From how many employees does an organisation need an internal reporting office?

In Germany from, as a rule, 50 employees per employer (§ 12(2) HinSchG). For certain financial and insurance undertakings the duty applies without a threshold; they are listed under “Special cases without threshold”. For another country the card “Country of the reporting office” shows the threshold of its transposition act.

Why does a designation only take effect after 24 hours?

Every designation waits 24 hours, the first one included. As long as no reporting office exists, owners and administrators are notified and can withdraw the designation during that time with “End designation”. Nobody can quietly give themselves access to reports.

Who can change the setup once the reporting office is designated?

With the first effective designation the reporting office takes over the setup. Changes to all steps and to the portal switch are then made only by the designated persons. Owners and administrators see a notice and reach the setup only through the logged emergency access.

Does the competence of the reporting office have to be evidenced?

In Germany the organisation ensures that the persons of the reporting office have the necessary competence (§ 15(2) HinSchG). An evidence refers to the law as it stood on its date; when the law changes, the row shows “Law amended” and the evidence is due again. The passed reporting office training in Cenedril counts as evidence by itself.

Can an external service provider run the reporting office?

Yes. Choose “A commissioned third party” in the second step and enter the name, address and the link to the contractual commission. The question mark next to the link shows the seven guarantees the commission must secure under Art. 9(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/1937. Designate the third party's persons with the box “The person belongs to the commissioned third party.”

Set up the reporting office · Cenedril Handbuch

You set up the internal reporting office under Wizards → Whistleblower Protection with the Setup button. The first two of the five steps lay the foundation: Applicability establishes whether your organisation needs a reporting office, Operating model and reporting office records who runs it and designates its people with their checks and evidence of competence. Every step saves directly with Save & Continue and can be updated at any time.

Open the setup

Open Whistleblower Protection

Open Wizards in the sidebar and click the Whistleblower Protection tile. The area sits with the wizards because it is specially protected: only the designated reporting office sees reports.

The Whistleblower Protection tile in the wizards overview, tagged HinSchG and EU 2019/1937.

Start the setup

The tile leads to the Whistleblower protection page. While the setup is not finished, it shows the card The setup of the reporting office is not complete yet with the number of completed steps. Click Continue setup or Setup at the top right.

The overview Setting up the internal reporting office lists the five steps Applicability, Operating model and reporting office, Channels, Documents and Activation and implementation. A green check marks a completed step, a ring with the share done in percent an open one. Below the title the state of the step is summed up in one sentence, and the pencil on the right opens the step. Below the steps, the row Legal register leads to the duties of the Act and the Directive.

The setup overview: each step with its state in one sentence, the last one with the state of the portal and “Open portal”.

Establish applicability

Check the organisation profile

The first step starts with the card Organisation profile: Legal form, Industry and whether your organisation is part of a group. The setup shares these details with the other wizards; what you change here applies there as well. The industry later drives which subject areas the report form suggests.

Choose the country of the reporting office

Under Country of the reporting office choose the country whose act transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 applies. The default is your organisation’s country of registration. Below it you see the Transposition act, In force since, the Threshold for the duty, the Central external reporting authority with Go to authority, and the Retention of cases under the law of that country.

The country sets the law, threshold, external authority and retention period. The legal references throughout the area follow this choice.

Set the employer and whom the office serves

Under Employer choose Private employer or a public body (Federal government, Federal state, Municipality or association of municipalities, Other legal person under public law). Answer Whom does this office serve? with Only this employer or Shared office for several employers; in the second case list the covered employers with their headcount.

Check special cases and acts

The cards Special cases without threshold and Acts of the Annex to the Directive concern almost only the financial sector, aviation, shipping and offshore extraction. Each row says who is meant and who is not. If nothing applies, leave both cards empty.

Count the employees

Under Employees enter the headcount per group on the Reference date; part-time counts in full. If the organisation profile already holds a number, Take over into the row Employees takes it over as a proposal. The Total adds up as you type.

Check the result and save

The Result card shows Obligation applies or No obligation with reason and legal reference, together with the size class. Click Save & Continue. The result goes into the rules of procedure with date, reason and reference.

The result with reason and legal reference, below it the size class and the saved state.

Record the operating model and the reporting office

Choose the operating model

Under Operating model choose who runs the reporting office: One employee, A unit of at least two persons or A commissioned third party, for example a law firm. Private employers with 50 to 249 employees can also choose an office shared with other employers. For a third party enter the Name, Address, Phone and the Link to the contractual commission.

The four operating models with their hint. The choice sets the staffing the card below requires.

Designate the persons

The Staffing card shows at the top right whether the staffing fits the model, and below it three lists: Responsible persons receive reports and carry out the follow-up, the Deputy takes their place with full access, Supporting persons help in individual cases and see only the cases the reporting office grants them. Click Designate responsible person, Designate deputy or Designate supporting person.

In the window choose the User and confirm the Check for conflicts of interest with a note. For the responsible person and the deputy also enter Authority granted on and Appointed on and confirm independence and competence. For a supporting person choose the function in which they support the reporting office, for example Legal advice or Expert review; the function justifies why they learn the identity of the reporting person. Designate creates the entry.

The window to designate the deputy with the conflict check, authority, appointment and both confirmations; at the bottom the note on the waiting period.

Record evidence of competence

The row of every responsible person and of the deputy shows Evidence of competence with the state Evidenced, Evidence missing or Law amended. Record evidence opens the Evidence of competence window with the entry Relevant version of the law, the list Evidence so far and the section New evidence: Kind of evidence, Date of the evidence, Title, an optional Link to the evidence and a Note. Edit in the qualification register leads to the person’s entry in the asset register, where the evidence stays with them.

The evidence of competence window: an evidence refers to the version of the law on its date, below it the evidence so far and the form for a new one.

Complete the step

Click Save & Continue. The overview shows the model and the designated persons with their roles in the row Operating model and reporting office.

Result: The setup overview shows Applicability with the established result and Operating model and reporting office with Staffing fits and the names of the responsible person, the deputy and the supporting persons. After 24 hours the designations are effective, and the reporting office sees the cases on the Whistleblower protection page.