Acknowledgement of receipt
The acknowledgement of receipt is the reporting channel's confirmation to the whistleblower that their report has been received; under the German Whistleblower Protection Act it must be sent within seven days of receipt.
The acknowledgement of receipt is the first binding response that an internal or external reporting office owes to a whistleblower. With it, the reporting office confirms that the report has actually arrived and is now being processed within the procedure. The German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) obliges the competent office under Section 17 (1) no. 1 HinSchG to acknowledge receipt of a report to the whistleblower within seven days of receipt. The period begins on the day the report is received through the established reporting channel.
The acknowledgement of receipt serves a dual purpose: it creates transparency and trust by letting the whistleblower know that their report has not vanished into a void, and it simultaneously documents the start of the time limits for the subsequent procedural steps. This presupposes that an acknowledgement is actually possible: if the whistleblower reported anonymously or expressly set up no channel for replies, the duty lapses where confirmation would jeopardise the person's identity or contact is simply impossible. For anonymous reports made through a secure whistleblowing system, the acknowledgement can still be delivered via the system's anonymous mailbox.
The acknowledgement of receipt must be distinguished from the later feedback, by which the reporting office informs the whistleblower within three months about planned or already taken follow-up measures and the reasons for them (Section 17 (2) HinSchG). The seven-day period concerns only the confirmation of receipt, not any assessment of the substance. Employers should ensure receipt either automatically or organisationally, for example through a system-generated acknowledgement in the reporting channel, so that the short period is reliably met even when the designated person is on leave or ill. A missed acknowledgement of receipt can undermine trust in the reporting office and, in individual cases, give rise to breaches of duty that may carry fines.
Legal Basis
Section 17 (1) no. 1 HinSchG (seven-day period for acknowledgement of receipt); Art. 9 (1) (b) EU Whistleblower Directive (Dir. (EU) 2019/1937)
Practical Example
At a mechanical engineering company with 600 employees, a report concerning suspected corruption payments arrives via the digital whistleblowing system on a Friday evening. The compliance officer designated as the internal reporting office receives an automatic notification. Because she is on leave, the deputy arrangement stored in the system takes effect: her deputy opens the case on Monday and, the same day, sends the acknowledgement of receipt to the whistleblower via the encrypted reply channel. The seven-day period is thereby met, the start of the three-month feedback period is documented, and the whistleblower knows their report is being handled without their identity having been disclosed.