Referral to authorities

Referral to authorities means forwarding a received report to a competent law enforcement or supervisory authority, such as the public prosecutor, the Federal Cartel Office, the financial supervisor BaFin or a data protection authority. It becomes relevant when the reported breach falls within the material scope of the German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) and the matter lies within the remit of a state body. Under the HinSchG, external reporting offices are expressly empowered and in part obliged to refer cases to the authority that is best placed to take follow-up measures.

Internal reporting offices are under no general obligation to forward reports to authorities; as a rule they handle reports themselves as part of the follow-up measures under Section 18 HinSchG. However, where a matter comes to light that requires criminal prosecution or concerns an authority's supervisory competence, a referral may be warranted. In doing so the confidentiality requirement under Section 8 HinSchG must be strictly preserved: the identity of the reporting person may only be disclosed under the narrow conditions of Section 9 HinSchG, for example at the request of law enforcement authorities in the course of criminal investigations.

For external reporting offices the HinSchG expressly governs referral: the Federal external reporting office forwards reports for which another body is competent to that body and informs the reporting person accordingly. Referral to bodies, offices or other agencies of the European Union is also provided for where their competence is given. The forwarding must be documented, the deadlines for acknowledgement of receipt and feedback continue to apply, and identity protection is maintained in relation to the receiving authority as well.