The City of Aachen has published its compliance report for 2024. This report documents the measures taken to comply with laws and ethical principles that are crucial for transparent and honest administration.

Compliance serves to prevent corruption and avoid mistakes. The City of Aachen is committed to values such as altruism, confidentiality and impartiality in order to strengthen citizens' trust in the public administration. This also includes raising awareness of the issue of corruption prevention, which also serves to protect employees.

In view of the dangers of corruption, especially in procurement procedures and approvals, adherence to compliance guidelines is of central importance. The City of Aachen will continue to work actively to ensure a trustworthy environment for all citizens. As part of its efforts to comply with regulations, the administration introduced the Compliance Office back in 2021. Vera Krause initiated a centralized recording of the corruption risk levels of all departments in order to identify potential risks at an early stage and develop suitable countermeasures.

In order to raise awareness of corruption risks and inform employees accordingly, Krause trains employees in person and also prepares an online training course. To ensure that all concerns are dealt with promptly and competently, the Compliance Office actively processes inquiries from the administration. Here, Krause is available as one of the contact persons in connection with the reporting office under the Whistleblower Protection Act in order to offer employees a secure and confidential way to report suspected cases or to advise them.

The 2024 annual report contains further details on the activities and focal points of the Compliance office and can be found on the city's service portal.