Definition
A rule under which an unanswered application, appeal, or prior-authorization request resolves in the applicant's favor when the institution misses a stated deadline. Law VIII already holds that silence past the clock is a governance failure rather than a pending state; this names the state the request enters instead.
The rule reverses the default. While an institution misses its deadline at no cost, delay is an externality carried by the person waiting and latency stays free to the party that caused it. Putting the outcome on the institution's side of the ledger at a fixed hour is what makes the clock binding.
Applies beside binding clock, reversal deadline, and slow redress, fast execution.
Temporal
Tests that show it is in place
- A stated deadline names the state a request enters when it passes, not only that the institution has failed.
- The clock runs in units a person can read and expires on a date the institution can see coming.
- Where the applicant loses more than the institution by a wrong outcome, the default names an escalation rather than a grant.