DMI’s whistleblower scheme

You can submit a report through DMI’s whistleblower scheme if you are:

• A current or former employee of DMI, or if you have been considered for a position at DMI, provided that the report concerns information obtained during the recruitment process or other pre-contractual negotiations.
• A business partner, including a self-employed individual, who works with DMI. This category also includes employees of business partners and subcontractors supplying goods or services to DMI.
• A current or former member of DMI’s Executive Management.
• A volunteer or a paid or unpaid intern at DMI.
• A person working under the supervision and direction of contractors, subcontractors or suppliers.

You can report violations of the law and other matters of concern through the whistleblower scheme, regardless of when the violation or incident occurred at DMI.

You can report the following matters under this whistleblower scheme:

1) Breaches of EU law

You can report information about breaches of EU law that fall within the scope of the EU Whistleblower Directive.

2) Serious violations of the law and other serious matters

You can also report information about serious violations of the law or other serious matters. This includes both violations of national law and breaches of EU law that fall outside the scope of the Whistleblower Directive.

The criterion of "serious" violations of the law or other "serious matters" means that, as a general rule, the disclosure of such information must be in the public interest. There must therefore be a genuine public interest in the information.

When a report is received, the internal whistleblower scheme assesses whether the report can be considered to concern a serious violation of the law or another serious matter.

The scope of the scheme will generally include information about criminal offences, including breaches of confidentiality obligations, misuse of financial resources, theft, fraud, embezzlement, bribery and similar offences.

The scope will also generally include information about serious or repeated violations of other legislation, including legislation governing the use of force, the Danish Public Administration Act and principles of administrative law, including the duty to investigate, the requirement of objectivity, the prohibition against misuse of powers and the principle of proportionality, the Danish Access to Public Administration Files Act and, depending on the circumstances, legislation intended to protect public health, transport safety, nature and the environment, etc.

Furthermore, information about sexual harassment and other serious interpersonal conflicts in the workplace, such as severe harassment, will be covered. Reports concerning any form of sexual harassment fall within the material scope of the Act.

As a general rule, a violation of the law or another matter will be considered serious if bringing it to light is in the public interest.

What you cannot report

As a general rule, the following matters fall outside the scope of the Act:

• Reports concerning your own employment relationship (unless the report concerns a serious violation of the law or another serious matter, such as sexual harassment).
• Information about minor breaches of internal guidelines concerning, for example, sick leave, alcohol, dress codes, private use of office supplies, etc., as well as information about less serious interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.
• Trivial violations and breaches of ancillary provisions, including documentation and notification obligations.

As a general rule, reports concerning conflicts between two or more employees and reports relating to your own employment relationship cannot be handled under the whistleblower scheme, unless they involve sexual harassment or severe harassment. Specific disputes between employees and similar matters should generally be handled within the workplace or through the relevant employment dispute resolution procedures. Such matters may, for example, be reported to your immediate manager, HR department or employee representative.

However, there may be exceptional cases where even minor difficulties in cooperation can pose significant risks and therefore constitute serious matters within the meaning of the Act. This may, for example, be the case in sectors responsible for critical functions, where minor conflicts or similar issues may pose a genuine risk of serious harm and reports concerning such matters would fall within the scope of the Act. This could occur if critical functions and processes are impeded by personal conflicts, or if such conflicts pose a specific risk to human life or health or otherwise create a genuine risk of significant harm.

Furthermore, the Danish Whistleblower Act does not apply to the following:

• Reports concerning violations of public procurement rules relating to defence or security matters, unless such reports concern breaches of EU law falling within the scope of the Whistleblower Directive.
• Classified information covered by the Danish Ministry of Justice's circular on the security protection of information of common interest to NATO or EU member states, other classified information, and other confidential information requiring protection for security reasons.
• Information subject to lawyers' duty of confidentiality under Section 129 of the Danish Administration of Justice Act.
• Information subject to healthcare professionals' duty of confidentiality under Section 40 of the Danish Health Act.
• Information concerning court deliberations and voting that is subject to a duty of confidentiality.
• Matters relating to criminal proceedings.

You can submit a report to DMI’s whistleblower scheme digitally through the reporting portal.

You can submit a digital report via this link.

Other whistleblower schemes

You can also submit a report to the external whistleblower scheme operated by the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet). You can read more about the scheme on the Danish Data Protection Agency’s website.

You are free to choose whether to submit your report through DMI’s whistleblower scheme or an external whistleblower scheme.

However, DMI encourages you to use its internal whistleblower scheme where the violation can be effectively addressed internally and where the whistleblower considers that there is no risk of retaliation.

Internal and external whistleblower schemes do not restrict the freedom of expression of public employees. Public employees therefore continue to enjoy freedom of expression and the right to disclose information in accordance with the applicable rules.

DMI’s whistleblower unit is based in the Data & Advisory department, and only authorised caseworkers within the whistleblower unit have access to your report. The caseworkers are bound by a duty of confidentiality regarding the information contained in the report.

As a general rule, the whistleblower unit may not disclose information about your identity – or information that could directly or indirectly reveal your identity – to others without your consent. However, the whistleblower unit may disclose such information about your identity without your consent to other public authorities, such as the police or supervisory authorities, if this is considered necessary to address violations of the law or safeguard the right of the persons concerned to a defence. As a general rule, you will be notified before any such disclosure takes place.

If you wish to remain anonymous, it is important that you do not provide your name or any other information that could be used to identify you. You should also be aware that uploading files, including documents, videos, photographs, etc., may unintentionally leave digital traces that could reveal your identity.

If you submit a report through the whistleblower scheme using your work computer, a computer connected to DMI’s network, or the link to the digital whistleblower portal, this activity may be recorded as part of the standard logging of user activity on DMI’s network. You can avoid this by entering the web address (https://kefm-dmi.sit-wb.dk/) directly into a browser on a private or public computer that is not connected to DMI’s network.

You can also use the Tor Browser, which provides additional protection for your anonymity.

You can read more about how your personal data is processed here.

Once you have submitted your report through the whistleblower portal, you will receive a confirmation on your screen. The confirmation contains a 16-digit access code. You can use this code to access your report again and communicate with DMI’s whistleblower unit.

In addition to the information you have submitted, we may need to ask you further questions in order to process your report as effectively as possible.

If you have not provided any contact details, the whistleblower unit will communicate with you about your report through the whistleblower portal, for example, to request additional information or provide updates on the handling of your case. You can also add further information to your report through the portal. The whistleblower unit can see whether you have read messages sent to you through the whistleblower portal.

If you have not disclosed your identity or provided any contact details, the whistleblower unit can only communicate with you through the whistleblower portal. It is therefore important that you regularly access your report using your 16-digit access code to follow the progress of your case and respond to any questions we may have.

It is important that you keep your access code secure, as it cannot be recovered for security reasons. If you lose the code, you will also lose the ability to access your report. If this happens, you will need to submit a new report.

Once the processing of your report has been completed, your report and any other related information will be deleted from the whistleblower portal. However, the information will remain stored in DMI’s electronic case and document management system. Only designated employees of the whistleblower unit have access to these documents in the case and document management system.

DMI’s whistleblower unit is based in the Data & Advisory department and is responsible for receiving, processing and following up on reports. Only authorised caseworkers within the whistleblower unit have access to your report.

The whistleblower unit conducts an initial assessment of your report to determine whether it falls within the scope of the Act, whether you meet the requirements for submitting a report, and whether the whistleblower unit and its caseworkers are impartial and eligible to handle your report.

If you meet the requirements for submitting a report, we will conduct a more detailed investigation based on the information provided in your report.

If the matter is considered to involve a criminal offence or a potential criminal offence, your report will be forwarded to the relevant authorities, such as the police or supervisory authorities.

If we disclose information from your report, you will generally be notified before the disclosure takes place. Information about your identity – or other information from which your identity can be directly or indirectly inferred – will generally only be disclosed with your explicit consent. However, the whistleblower unit may disclose such information about your identity without your consent to other public authorities if this is considered necessary to address violations of the law or safeguard the right of the persons concerned to a defence. This may, for example, be the case if the whistleblower unit’s investigation leads to a criminal offence being reported to the authorities, or if it is necessary to summon a person as a witness in court proceedings.

Your report may also be rejected if it is assessed as concerning matters or violations of a less serious nature. In such cases, you will be informed of the reasons why the investigation is being closed.

As a general rule, you will receive an acknowledgement of your report within 7 days of our receipt of it, unless we consider that sending an acknowledgement could, for example, compromise the protection of your identity.

As a general rule, you will receive feedback on your report no later than 3 months after receiving the acknowledgement of your report. Feedback may, for example, include information about measures that have been taken or are planned in response to your report.

This deadline may be extended to up to 6 months if the specific circumstances of the case require a more extensive investigation. In such cases, you will be informed of the extension within 3 months of our receipt of your report.

When are you protected?

If you belong to one of the groups of people eligible to use DMI’s whistleblower scheme and report information that falls within the scope of the scheme, you are generally protected as a whistleblower.

However, to qualify for protection as a whistleblower, you must believe that the information you report is correct. In other words, you must act in "good faith" regarding the accuracy of the information. You will therefore not be protected as a whistleblower if, for example, you deliberately submit false information through the whistleblower scheme. You may be fined if you knowingly report false information, and you may also be subject to penalties under other legislation, such as the Danish Criminal Code.

How are you protected?

As a whistleblower, you cannot be held liable for obtaining the information you report unless the method by which you obtained the information constitutes a criminal offence. This would be the case, for example, if you obtained the information through burglary, coercion, threats, hacking, unlawful recording, eavesdropping on others or similar activities. You must therefore not, for example, gain access to information by breaking into premises or similar means, as breaking and entering is itself a criminal offence.

As a whistleblower who reports information in good faith, you cannot be held liable for breaching a statutory duty of confidentiality in connection with the information you report, provided that you had reasonable grounds to believe that the report disclosed a matter covered by the whistleblower scheme.

As a whistleblower, you are protected against retaliation, including threats of retaliation or attempted retaliation, when you submit a report through the whistleblower scheme. You must also not be prevented, or subjected to attempts to prevent you, from submitting a report.

If your workplace nevertheless subjects you to retaliation in connection with a report, you are entitled to compensation for the consequences of the retaliation, provided that you can demonstrate that you submitted a report in accordance with the Danish Whistleblower Act. It is then up to the person or entity responsible for the retaliation to prove that the retaliation was unrelated to your report.

The person concerned

The person concerned is the individual who is the subject of a report submitted through the whistleblower scheme. The rights of the person concerned cannot be waived by agreement if doing so would be to their detriment. This means, for example, that the workplace must safeguard the rights of the person concerned when drafting agreements, policies, employment arrangements and terms and conditions, including arbitration agreements entered into before a dispute arises. Provided that this does not conflict with the rights of the whistleblower, the workplace may choose to grant the person concerned additional rights that provide greater protection than that required by law.

The workplace must ensure that the identity of the person concerned is protected during the handling of the case and that the person has access to an effective defence, including through the proper recording of reports.