advise and support TUW employees. The principle of “avoid, recognize early, react” applies.

C for Compliance, Culture, Community

As with any kind of cultural development, the time factor plays an essential role. In 2016, the Rectorate had launched the comprehensive organizational development project “Structure and Governance at TU Wien ” with the aim of further developing internal structures to facilitate collaboration and communication while defining a clear pyramid of responsibilities. Through the organizational development project, the basis for compliance was already created at that time. Due to the mandatory implementation of the EU Directive on the protection of persons reporting violations of Union law and the prevention of violations of, among other things, criminal law on corruption, TU Wien is encouraged and required to further develop its compliance culture. This includes writing down and adapting internal university regulations (such as parts of statutes, regulations, guidelines and policies) as well as (business) processes (compliance regulations) and creating a suitable structure and definition of responsibilities for implementation. It is important to emphasize that, in addition to this structural anchoring, each individual contributes to the development of a compliance culture by knowing and applying the compliance rules and regulations. Role models are of crucial importance in this regard and, above all, the immediate superiors and the members of the university management bodies (Rectorate, Senate and University Council) must be committed to the compliance organization. Only if they set an example of integrity (tone from the top) can employees also develop a self-image that is worth shaping.

Nine hexagons with legal symbols. Open Image Gallery
© Pixabay
whistleblower_compliance_pixabay
A network of people Open Image Gallery
© pixabay
whistleblower_community_pixabay
Open Image Gallery
Compliance

Policy of Trust and Structure

However, the TU Wien is not only concerned with the mere appointment of compliance officers and the implementation of a technical tool, but rather with the consolidation of an internal basis of trust and the sensitization of the TUW employees that compliance is the task of each individual, not only that of the compliance officers. The TUW community is therefore concerned with the cultivation of its university culture and the associated rule-compliant behavior at the TU Wien.

The details for the implementation of compliance regulations and for the implementation of the reporting system were defined in the “Legal Compliance Policy at TU Wien” and published in mid-June 2021 in the TU University Gazette. The Compliance Policy exclusively contains statements on legal compliance aimed at preventing breaches of rules and finding holistic solutions and expresses the fundamental understanding of legal compliance. It provides the basis for the formulation of further documents in connection with the topic of legal compliance including whistleblowing at TU Wien and for the establishment and implementation of a compliance organization. A well-managed whistleblowing system, for example, technically guarantees anonymity and defines exactly what information it should receive. This means that for potential whistleblowers, the subject of the report must be described in detail and contain clear information about when and how it is protected. Specific ethical issues or ethical misconduct in relation to science and research, which are detached from legal or internal regulatory norms, are not part of legal compliance, but are regulated in the Code of Conduct rules intended to ensure good scientific practice at TUW.

Evaluate and optimize

The areas of responsibility in the central area and in the faculty area must conform to legal and internal regulations and processes. TU Wien continuously improves its compliance measures and adapts its compliance organization to changing legal, organizational and technical conditions. The compliance officers support this process with their “findings” and resulting suggestions for improvement. Compliance guidelines, in particular those for “Anti-Corruption and Transparency”, “Reporting System” and the “Procurement” guideline, as well as a comprehensive compliance manual with further information and practical examples, are prepared for employees of TU Wien in order to support compliance with the required regulations. A culture of compliance at TU Wien is to grow continuously through targeted consulting, training and awareness measures and a structured reporting system to the Rectorate.

About Cookies

Our website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website, for analytical purposes, to provide social media features, and for targeted advertising. This it is necessary in order to pass information on to respective service providers. If you would like additional information about cookies on this website, please see our Data Protection Declaration.

  • These cookies are required to help our website run smoothly.

    Name Purpose Lifetime Type Provider
    wordpress_test_cookie Testing-Cookie to check whether cookies are allowed. 1 Year HTTP Homepage TUW
    PHPSESSID Used by WordPress to retain the state of your current user session for all page requests. Session HTTP Homepage TUW
    wordpress_logged_in_{hash} Used by Wordpress to keep users logged in. {hash} represents an unique user token. 1 Year HTTP Homepage TUW
    wp-settings-time-{id} Used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. 1 Year HTTP Homepage TUW
    wordpress_sec_{hash} This cookie is used to store your authentication details. Its use is limited to the admin console area. {hash} represents an unique user token. 1 Year HTTP Homepage TUW
    wp-settings-{id} Used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface. 1 Year HTTP Homepage TUW
    wp-wpml_current_language Stores the current language. This cookie is enabled by default on sites that use the Language filtering for AJAX operations feature. 1 Day HTTP Homepage TUW
    wp-wpml_current_admin_language_{hash} Stores the current WordPress administration area language. {hash} represents an unique user token. 1 Day HTTP Homepage TUW
    CookieConsent_618da2 Saves your settings for the use of cookies on this website. 1 Year HTML Homepage TUW

  • These cookies help us to continuously improve our services and adapt our website to your needs. We statistically evaluate the pseudonymized data collected from our website.

    Name Purpose Lifetime Type Provider
    _pk_id.136.56ce Used to store a few details about the user such as the unique visitor ID. 13 months HTML Matomo TUW
    _pk_ref Is used to store the information of the users home website. 6 months HTML Matomo TUW
    _pk_ses.136.56ce Is needed to store temporary data of the visit. 30 minutes HTML Matomo TUW