Legal Office

The Legal Office is a joint office of the University of Applied Sciences Bremen, the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven and the University of the Arts Bremen. It is the contact for university members in all legal matters concerning the universities.

Contact Person

Kerstin Fuchs
Hochschule Bremen
Department 2 – Legal Office of the Universities of Applied Sciences and the University of the Arts Bremen
Neustadtswall 30
28199 Bremen

Email kerstin.fuchs@hs-bremen.de
Phone +49 421 5905-2387

Office of Compliance

The German Whistleblower Protection Act, or GWPA, went into effect on July, 2nd 2023, in accordance with the guidelines implemented by the European Union for shielding persons who report violations of EU laws (so-called whistleblower guidelines). This law aims to ensure that people who draw attention to abuses in business and government sectors are protected. By reporting abuses, whistleblowers help in the discovery and prevention of illegalities. Therefore, they should be shielded from reprisals or any other measures that might be taken in retaliation for filing a report (e.g., being denied promotion, receiving a warning, or being dismissed, disciplined, or bullied).

You can turn to the Office of Compliance if you are employed by the University of the Arts Bremen or otherwise connected to it in a professional capacity and would like to report violations.

Areas Covered

Violations in the following areas are covered by the German Whistleblower Protection Act (final list under paragraph 2 of the GWPA):

Criminal law
Administrative law, provided that laws protecting life, limb, health, or the rights of employees and their representative bodies have been violated
Money laundering
Product safety
Road safety
Environmental protections
Energy
Food security
Animal protections
Public health
Consumer law
Bidding procedures
Statements made by civil servants that violate their oath to the constitution

Please report violations of privacy law directly to the Privacy Office at the University of the Arts Bremen (office@datenschutz-nord.de).

Please note that personal misconduct in any way unrelated to the performance of professional duties, as well as pure speculation or hoaxes, are not violations of the whistleblower act. Please ensure that you report only facts that are fully accurate to the best of your knowledge.

Contact

Please contact an internal or external compliance office in writing (please mark the addressed envelope “confidential”), or via e-mail, telephone, or in a private conversation. You can also submit a report to an external compliance office if your report to an internal compliance office has not been dealt with satisfactorily. Your information will be kept confidential.

Internal Compliance Office, University of the Arts Bremen:

ims@hfk-bremen.de
Kerstin Fuchs
Neustadtswall 30
28199 Bremen
+49 421 5905-2387

Deputy: Peter Feldbrügge

The Compliance Office for the Senator for the Environment, Climate, and Science:

hinweisgeben@swh.bremen.de
Katherina Drinkuth
Katharinenstr. 37
28195 Bremen
+49 421 361-59593

What happens when I file a report?

After filing a report, you will receive an official acknowledgement of receipt. The Internal Compliance Office will first investigate to see if there has been a violation of the whistleblower law. Second, the facts as known will be examined for validity. If necessary, you will be asked for further information. The Internal Compliance Office will take further measures, if appropriate, such as conducting an internal investigation, handing it off to the appropriate authority, or closing the case due to lack of evidence. You will receive a report within three months after the official acknowledgement of receipt.

For more information about the process, as well as frequently asked questions, please see the website for the Senator for Internal Affairs and Sports (Central Internal Compliance Office for Whistleblowers (ZIMS)).

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Data Protection Notice
Information according to article 13, General Data Protection Regulation (DGPR)

The following concerns the data that is collected and how it is processed according to article 13 of the DGPR, when a report has been filed according to the German Whistleblower Protection Act, as well as when following the guidelines for protecting persons who report violations of EU law (German Whistleblower Protection Act, GWPA) at the University the Arts Bremen.

1. Office Responsible

The University of the Arts Bremen (Am Speicher XI 8, 28217 Bremen, Germany) is responsible for processing the data collected from reports according to the Whistleblower Protection Act. The Internal Office of Compliance (IMS) can be contacted via email at ims@hfk-bremen.de, by post addressed to Kerstin Fuchs, Neustadtswall 30, 28199 Bremen, Germany, or by telephoning +49 421 5905-2387. Please note that e-mail communications can be insecure if the data is not encrypted.

2. Contacting the Privacy Office of the University of the Arts Bremen

You can contact the Privacy Office at the University of the Arts Bremen via email at office@datenschutz-nord.de, or by post addressed to DSN Holding GmbH, Konsul-Smidt-Straße 88, 28217 Bremen, Germany.

3. Purpose of Data Processing and the Legal Bases For It

The Internal Office of Compliance is permitted to use the personal data collected in the process of filing your report, to the extent that it is needed to make contact, examine the report, and take the appropriate measures. Data may only be processed if it is necessary to fulfill the duties required by law. Your personal data must be processed in compliance with articles 6 and 9 of the GDPR in conjunction with paragraph 10 of the GWPA. The duties of the Internal Office of Compliance are identified in paragraph 13 of the GWPA.

4. Personal Data

To fulfill the purpose outlined in no. 3 above, the Internal Office of Compliance (IMS) uses the following categories of personal data:
Personal identification and contact information (first and last names, address, e-mail address, telephone number)
Data about your professional activity (profession, business founder, your function and position at your employer’s)
Special categories of personal data, as found in article 9 of the GDPR.

5. Who Receives My Personal Data?

Fundamentally, your data will not be shared with anyone else and will remain with the internal compliance office, unless it is required for certain exceptional cases, as identified in paragraph 9 of the GWPA. Any information gathered must be passed on to the proper authorities, depending on which one is responsible for the case. Information may not be shared with third-party countries or international organizations (see article 44 ff, GDPR).

6. How Long is My Personal Data Stored?

Your report’s contents, data, and any other information connected with it will be erased three years after the case is closed. The documents may be stored for a longer period of time, in order to comply with the requirements of the GWPA or other legal provisions, as long as it necessary and commensurate with circumstances.

7. Rights of the Individual

These are your rights according to the GDPR:
You have the right to know what kind of information about you is stored and processed (article 1, GDPR). There is no right to information that must be kept secret due to the overriding legitimate interests of a third party.
You have the right to correct your data if it is inaccurate or incomplete (article 16, GDPR).
If your data is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to erase your personal data as long as one of the requirements of article 17 of the GDPR applies. In addition to the exceptions listed in article 17 (3) of the GDPR, however, there is no right to erase your personal data if erasing it is impossible or only possible with disproportionate effort, due to the type of storage device. In these cases, instead of being erased, any usage of the data will be restricted in accordance with article 18 of the GDPR.
You have the right to restrict the use of your data if it has been used unlawfully; if the data is required to assert, exercise, or defend your legal claims; or if, in the event of an objection, it has not yet been established whether the interests of the party that has collected the data outweigh those of the individual (article 18, paragraph 1, letters b, c, and d of the GDPR).
If the accuracy of the personal data is disputed, you have the right to restrict how it is used for the duration of the time it takes to check its accuracy.
You have the right to object to certain uses of your data, unless there is an overriding public interest in its use that outweighs your interests and there is no legal obligation to process the data (article 21, GDPR).
Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervising authority, the Free State of Bremen’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Arndtstraße 1, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany, +49 421 361-2010, office@datenschutz.bremen.de).