Submissions via the whistleblower system

The Danish Return Agency collects and processes personal data to be able to manage submissions of questionable conduct (reports) via the whistleblower system.

Purpose and legal basis

The purpose of this processing of personal data is to be able to investigate such reports, manage the cases and if possible make a decision or take other precautions in compliance with the overall purpose of the whistleblower plan; to advance employees’ and cooperation partners’ ability to forward questionable conduct, to protect persons submitting said reports and to detect faults and neglects thereby heightening the work-performance level of The Danish Return Agency.  

The legal basis for processing the personal data is based on a legal obligation, see Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Article 9 (2) (f) and the management of the tasks of The Danish Return Agency, see Article 8 of the General Data Protection Act.

As a public authority we are legally obliged to process your personal data comparable to a complaint about The Danish Return Agency, either in pursuance of Article 8 of The Danish Aliens Act, The Public Administration Act or the principles of good administration.

Data being processed

To process reports submitted via the whistleblower system, we process both general and sensitive personal data.

For example, we may process information on your name and address, but also your health. Furthermore, we may process information on criminal offences e.g. violation of a confidentiality duty, information on serious or repeated violations of significant internal guidelines on e.g. business travels, serious personal conflicts in the workplace such as gross harassment including that of a sexual nature.

Recipients of personal data

Violations of the penal code may be reported to the police. A report implicating another public authority will be forwarded if possible.

The person or persons implicated by the subject matter of the report will usually be notified. Thus, the person(s) in question will be notified when the case is closed or without merits. Similarly, the said person(s) will be involved in the course of the processing. The decision to process the report entitles the person in question to ask  for correction, deletion or restriction of information.

If not submitted anonymously, access to the name of the person who has submitted the report may be granted in special instances. The person(s) implicated by the report may e.g. have the right of such disclosure.

Depending on the circumstances, we may disclose personal data to other public authorities including: The Department of The Ministry of Immigration and Integration, The Danish Immigration Service, the Danish Immigration Appeals Board, the Refugee Appeals Board, other ministries and subordinate authorities, local authorities, police authorities, Danish missions abroad (embassies etc.), the Danish Parliament, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Legal Adviser to the Danish Government, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service, the Danish National ID Centre, the Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, and other EU Member States.

Storage of your data

Reports submitted via the whistleblower system are registered with a reference number in our electronic case and document management system. We file documents with personal data in accordance with the rules set out in the Access to Public Administration Files Act, and we hand them over to the Danish National Archives in accordance with the rules set out in The Danish Archives Act (approximately every five years). After this, we will make a specific assessment of whether we need to retain a copy of the cases. This assessment will take into account whether the complaint may be likely to form part of future cases. If we do not have an administrative need to retain a copy of the cases, they will be erased.