Glossary
Acknowledgement of Receipt
The 7-day deadline within which the channel operator must confirm to the reporter that the report has been received. Required by EU Directive 2019/1937 Article 9(1)(b), the acknowledgement is procedural, not substantive. For anonymous reporters it is delivered through the channel itself. Failure to acknowledge within 7 days is a deficiency on its own under most national transpositions.
Full definition
Article 9(1)(b) of EU Directive 2019/1937 requires the person or department designated to handle reports to acknowledge receipt to the reporting person within seven days of submission. The acknowledgement is a procedural confirmation, not a substantive response; it does not commit the organisation to any conclusion. For anonymous reporters, acknowledgement is delivered through the channel itself (a message visible when the reporter returns with their case code). Failure to acknowledge within seven days is a deficiency on its own under most national transpositions and is examined when authorities inspect the channel. The German HinSchG §17(1) and the French Décret n° 2022-1284 both repeat the seven-day rule verbatim. Confidly's workflow auto-posts an acknowledgement on case creation and surfaces the 7-day deadline on the case timeline; manual closure of the acknowledgement step is required by a human, not automated, to keep the acknowledgement substantively meaningful.
Related terms
- Substantive Feedback The 3-month deadline within which the channel operator must give the reporter feedback on actions taken or planned, required by EU Directive 2019/1937 Article 9(1)(f). Feedback is information on follow-up envisaged or taken, not necessarily a final outcome. The clock can be extended once by 3 months for complex cases, with reasons given to the reporter.
- Case Handler The trained individual inside an organisation who triages, investigates, and resolves whistleblower reports. Under EU Directive 2019/1937 Article 9 the case handler must acknowledge receipt within 7 days, maintain confidentiality, log every action, and deliver substantive feedback within 3 months. Case handlers must be free of conflicts of interest and trained in trauma-informed interviewing.
- Internal Reporting Channel A confidential mechanism inside an organisation through which employees and other workers can report breaches. EU Directive 2019/1937 Article 8 requires every legal entity with 50 or more employees to operate one, accept reports in writing, orally, or through a physical meeting, acknowledge within 7 days, and provide substantive feedback within 3 months.