With a view to establishing secure communication paths for employees or third parties, Siemens has engaged the attorney Dr. Sibylle von Coelln as an external ombudsperson. Employees and thid parties can turn to this neutral contact at any time and exchannge information in confidence, if they observe improper business practices or breaches of the pertinent Business Conduct Guidelines taking place within the company. However, the Ombudsperson does not act as the reporter's lawyer.

The Ombudsperson has the following tasks:

 

The ombudsperson receives reports of improper business practices within the company. Employees of Siemens or a Siemens company as well as third parties can be considered as reporters. The reporter does not incur any costs by making use of the ombudsperson.

As far as possible, the ombudsperson will confirm receipt of the report to the reporter within one week. In addition, the ombudsperson reviews the plausibility of the reports received and, if necessary, makes further enquiries to the reporter.

The ombudsperson then forwards coherent reports to the Siemens Compliance Department in Germany if the plausibility check reveals a suspicion of violations of criminal law or the Business Conduct Guidelines.

The Compliance Office shall initiate an investigation of the facts notified by the Ombudsperson by suitable units from within the company or by outside experts. In the context of such investigations, the person submitting information must remain anonymous. The Ombudsperson shall be kept informed by the Compliance Office of the progress and results of investigations. A legal assessment of the facts investigated and a specification of suitable actions to rectify and prevent irregular business practices shall be provided jointly by the Ombudsperson and the Compliance Office. 

Towards the person submitting the original information, the Ombudsperson shall remain receptive to further statements and shall if necessary ask any further questions that may rise out of the internal investigations.

As far as is legally permissible, the Ombudsperson shall notify the person providing the information of the results of the investigations and of the action taken. The Ombudsperson shall in so doing take account of the interests of the employee concerned and of regulations relating to data protection.

In agreement with the Compliance Office, the Ombudsperson shall be entitled to involve investigative authorities.

If investigations reveal that the company has suffered any disadvantage, the Compliance Office shall initiate action to enforce any claims. The Ombudsperson shall ensure that the person providing the information remains anonymous.

By contacting us, the reporter agrees to the data protection conditions shown here.

The Ombudsperson shall, at the request of the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG, report on his/her activities.

The prevention of any kind of reprisals against any person lodging a complaint or providing any information shall likewise apply to any employees who contact the Ombudsperson.

You can contact Dr. Sibylle von Coelln as follows:

tel:       +49 211 44 03 57 79
fax:       +49 211 44 03 57 77
email:  siemens-ombudsperson@hvc-strafrecht.de

Encrypted communication by e-mail is only possible after the encryption certificate has been exchanged between the two email addresses. Therefore, if you wish to submit your message in encrypted form by email, you would first need to send Dr. von Coelln a short email to which she can reply for the purpose of exchanging the encryption certificate. Once you have received the response, you can send your message encrypted.