External Reporting Office

A report should be made as soon as possible – usually within six months of the inappropriate behaviour.

• You agree to the disclosure of the report form you have submitted and your name to the accused party for the purpose of a statement.
• You may not be disadvantaged in your professional position at ETH Zurich as a result of your report.
• You may seek support from contact and advice services.
• You should regularly inform the contact and advice service voluntarily and without being asked about any steps taken and offices visited to date in order to avoid multiple clarification and advisory procedures on the same matter.
• You commit to constructive cooperation with the External Reporting Office.
• You will refrain from any communication or behaviour that is unfair or could further escalate the situation (inappropriate posts on social media, involving media representatives, etc.).
• You will answer enquiries from the External Reporting Office truthfully and without delay.
• You will honour any agreements that are reached during the course of the case.
• You acknowledge that, due to data protection, you will not be informed by ETH Zurich if any personnel measures are taken against the accused party.

• You will receive a copy of the report. You have the right to present your own view.
• You have the right to be informed of any allegations in the same matter that the superiors and/or the school management are informed of.
• You will refrain from exerting any kind of pressure or threatening the reporting party with any kind of disadvantage. You will not exploit any existing power or dependency relationships.
• You will participate constructively in clarifying the facts.
• You will refrain from communication and behaviour that is unfair or could further escalate the situation (inappropriate posts on social media, involving media representatives, etc.).
• You will answer enquiries from the reporting centre truthfully and without delay.You will honour any agreements that are reached during the course of the case.

Once we have received your registration for the preliminary clarification, we will determine whether your topic is within our area of responsibility. If this is the case, we will conduct a confidential preliminary clarification with you. During the clarification we will explain the exact procedure and inform you of your rights and obligations.

If you wish to proceed with the report after the preliminary clarification, we will send you the report form to complete. Your signature will officially open the formalised fact-finding by the External Reporting Office. All further steps will be coordinated and initiated by the External Reporting Office.

When the formalised fact-finding is opened, the accused party receives your report and may respond in writing. We conduct individual discussions with the parties and, on a case-by-case basis, we decide how the appropriate clarification procedure should be carried out.

We then conduct joint meetings with you and the accused party. If necessary, we involve the superiors or other individuals and offices of ETH Zurich. We will maintain confidentiality towards non-involved third parties and work according to the principles of multipartiality, the rule of law, and fairness. All parties involved must maintain respectful behaviour and fair play in their communication.

If necessary, we will seek legal advice and / or commission legal opinions.

We will conclude the fact-finding by sending a written report and recommendations to the individual's direct superior or a responsible body (e.g. e.g. Vice Rector for Study Programmes, Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies, HR Consulting, management bodies of institutes or departments or extra-departmental facilities).

This report will contain an assessment of the situation, the agreement between the parties involved (if any) and recommended measures.

If we identify development issues in an organisational unit, we inform the responsible offices within ETH Zurich.

The responsible bodies at ETH Zurich, e.g. the superior and HR Consulting or the President of ETH Zurich, will take appropriate personnel or other measures if the fact-finding reveals that there has been a clear violation of the Code of Conduct “Respect”. They will take into account our written recommendation or the agreements made between the parties involved.

The measures taken by ETH Zurich are independent of any criminal proceedings.