Documents & process

Deemed Acceptance

A contractual mechanism by which a submission is treated as approved if the reviewer does not respond within a stated period. Silence becomes consent — which is powerful, and dangerous to whichever party is not watching the clock.

For a contractor, deemed acceptance is protection against a consultant who simply does not respond. For a consultant, it is a trap that closes quietly while somebody is on annual leave.

Either way, it turns an inbox into a liability. Anything carrying a deemed-acceptance clause belongs on a deadline board with an owner against it — because an email will not remind you, and the deadline does not care that the reviewer was busy.

See also