WhistleFox

The whistleblowing system
Legal advice and Legal tech from a single source: Sustain your business success with the future-proof solution for 360° compliance

Your benefits at a glance

1

Risk management

Identify legal and economic risks at an early stage to react quickly and avert damage to your company.

2

Law and Tech combined

Complete solution to collect whistleblowers’ reports, for case management, legal assessment and digital reporting

3

Safe space – Neutral entity creates trust

All reports directly reach our lawyers who, as legal confidants, are strictly bound by obligations of confidentiality. The anonymity of whistleblowers is guaranteed at all times.

lasting business success image

Keep thriving – For lasting corporate success

Unethical conduct costs companies millions of euros every year in fines, reputational damage, or financial losses.

Long before the introduction of legislative measures, many companies realized that considerable financial loss may be averted if employees have the opportunity to anonymously report violations of corporate rules.

Legal advice and Legal tech from a single source

WhistleFox: We were the first law firm in Germany to have developed a system that digitally streamlines whistleblowing processes from start to finish – the influx of whistleblowers’ notifications, legal case management, and reporting, allowing our lawyers to focus efficiently on the legal assessment of those reports.

HEUKING’s tool offers businesses, authorities, municipalities, and associations a complete solution so that they need not set up internal organizational structures or face costly implementation on their own servers to comply with regulations.

Safe space

Legal confidants and ombudspersons as neutral entity

Whistleblowing takes courage. A lot is at stake for those who speak up. Accepting notifications from whistleblowers as a neutral entity, our Compliance specialists act as legal confidants and ombudspersons for companies in all sectors, both nationally and internationally so that their employees can voice concerns with confidence.

Whistleblowers and employees can be certain that their information is being treated confidential and that their anonymity is preserved if so requested. It is ensured that their reports are taken seriously and have an impact on the company.

Companies depend on their dedicated personnel to point out suspicious issues at an early stage so that risk can be managed and damage can be avoided. Thus, they benefit from the culture of trust that a neutral entity represents since it provides a safe space for employees to speak up about breaches of rules without worry.

Your benefits at a glance

...
legally compliant

Fulfill the EU Whistleblower Directive, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, and other whistleblower legislation

...
anonymous

Privacy guaranteed at all times, no conclusions about whistleblower identity possible and there is no storage of metadata.

...
secure

Hosted our law firm’s own server in Germany, the system outperforms requirements for data protection and data security.

Regulatory requirements for corporations

EU Whistleblower Directive

All companies, public institutions, and authorities with more than 50 workers as well as all municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants are required to set up a whistleblower system by which potential wrongdoing in the company can be reported safely.

Supply Chain Due Diligence Act

As of January 1, 2023, companies with more than 3,000 personnel will have to set up a whistleblower system to report wrongdoing throughout the supply chain. This requirement will be extended just a year later to companies with over 1,000 employees.

Other legal provisions already require the introduction of a whistleblower system in specific sectors.

Every second time a whistleblower speaks up, legally relevant unethical behavior is revealed. In Germany, some 31% of the reported issues reveal financial losses of between EUR 10,000 and EUR 100,000, while 27% even reveal losses ranging from EUR 100,000 to EUR 1,000,000.

Source: Whistleblowing Report 2021, FH Graubünden publishing house, Chur 2021

Our services at a glance

...

Online Reporting Form 24/7

Reports via the online form reach us directly. Whistleblowers are in direct contact with us as their legal confidants.
...

Direct accessibility

Notifications can be made by any channel of communication, such as phone, email or postal mail.

...

Legally required reaction time limits

An integrated deadline management system ensures compliance with all legal deadlines.

...

Initial legal assessment

All incoming reports are reviewed and legally assessed by our Compliance specialists.

...

Recommendations for action and internal investigations

Upon request, we develop recommendations for action and conduct internal investigations in consultation with you.

...

Intelligent reporting

In addition to individual, quarterly, and annual reports, our tool enables statistical evaluations for your management board.

...

Data sovereignty

Case-related data is stored and processed exclusively on our law firm’s own servers; there are no other transmission instances.

...

Supply chain

Our system can be used along the supply chain to collect, process, and evaluate issues of all relevant areas of compliance.

...

360° Compliance

As a full-service law firm, we provide cross-practice, comprehensive, and transnational advice in all relevant fields of compliance.

Procedure

1. Submit notification

Contact us via your channels of choice (in person, via web form, by phone, email, letter).

2. Acknowledgment of receipt of the report

Whistleblowers automatically receive the legally required confirmation of receipt.

3. Initial legal assessment

Our Compliance experts assess the facts legally and resolve open questions in direct contact with the whistleblower.

4. Risk analysis and recommendation for action

In cases of suspected compliance violations, we conduct internal investigations.

5. Reporting to our clients

Clients receive an individual report for each case including an initial legal assessment and advice on potentially necessary measures. In addition, we also provide yearly reports with statistical insights.

“To some it’s a whistleblowing system.
To us, it’s sustaining your business success through 360° compliance.”

German version
Interested to learn more? Feel free to contact me.
  • Dr. André-M. Szesny, LL.M.
    Partner
  • call-1 icon
    +49 211 600 55-217
  • mail icon
    a.szesny@heuking.de
  • Contact
Top Service Siegel
arrow-up icon