Within the framework of the entry into force of the EU Directive on the protection of whistleblowers, its transposition into Spanish legislation through Law 2/2023 of February 20, regulating the protection of individuals reporting regulatory infringements and combating corruption, Engel & Völkers makes available to all its employees, autonomous external collaborators, and suppliers a digital reporting system: EQS Integrity Line, accessible through the following link: https://engelundvoelkers.integrityline.com/frontpage.

The reporting system aims to offer the possibility of reporting well-founded and evident indications or violations of laws, illegal business practices, and other serious irregular conduct. The security standards of our reporting system, certified by ISO, will ensure that any whistleblower acting in good faith and wishing to remain anonymous cannot be identified. Regardless of whether the report is anonymous or not, the Management and Compliance team of Engel & Völkers will ensure that no one is discriminated against, penalized, or harmed under any circumstances as a result of their report.

The reporting system is hosted on high-security servers certified by the ISO 27001 standard, where IP addresses, locations, device specifications, and other data are not stored. Therefore, it will be technically impossible to identify the whistleblowers. Furthermore, the content of the reports, whether anonymous or not, will be transmitted encrypted using advanced technologies through a 2048-bit RSA public-private key procedure. Additionally, all server communication will take place through a secure HTTPS connection (see www.eqs.com).

Regardless of whether a whistleblower chooses to remain anonymous or provide their name or email address, reports and related communications will be treated as strictly confidential. This includes both the whistleblower's identity and the content of all subsequent communications following the report.

What incidents can be reported through the reporting system?

Well-founded and evident suspicions related to infringements, offenses, illegal business practices, and other serious irregular conduct can be reported. By way of illustration, this may include reporting violations in the field of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, data protection infringements, violations related to illicit business practices (bribery, conflicts of interest, etc.), among others.
For more information about the Digital Reporting System, please contact us at the following email address: spain.dp@engelvoelkers.com.