Privacy notice
We take data protection and confidentiality very seriously and adhere to the provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as current national data protection regulations. Please read this data protection information carefully before submitting a report.
Purpose and legal foundation of the whistleblowing system
The whistleblowing system (BKMS® System) serves the purpose of securely and confidentially receiving, processing and managing reports concerning violations of the compliance rules of the Penske Automotive Europe Group. The processing of personal data within the framework of the BKMS® System system is based on the justified interest of our company in discovering and preventing abuses and thereby averting damage to the Penske Automotive Europe Group, its employees and customers. The legal basis for our processing of personal data is Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).
Responsible parties
The parties responsible for data protection in the whistleblowing system are
- Penske Automotive Europe Group and
- its subsidiaries
as parties with mutually autonomous responsibility (hereafter also: „Penske Automotive“). The whistleblowing system is run on behalf of Penske Automotive by a specialised company, EQS Group GmbH, Karlstraße 47, 80333 Munich in Germany.
Personal data and information entered into the whistleblowing system are stored in a database operated by EQS Group GmbH in a high security data centre. Only Penske Automotive employees can see the data. EQS Group GmbH and other third parties do not have access to the data. This is ensured in the certified procedure through extensive technical and organisational measures.
All data are encrypted and saved with multi-level password protection and are subject to an authorisation concept, so that access is limited to a very small number of explicitly authorised recipients at Penske Automotive.
Penske Automotive has appointed a data protection officer. Questions about data protection at Penske Automotive can be sent to Dipl. Inf. (FH) Tim Prinz / Datenschutz Prinz GmbH / Südliche Ringstraße 26 / 91126 Schwabach / Phone: +49 (0) 9122 693 73 02 / datenschutz@jacobs-gruppe.de.
Type of collected personal data
Use of the whistleblowing system takes place on a voluntary basis. If you submit a report via the whistleblowing system, we collect the following personal data and information:
- Your name, if you choose to reveal your identity,
- Whether you work at Penske Automotive and
- The names and other personal data of persons whom you list in your report, if applicable.
Confidential handling of reports
Incoming reports are received and confidentially processed by a small group of expressly authorised and specially trained employees of the compliance organisation of Penske Automotive. The employees of the compliance organisation of Penske Automotive will evaluate the matter and carry out any further investigation that may be required by the specific case.
While processing a report or conducting a special investigation, it may be necessary to share reports with additional employees of Penske Automotive or employees of other group companies, e.g. if the reports refer to incidents in subsidiaries. The latter may be based in countries outside the European Union or the European Economic Area with different regulations about the protection of personal data. We will always ensure that the applicable data protection regulations are complied with when sharing reports.
All persons who receive access to the data are obligated to maintain confidentiality.
Information about the accused
We are legally obligated to inform accused parties of any reports received against them as soon as the disclosure of this information no longer jeopardises the investigation. Your identity as a whistleblower will not be disclosed unless we are legally bound to do so.
Rights of the data subjects
Pursuant to European data protection legislation, you and the persons named in the report have a right of access, rectification, erasure and restriction of processing and a right to object the processing of your personal data. If the right to object to the processing of the personal data is invoked, the necessity of the stored data for the examination of a report will be evaluated immediately. Data that are no longer needed will be deleted at once. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.
Retention period of personal data
Personal data are retained for as long as necessary to clarify the situation and perform a final assessment or for as long as a legitimate interest exists on the part of the company or retention is required by law. After the report processing is concluded, the data will be deleted in accordance with statutory requirements.
Use of the whistleblowing system
Communication between your computer and the whistleblowing system takes place over an encrypted connection (SSL). Your IP address will not be stored during your use of the whistleblowing system. In order to maintain the connection between your computer and the BKMS® System system, a cookie is stored on your computer that merely contains the session ID (a so-called session cookie). This cookie is only valid until the end of your session and expires when you close your browser.
You can set up a postbox within the whistleblowing system that is secured with an individually-selected pseudonym/user name and password. This allows you to send reports to the respectively responsible Penske Automotive employee either by name or in an anonymous, safe way. This system only stores data inside the whistleblowing system, which makes it particularly secure. It is not a form of regular email communication.
Note on sending attachments
When you submit the report or an addition to the report, you have the option of sending attachments to the responsible employee of Penske Automotive. If you wish to submit an anonymous report, please take note of the following security advice: Files may contain hidden personal data that could jeopardise your anonymity. Please remove all such information before sending a file. If you are unable to remove this data or are uncertain about how to do so, copy the text of your attachment into your report text or send the printed document anonymously to the address listed in the footer, citing the reference number received at the end of the reporting process.
Version: Nov 2023