Responding to requests and reporting duties

1. Regulatory Concept & Core Standards

In this video we will consolidate a skill: distinguish case follow-up from institutional reporting. Use the case to test what you would do in a similar situation. We will explain the proposed response step by step so that you can understand each choice and recognise when more information would be needed. External reporting, retaliation protection and institutional reports have different purposes, actors and deadlines. This course applies the Croatian Act with its 2025 amendments. Demonstrations are fictional and send no real reports.

The confidential person reports to the Ombudsman within 30 days of deciding. The competent recipient under Article 25 provides information about measures within 30 days of receipt and a reasoned final outcome within 15 days after completing its handling. Statutory recipients include the Ombudsman and the confidential person where that person forwarded the report, as provided by the Act.

Apply the following rule: The employer adopts and makes accessible a general act on internal reporting and appointment of the confidential person and deputy. The employer must not interfere with their statutory handling to protect the reporting person. An unauthorised recipient must forward the report without delay and without alteration to the confidential person, protecting its data. Articles 17 and 18 regulate oral reports and requested meetings, including recording consent and the opportunity to check records. Portuguese RGPC is not Croatian legislation.

2. Practical Implementation & Procedure

For each action identify actor, basis, recipient and starting event. Verify any further request and necessary data. Do not apply an authority’s deadline as the confidential person’s deadline or replace reporting-person feedback with an institutional report. Keep evidence of communication. Before moving on, turn this procedure into a sequence you could explain to a colleague. Identify the first check, the action that depends on its outcome and the record that allows the decision to be reconstructed. Follow the sequence on screen and identify the point where an error would change the result.

3. Case Study & Compliance Action

The confidential person records the decision date, while the competent recipient records receipt of a forwarded report. Both duties use 30 days but concern different events. Completion of the recipient’s handling creates the separate 15-day duty. Now read the case carefully. Separate established facts from information you would still need to confirm. Do not add motives or events that have not been described. This distinction matters when choosing a response proportionate to the information available.

The exercise is as follows: Can all these deadlines run from one case-opening date? Choose an answer and write one sentence explaining it. During the pause, compare your choice with the criteria we have just considered. Also think about the material you would retain to explain the decision later.

No. Each has its own event, responsible actor and recipient. Separate tracking prevents one completed action from concealing another missed duty. Do not invent a universal annual return.

One mistake to avoid is: merging different actors’ deadlines and starting events.

Now apply the national rule to a second decision. The team presents every integrity instrument as mandatory in every country. How should the message be revised?

Distinguish what national law actually requires, the conditions for its application to the entity and the proposed good practices. The specific rule just examined must appear in the corresponding procedure. Each duty needs a source; each management choice needs a purpose, an owner and evidence of implementation.