The Parliamentary Ombudsman endeavours to process cases within the following case processing times:
|
Case type |
Target |
|
|
Complaint cases and own initiative cases |
Investigation cases |
70 % concluded within 6 months. |
|
90 % concluded within 12 months |
||
|
Other forms of processing and assistance to citizens and rejections for formal reasons |
90 % concluded within 3 months |
|
| 98 % concluded within 6 months |
||
| Access to public files cases | 45 % of the investigated access to public files cases concluded within 20 working days from the time when all relevant information on the case has been gathered |
|
| 90 % of the investigated access to public files cases concluded within 40 working days from the time when all relevant information on the case has been gathered |
||
| Monitoring cases | 80 % concluded within 6 months of the monitoring visit | |
The targets for the case processing times apply for the period of 1 January 2020 until 31 December 2020. The actual case processing time will be made public in the Ombudsman’s Annual Report.
Notes:
- Every year the Ombudsman processes between 4,000 and 5,000 complaints from citizens who believe that a public authority has committed errors (complaint cases).
- Own-initiative cases are cases which the Ombudsman takes up on his own initiative, for instance following media coverage.
- Investigation cases include complaint cases and own-initiative cases which become the subject of investigation.
- The case processing time for investigation cases and for cases which are concluded with other forms of processing and assistance to citizens or are rejected for formal reasons is calculated in calendar days from the starting date of the case (in complaint cases, from receipt of the complaint) until the Ombudsman’s conclusion of the case.
- The target for access to public files cases (meaning cases concerning requests for access to public files pursuant to the Access to Public Administration Files Act, the Environmental Information Act or the Administration of Justice Act, with the exception of cases regarding access to public files by parties and access to own files) includes cases which become the subject of investigation. The case processing time is calculated from the ‘ripeness date’, which is the date when statements and information from the complainant and the public authorities have been obtained, and the case is ready to be processed and concluded. The case processing time is calculated in working days. Access to public files cases included in the target also enter into the overall target for the case processing time in investigation cases.
- Monitoring cases include all monitoring cases in relation to completed monitoring visits, including monitoring visits pursuant to Section 18 of the Ombudsman Act, OPCAT monitoring visits, combined Section 18 and OPCAT monitoring visits, monitoring visits on accessibility for persons with disabilities and forced deportations of foreign nationals. The case processing time is calculated in calendar days from the date of the monitoring visit to the Ombudsman’s conclusion of the case.