Whistleblowing System (Austria)

1. Scope

The whistleblowing system is available for confidential reporting of violations identified in a professional context at MiraNext GmbH. The material scope follows § 3 HSchG and covers in particular violations of:

• Union law and directly applicable EU legal acts within the areas listed in § 3 HSchG (including public procurement, financial services, product safety, public health, consumer and data protection),
• Austrian provisions in the fields of data protection and information security, product and patient safety (in particular the MDR), anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering, occupational safety, tax and competition law,
• internal policies, codes of conduct and contractual obligations of MiraNext GmbH.

2. Protected persons

Protected under § 2 HSchG are all persons who have obtained knowledge of a violation in a professional context, in particular:

• current and former employees as well as interns and working students,
• applicants in an ongoing recruitment process,
• contractors, suppliers, business partners and their staff,
• persons who assist whistleblowers or are connected to them.

3. Internal reporting channel

Internal reports may be submitted confidentially to our internal reporting office in accordance with § 13 HSchG:

• Email: support@miranext.ai
• In person or by telephone: on request, a meeting will be arranged within 7 days; initial contact is made via support@miranext.ai.
• Anonymous reports are possible and are processed in the same manner as named reports.

4. External reporting channel

Whistleblowers are free to contact an external reporting office directly instead of using the internal channel (§ 15 HSchG). A prior internal report is not required. The following bodies are relevant in particular:

• The central external reporting office at the Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption (Bundesamt zur Korruptionsprävention und Korruptionsbekämpfung, BAK) under § 15 HSchG.
• Sector-specific external reporting offices designated under § 15 HSchG (e.g. the Financial Market Authority, FMA, for financial-services matters).
• Sector-specific for medical devices: the Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (Bundesamt für Sicherheit im Gesundheitswesen, BASG) for safety-relevant reports concerning MDR obligations.

5. Procedure

Our procedure complies with the minimum requirements and deadlines of § 14 HSchG:

• Acknowledgement of receipt: within 7 days of receipt of the report (§ 14 Abs. 1 Z 1 HSchG).
• Assessment of validity and follow-up measures: by the internal reporting office or through an independent internal investigation.
• Feedback to the reporting person: within 3 months of the acknowledgement of receipt (§ 14 Abs. 1 Z 3 HSchG), to the extent that this does not compromise the ongoing investigation.
• Documentation: all reports are documented confidentially in accordance with § 9 HSchG; personal data are deleted after expiry of the statutory retention period.

6. Confidentiality

The identity of the reporting person as well as of all persons named in the report is treated with strict confidentiality under §§ 7, 8 HSchG. Disclosure occurs only where legally mandatory (e.g. in the course of criminal proceedings) and after prior notification of the person concerned, where permissible.

7. Protection against retaliation

Retaliation against whistleblowers and against persons who support them is expressly prohibited under § 20 HSchG. This includes in particular dismissal, transfer, disciplinary measures, discrimination and other detrimental acts.

A reversal of the burden of proof applies under § 22 HSchG: if a reporting person suffers a detriment after making a report, it is presumed that the detriment constitutes retaliation. Violations may give rise to labour-law and damages consequences.

8. Further information

The Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAK) provides further information on its external reporting office at https://www.bak.gv.at. The European Commission provides information on whistleblower protection at https://commission.europa.eu/aid-development-cooperation-fundamental-rights/your-rights-eu/whistleblowers-protection_en.