Governance Our whistleblower system Our whistleblower system has multiple levels. At the most basic level, we expect any potential breaches of our Code of Conduct to be raised directly with those concerned as part of a personal conversation. This means that any accidental or unintentional misconduct can be quickly stopped and prevented from happening in future. In cases where a personal conversation is not appropriate, our employees and external parties have several other channels available to them for reporting potential misconduct. Reports can be submitted directly to the compliance team, to the relevant manager or to the Management Board. In serious situations, e.g. where lives are at risk or there are major failings in working conditions, the HR team and works council can also be contacted. Those who do not wish to report a situation in person can also make use of our online reporting system – the Blum Integrity Line. The Blum Integrity Line is our online whistleblower system, available to all employees and external parties. It provides a simple, anonymous and confidential mechanism for reporting actual or suspected misconduct and is intended to help increase awareness of the importance of upholding legal standards and acting with integrity in our day-to-day work. As a socially responsible business, we believe it is important to open up this reporting channel and investigate any reports received so that we can instigate the necessary internal processes and implement improvements. The whistleblower system gives us confidence that we are acting in line with the law and the opportunity to audit, question and improve our operations, policies and processes continually. ➔ GRI 2-26 Information security, data protection and confidentiality As a responsible business, we take the confidentiality of information and the protection of personal data and operational and business secrets very seriously. Information security is therefore a topic that is very important to us. We have an Information Security Management System (ISMS) in place that guarantees the confidentiality, availability and integrity of our companyrelevant data, ensures the necessary information security measures are implemented throughout the company and enables us to make ongoing improvements to our information security processes. All data generated in the course of our business activities is processed with utmost care, and we implement strict security mechanisms in line with data protection legislation. Our data security processes are monitored via our data security platform, which is responsible for protecting data across the company and the first port of call in the event of a data security breach or similar. In addition to prioritising information security and data protection, we also believe that it is vitally important to protect operational and business secrets. We have a number of technical, legal and organisational mechanisms in place to protect the secrets both of the Blum Group and of its brands as well as our expertise and reputation more generally. For instance, we place restrictions on the content and the type and volume of information that we share internally, with third parties and with the public. We also make our employees aware that operational and business secrets must be treated with the utmost care and only shared with third parties once a confidentiality agreement has been signed. Where operational and business secrets need to be shared internally or externally – whether digitally, in person on paper – this is done on a strictly ‘need-to-know’ basis in line with our central precept for the handling of sensitive information. 85
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