Whistleblower policy for the JPS Marselis Group

Background and purpose

JPS Marselis has set up an internal, Group-wide whistleblower scheme in accordance with the EU’s Whistleblower Directive and Danish law on protection of whistleblowers (‘the Whistleblower Act’). This whistleblower scheme is being implemented by JPS Marselis ApS, which has appointed the Group’s legal representatives as its internal whistleblowing unit.

The JPS Marselis Group whistleblower scheme allows employees, customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders connected to the companies of the JPS Marselis Group to, in good faith and without risk of reprisal, report suspicions or specific knowledge of violation of EU law, serious offences or other serious situations at the JPS Marselis Group.

The JPS Marselis Group has an open and dialogue-based company culture, where everyone is free to speak openly about perceived irregularities, unacceptable behaviour, or suspicions of anything illegal happening. The whistleblower scheme must therefore be viewed as supplementing going to management or using other channels of communication to report situations to which you would like to bring attention.

This policy outlines in more detail when to whistleblower as part of this scheme, what you can report and how reports are dealt with, as well as describing what rights the whistleblower and the individual being reported etc. have.

The whistleblower scheme and whistleblower policy apply to all companies of the JPS Marselis Group, regardless of whether the companies are covered by the Whistleblower Act, other national whistleblowing legislation or are not under any obligation to set up a whistleblower scheme.

The JPS Marselis Group gives whistleblowers who report situations at Group companies that are not covered by the Whistleblower Act or other national whistleblower legislation the same protection as companies that are covered. The whistleblower must, however, be aware that the whistleblower, when reporting situations at Group companies that are not covered by the Whistleblower Act or other national whistleblower legislation are not covered by the statutory protection afforded to the whistleblower.

Who can report information

The whistleblower scheme can be used by current or previous employees of any JPS Marselis Group company. It can also be used by customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders connected to a JPS Marselis Group company.

Who you can report

Under the whistleblower scheme, you can report any situations involving employees or other people connected to a JPS Marselis Group company, such as board members, shareholders, consultants, suppliers or external partners.

You can also report situations, even if the situation itself cannot be attributed to any one individual, but is, for example, due to underlying system failure at the JPS Marselis Group instead.

Situations that you can report

The JPS Marselis Group observes the delineation of the Whistleblower Act, according to which violations of EU law, serious offences and other serious situations can be reported.

Your report must be based on a reasonable suspicion, or genuine knowledge of, actual or potential rule-breaking in (for example) the following areas:

• Breaking of rules regarding product safety and conformity, transport safety and consumer protection
• Criminal offences, such as misuse of financial resources, theft, fraud, embezzlement, bribery, and forgery of documents.
• Serious or repeated breaches of legislation, e.g. in relation to health and safety at work or environmental rules.
• Serious or repeated breaches of significant internal guidelines, e.g. guidelines for business trips, gifts, and accounting.
• Serious conflict affecting individuals in the workplace, e.g. threatening behaviour, physical violence, sexual harassment, or other serious harassment.

The list of examples above is not exhaustive. If you are ever unsure whether or not a situation should be reported, we would encourage you to report it.

The whistleblower scheme cannot be used to report trivial situations or information about (for example) breaches of internal guidelines concerning sick leave, smoking, or alcohol. If rule-breaking is systematic, it may become necessary to report these or other less serious situations under the whistleblower scheme, however.

Other matters such as bullying, dissatisfaction with salary or collaboration issues are not to be reported via the whistleblower scheme, but instead must be reported through the normal communication channels in the JPS Marselis Group e.g. management, HR, the health and safety organisation or union representative.

You can, however, report serious harassment and sexual harassment, and report collaboration issues, if they are deemed to be so serious that they pose a real risk to the life and health of those affected.

How to report

The online form at https://jpsmarselis.dk/whistle-blower/?lang=en must be used for reporting. The report can be anonymous or not. To be able to investigate the situation more closely, we ask that you provide as detailed a description as possible.

Procedure when a disclosure is received

Disclosures are directed to the Group’s legal representatives.

Upon receiving the disclosure, the Group’s legal representatives evaluate whether or not the situation falls within the scope of the whistleblower scheme.

If a disclosure falls within this scope, the Group’s legal representatives will launch the necessary investigations and make suitable recommendations in this regard; further details below.

If the disclosure is not within the scope of the whistleblower scheme, it will be dismissed. If the disclosure is not anonymous, the whistleblower will be informed of this dismissal and, where relevant, receive guidance on who to contact within the JPS Marselis Group instead to discuss the matter in question.

Investigation of a disclosure

When the Group’s legal representatives receive a disclosure that falls within the scope of the whistleblower scheme, it will investigate the disclosure and, if necessary, collect additional information about the situation internally in the relevant Group company or companies.

The Group’s legal representatives will then prepare a report, outlining any recommendations for the management of JPS Marselis ApS.

The Group’s legal representatives must only disclose information about the whistleblower’s identity in its investigation and report if the whistleblower gives their consent to this. The Group’s legal representatives may, however, pass on information about the identity of the whistleblower to the relevant authorities without requiring the whistleblower’s consent to deal with offences or to protect the right to a defence of those affected. Other information from the disclosure that does not reveal the whistleblower’s identity will only be disclosed as part of the follow-up after the disclosure, or to deal with an offence specified in the disclosure.

Against the background of the disclosure and the recommendations, the management of JPS Marselis ApS – if relevant, together with the management of the Group company/companies to which the disclosure relates – will make a decision on which measures and action to take, whether launching internal investigations, reporting to the authorities or taking the action required pursuant to employment law or contract law.

Duty of confidentiality

The Group’s legal representatives and the individuals who are involved in the investigations and in processing the disclosure are subject to a special statutory duty of confidentiality covering the information in disclosures.

This special duty of confidentiality applies exclusively to information in disclosures. If a case needs to be opened as a result of a disclosure, the other information collected in connection with this will not be covered by the special duty of confidentiality.

Anonymity and protection of the whistleblower

The report can be anonymous or not. The possibility of the whistleblower’s identity being deduced from the information in the disclosure cannot be ruled out, even when whistleblowing is done anonymously. If legal proceedings are brought against the individual who has been reported, the whistleblower may be called as a witness in the case, at which point anonymity will be forfeited.

Disclosures about certain situations can be difficult to investigate in great depth without the whistleblower revealing their identity and giving up their right to remain anonymous. Whether this happens is the whistleblower’s own decision.

The whistleblower scheme protects the whistleblower against any form of reprisal or threatening behaviour or attempts at reprisals that happen as a result of the whistleblower making a disclosure. Reprisals are to be understood as any form of unfavourable treatment or repercussion that happens in response to a disclosure, e.g. suspension, dismissal, demotion or non-promotion, transfer of tasks, redeployment, pay cuts, disciplinary measures, coercion, intimidation, harassment and discrimination.

Any reprisal by an employee of a JPS Marselis Group company may have repercussions for the individual in question under employment law and/or lead to disciplinary action.

The content of the whistleblower’s disclosure must be bona fide, as being named in a disclosure can have major repercussions. Due process under civil law, criminal law or employment law can be applied to the whistleblower, and/or disciplinary measures enforced for them, should it be proven that the whistleblower’s disclosure was knowingly misleading, e.g. as harassment.

Ongoing communication

When the whistleblower submits their disclosure using the online form, the system automatically generates an acknowledgement to confirm receipt, which will be displayed electronically but can also be printed.

The Group’s legal representatives handle communication with the whistleblower. Communication is only possible if the disclosure was not anonymous. Communication will be in English, the Group language, as a general rule. The Group’s legal representatives will decide whether communication is via email, telephone or an in-person meeting.

The whistleblower can expect feedback from the Group’s legal representatives as soon as possible and, as a general rule, no later than three months after confirmation of the disclosure being received. In this feedback, the Group’s legal representatives will – as far as possible – inform the whistleblower about any action taken or anticipated and explain why those specific measures have been chosen. It may not be possible to share certain information with the whistleblower, e.g. due to a statutory duty of confidentiality or GDPR.

If the circumstances of the case mean it is impossible to provide conclusive feedback within the 3-month timeframe, the whistleblower will be notified of this and also informed about when further feedback can be expected.

Confidentiality

The whistleblower scheme has been devised and is managed in a way that ensures confidentiality around the identity of the whistleblower and those who might be named in a disclosure.

The system used to support the online form for disclosures does not log IP addresses. Access to any information relating to disclosures is restricted.

Registration of disclosures and processing of personal data

The Group’s legal representatives register, and store disclosures received, as well as other information and materials collected as part of the investigation of the situation that has been reported.

Disclosures are stored for as long as necessary and proportional for the specific disclosure and any other disclosures about the same situation.

Personal data policy – whistle-blower scheme outlines in more detail how the JPS Marselis Group processes personal data in connection with information disclosed under the whistleblower scheme.

What is made known to the individual(s) named in the disclosure

Once the Group’s legal representatives have investigated a disclosure, and all relevant evidence has been verified, the Group’s legal representatives will notify the individual being reported about the disclosure; cf. Section 22(1) of the Data Protection Act. If the investigation has not disproved the disclosure, the individual being reported will also receive the following information:

1. The conduct that he/she is suspected of;
2. Who is involved in the investigation of the disclosure;
3. His/her possible access to the information in the disclosure and right to comment on it, and
4. That the disclosure may be forwarded to the police and other public authorities

Any third party named in the disclosure will also be notified.

If it is obvious that a disclosure is unfounded, does not fall within the scope of the whistleblower scheme or cannot be processed for other reasons and is therefore rejected by the Group’s legal representatives, the Group’s legal representatives will inform the individual being reported that the disclosure has been received and rejected and do so within a reasonable timeframe and, at the latest, within one month.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in law, the whistleblower’s identity will only be disclosed to the individual being reported if the whistleblower has knowingly made a false disclosure.

Disclosure to external whistleblower schemes

Disclosure as part of external whistleblower schemes provided by the authorities is also possible as an alternative to disclosure under the JPS Marselis Group whistleblower scheme. The Danish authorities provide information about the external whistleblower schemes in Denmark at www.whistleblower.dk, in the event of a disclosure regarding a situation at one of the JPS Marselis Group’s Danish companies.

The JPS Marselis Group encourages you to use the Group’s internal whistleblower scheme if you think that the situation can be dealt with by the JPS Marselis Group.

Updated December 2023