Reporting via our internal channel

The President has established an internal reporting channel for both written and oral reporting. Below you will find information about who is protected by the Act on Protection for Persons Reporting Irregularities (the “Whistleblower Act”) when they make a report, and what can be reported.

As the Whistleblower Act applies to only some of the irregularities that may occur within KTH, you should read the information below about the scope and limitations of the Act to make sure that you are protected as the reporting person. We have compiled information about reporting other types of irregularities under the heading Other available channels at KTH .

You will find information such as the email address for reporting, the procedure for dealing with reports and the information a report should contain under the heading How to submit a report .

Who can make a report?

KTH’s internal reporting channel is available to anyone who is actively involved with KTH, such as employees, volunteers and trainees or anyone otherwise carrying out or standing ready to carry out work under KTH’s supervision and direction. So, to report an irregularity through the internal reporting channel, you must have performed some form of work at KTH.

The following are examples of people who can use the internal reporting channel at KTH:

• An employee working at KTH.
• A person performing a work-related task at KTH under KTH’s supervision and direction.
• A self-employed person performing working for KTH, such as a consultant.
• A trainee working at KTH.
• A volunteer performing unpaid work at KTH.

A person enquiring about or applying for work, a traineeship or assignment and who has not yet started is not considered to be actively involved with KTH, nor is someone who was previously actively involved with KTH but no longer is.

Students and members of the public in the surrounding community are not considered to be active at KTH in the meaning of the Whistleblower Act and so cannot report via KTH’s internal reporting channel. Instead, see under Other available channels at KTH  or Other government agencies with external reporting channels .

What can be reported?

KTH’s internal reporting channel is intended for reporting irregularities in KTH’s operations of which someone has become aware in the course of work-related activities at KTH.

Furthermore, KTH’s internal reporting channel shall be used to report irregularities of such a serious nature that disclosing them is in the public interest. For disclosure to be in the public interest, the irregularity in question must be a matter of concern for a circle of people that can be defined as the general public, and the public must have a legitimate interest in the irregularity being brought to light. General curiosity is not a legitimate interest. Nor does the fact that an organisation is a general source of interest to the public mean that the disclosure of an irregularity in its operations must be routinely considered to be in the public interest.

Decisive for whether the reporting is covered by the Whistleblower Act is the public interest in the disclosure of the infomation. This means breaches of legislation and regulation on matters such as corruption and bribery, public procurement, financial services, products and markets, the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, product safety and compliance, transport safety, environmental protection, radiation protection and nuclear safety, food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, public health, consumer protection, the protection of privacy and personal data, and the security of network and information systems. As a general rule, there is also a public interest in disclosing breaches of current regulations issued by the Riksdag, the Swedish Government or other public authorities, as well as binding EU regulations. However, exceptions are made when the breach is negligible or relates to regulations of a purely formal nature. The wrongful or unauthorised use of public assets is also covered, if the breach is not negligible.

Irregularities may arise from someone’s action or inaction and may be intentional or negligent. An attempt to cover up an irregularity may itself constitute an irregularity that could be reported.

In addition to reporting irregularities that have already occurred, protection under the Act also extends to reporting irregularities that are highly likely to occur.

To be protected under the Whistleblower Act, at the time of reporting you must have had reasonable cause to assume that the information concerning the irregularity was true. Hence your report must not be based solely on, for example, rumours.

Limitations on reporting

The following cannot be reported via KTH’s internal reporting channel as the protection afforded by the Whistleblower Act does not apply in these situations:

• Reporting information obtained outside a work-related context, such as something that you become aware of in your capacity as a customer, client, patient or student.
• A report that only relates to your own work or employment situation, as long as the public has no legitimate interest in the matter coming to light.
• Reporting a matter the disclosure of which is not in the public interest or that does not involve a breach of legislation or regulation compliance with which is in the public interest.
• Reporting of intentional and knowingly false information.
• Reporting of information classified under the Protective Security Act (SFS 2018:585).
• Reporting that involves a breach of duty of confidentiality under the Defence Inventions Act (SFS 1971:1078).
• Anonymous reporting
• Please note that protection in the form of exemption from liability and protection against reprisals does not apply if you commit an offence by reporting or collecting information.
• Please note that your right to report does not entail a right to disclose documents. Instead, you may refer to information that is available to the authority or that the authority can obtain in some other way.
• It should also be noted that KTH’s internal reporting channel is not a means for venting general opinions about management, salary setting, recruitment, operational planning, workplace disagreements or disagreements over research, etc.

What might the consequences of ‘incorrect’ reporting be?

A report that fails to comply with the above concerning what can be reported via KTH’s internal reporting channel, or that does not fall within the scope of the protection afforded by the Whistleblower Act, will be forwarded to another part of KTH’s organisation or to a competent authority. In such cases, it is by no means certain that the provisions on secrecy in Section 3 b of Chapter 17 and Section 3 b of Chapter 32 of the Swedish Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (SFS 2009:400) will apply to the report.