frsrdg · GN04JO1 · 2000-01-01 00:00:00 — Where appropriate, it could be determined that the examination or driving test was to be administered by someone with specific expertise or to refer to specific conditions. In making such a request, was to provide the information that failure to comply could result in withdrawal of the driving licence. Art. 33 Driving Licence Ordinance, 1977:722). The question of C.As fitness to hold a driving licence was brought to the attention of in an anonymous letter received on 20 1997. This letter raised doubts of a general nature about C.As fitness to drive a motor vehicle. For reasons that are not subject to my appraisal, then saw fit to seek an opinion from its adviser, in whose opinion an additional certificate issued by a competent doctor was needed in order to deal with the case. does not seem to have secured any information from this doctor about the records available on which he could base this certificate. does the Board seem to have undertaken any other form of enquiry into the question of suitability. The circumstances that gave rise to the official request made by the Board must therefore be considered to derive exclusively from the information in the anonymous complaint and from the opinion of the adviser. I find it totally incomprehensible that , on the basis of what came to light in this way, could find grounds for issuing its directive. information than that available in this case was needed to justify such a measure. The decision of to drop the case with reference merely to "what has subsequently emerged during telephone conversations" with C.A. suggests that the Board also realised that the directive should never have been issued. In its official response, offers an explanation of what occurred by referring to the situation in which its staff were working at that time. Here I would like to point out that I fully understand how the kind of reorganization described in this case may initially affect the way in which cases are dealt with. However, what C.A. experienced cannot be excused by reference to such circumstances. Serious criticism of the way in which dealt with this case is warranted. This adjudication and the criticism expressed terminates this case. The question of whether a local authority committee was entitled to allow a private company to defray the costs of an extra committee meeting In a complaint addressed to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, requested appraisal of the way in which the Environmental and authority of had dealt with an application for a construction permit in view of the fact that, according to newspaper reports, the committee had allowed a private company to defray the costs of an extra committee meeting. The Environmental and was asked to respond to the complaint. In a letter dated 4 1998, the committee made the following response. One of the provisions of 11.5 of the Planning and Act is that a local committee (in this case the Environmental and ) is entitled to charge a fee for cases concerning construction permits and preliminary notice (in this case a permit) and for cases which involve drawing up a new local area development plan, the inspection of drawings, surveys, the production of durable documents or other time or resource consuming measures. The fees that may be charged are not to exceed an amount corresponding to the local authoritys average costs for the measures concerned. The basis on which the fees are to be assessed is to be published in a tariff determined by the council of the local authority. The tariff for the services of was adopted by the council on 12 1995 as item 89. One factor to be taken into account in assessing the "normal" fee for a construction permit in different cases is whether the decision in the case was made at a regular meeting of the committee or through delegation. The kinds of cases in which the power to make a decision may be delegated are specified in the regulations for delegation. In this particular case, the permit was of such general interest that it could not be decided through delegation. Because of budgetary restrictions the Environmental and has been obliged to curtail the number of regular meetings to the current seven per year. Summoning the committee to an extra meeting is a kind of extraordinary measure covered by the regulation allowing the committee to charge a fee based on the time involved for "other time or resource consuming measures". There was definitely never any question of "sponsorship" of the meeting, but this was a fee charged for a construction permit, even though it was somewhat higher than it would have been had the decision been made at one of the committees regular meetings. The only individual with reason to complain about the size of the fee was, in this case, the applicant himself. It should, perhaps, also be pointed out that a fee is charged even if the decision is to reject the application. It is the committees opinion that calling an extra meeting at the applicants request without charging a fee that covers the increased costs involved would be incorrect and would be in breach of the principle of equality. At a regular meeting with 26 1996, this case was dealt with as item 43 when it was decided to invoke the sanctions laid down in 10.4 of the Planning and Act and to refer the issue of a construction permit back to the working appraisal. To what extent this referral was justified or not may perhaps be questioned, as indeed it was by the applicant, as all the facts in the case had already been "laid on the table". This was, nevertheless, the decision made, and the subsequent appraisal resulted in a consultation meeting on April 3 1996 between representatives of , , Taxi, the , who were the operators of the aerial mast, and the Chairman of the Environmental and , , with the chief sur-veyor and the municipal architect. The minutes of this meeting were appended to the decision adopted at the extra meeting on 1996 as item 62. These make it clear that the Chairman decided to call an extra meeting of the committee, which he is empowered to do by virtue of its regulations, and that the applicant approved the extra costs that this would involve. In his adjudication dated 7 1998, The Parliamentary Ombuds-man, , included the following comments. It is the view of the Environmental and that it was possible to cover the costs of an extra meeting by charging a fee, as laid down in Chapter 11, Section 5, subsection 1 of the Planning and Act (1987:10). This provision stipulates that a committee may charge a fee in cases concerning construction permits and preliminary notices and in cases arising from notification of or demolition in accordance with Chapter 9, Section 2 together with cases that involve drawing up a new local area development plan, the inspection of drawings, surveys, the production of durable documents or other time or resource consuming measures. As can be seen, the costs referred to here are not those arising from the meeting of the committee but the costs linked to a specific case. The circumstance that only one case is to be dealt with at a meeting is naturally of no significance in this respect. does the wording "other time or resource consuming measures" refer to cases that involve the exercise of public authority as in this case, but to cases of the kind covered by private law (see 2 11:24). It is no way acceptable for an applicant to be charged for costs that have no basis in the tariff that has been laid down. In addition, it must be regarded as a flagrant departure from the principle of objectivity and the principle of equality enjoined upon public administration by Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government to allow an individual applicant the opportunity to purchase preferential treatment of his case. With this serious criticism this case is closed. The question of whether a headmaster had acted unconstitutionally by not allowing a political youth organisation to conduct its activities in his school in the county of (one of the district organisations of the youth organisation of the Left Party of ) submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman concerning , the headmaster of in the local authority of , which consisted in substance of the following. He had refused the request of the local representative of to be allowed to place a small exhibition of books in the school. On a later occasion, another representative had not been allowed to place a poster on the schools notice board. A few weeks later discover-ed that the section of SSU (the youth organisation of the Social Democrat party in ) had been allowed to place a similar exhibition of books in in connection with an anti-racist campaign and had at the same time distributed other forms of political information. criticized the actions of the headmaster, particularly in view of the circumstance that had been refused access to the school even though this had been granted to another political youth organisation. The complaint was forwarded to of the local authority of so that it could investigate the matter and submit a response. In this response referred to statement made by its chairman, , with the following contents. At its meeting on 11 1997, was informed by the headmaster of , , about his actions with regard to the requests submitted by and SSU to be allowed to circulate information at the school and also about the schools policy concerning political information. At this meeting, was asked to prepare a proposal for the meeting of 1 1997 outlining changes in the guidelines that could open the school to political information on occasions other than immediately preceding a general election. consider that it is extremely important to adhere to the syllabus in providing comprehensive information about our political system and the different political parties and that information of this kind should be made available in an organized during periods other than election periods. A document attached to the committees response, contained the following statement by . As a result of the recent questions, comments and letters to the newspapers about political information at , I feel a great need to describe the events that took place during and in so doing explain the reasons underlying my actions. For a long time at we have followed the principle we have adopted (and described most recently in print in the minutes of the meeting of the social studies teachers in 1993) that means that all direct information from representatives of the political parties is to be presented during election periods. This decision, which is supported unanimously by the teachers of social studies and the school management, was made in order to maintain objectivity and impartiality vis-à-vis the pupils, which is something that we considered to be extremely important with regard to political information to pupils. It should be added that during their 8th year all pupils receive teaching about the political parties, their opinions and what divides them, including interviews with local representatives etc. Moreover, it should be pointed out that this decision applies only to political parties. has extensive contacts, both directly in its teaching during theme days and on other occasions, with other organisations and associations. And now I should like to turn to events during the period from April to . At the end of April, I was sent the plan for a campaign by SSU which would involve a visit to to take up the subject of racism and xenophobia. A number of schools in the county, both comprehensive and upper-secondary schools, had been selected. In view of the schools adoption of the principle referred to above, I was hesitant and therefore I got in touch with SSUs representative. She told me that only this subject was to be dealt with and there was no question of any information on behalf of any political party. Although I remained hesitant, I gave permission for one of the three planned visits, in view of the fact that this is a socially important subject which needs to be raised often in the schools. On 5 two representatives came to the school canteen for a few hours and there was a lively debate. A badge with the text "Stop racism" and a short pamphlet explaining SSUs stance on this particular issue were the only objects handed out to the pupils. Shortly afterwards, I received a phone call from who wanted to come to the school to arrange a small book exhibition and hand out pamphlets etc. - in other words only to circulate party political information. In accordance with our decision, I refused and said that was welcome during the autumn in connection with the general election. Nevertheless, almost a week later a representative gained entrance to the school and stood outside the canteen distributing party political pamphlets - a course of action that I considered remarkable! After a very long discussion and an angry exchange between the two of us, he eventually left the school. It should be added that on this occasion he knew nothing of the previous visit that had formed part of SSUs campaign. has asked the social studies teachers and the school management to look into ways in which we can increase the political information given to pupils, perhaps by presenting it every other year (as general elections take place every fourth year there is the risk that with the current system pupils in some years could go without information) or perhaps in the form of small book exhibitions by each of the parties. Increasing the political awareness of our pupils is an important task for the school, which must, however, continue to assert its right (at least in the upper school at the comprehensive level) to channel the information from the established political parties so that they are all allowed the same opportunities and the same amount of time to present their party and its policies. If party political information were to be allowed a free rein in the upper school, the image the pupils would get of Swedish party politics would soon be distorted in one direction or the other. were given the opportunity to comment on this response, but submitted no rejoinder. later submitted the proposal concerning changes in the guidelines referred to in its response. In presenting this to , wrote as follows. On 11 1997 I was asked to formulate proposed changes to the guidelines concerning political information at . This proposal was also intended to increase the provision of political information so that it was not only linked with the elections every fourth year. At the beginning of the autumn term, the social studies teachers (the group of teachers who have hitherto been responsible for political information) were asked to discuss the organization of political information and how it could possibly be increased. Their response, dated 18, is attached (not included here). On the basis of the proposal from the social studies teachers and after contacts with other members of the staff, I envisage the following approach with regard to political information at : 1) The pupils council are to form an "association group" with the task of maintaining contact with the associations in the community, among them the political parties, which will be allowed in an organized , such as by means of small book exhibitions in the canteen or some other predetermined room, to present their activities in the school. An adult advisor will be nominated to assist this group. In this way all the political parties and their youth sections will given the opportunity to present their political message during non-election periods as well. I attach an appendix describing the constitution of the pupils council (not included here). 2) The extensive and extra-curricular presentation of information to the different by the political parties will continue to take place during election years. To ensure that no cohort will miss this information, in future the 6th year will also be included. 3) Teaching about the political parties, their opinions and what divides them and interviews with local representatives etc. will continue as previously for all pupils in their 8th year. By adopting these measures can increase the amount of party political information and hopefully also stimulate its pupils interest in politics. This will take place with a certain amount of control from the pupils council and the staff, which should mean that the demands of objectivity can be maintained. In her adjudication of 9 1998, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, , included the following remarks. The Parliamentary Ombudsman has previously examined the extent to which the political parties are permitted to disseminate printed matter and provide information on various political issues in schools. In an adjudication of 31 1994 (The Parliamentary Ombudsmans Annual Report 1995/96 p. 395 f.) the Parliamentary Ombudsman expressed the following opinion. Chapter 2.1 of the Instrument of Government contains a guarantee of what are called the positive freedoms of information, including freedom of expression and freedom of information. Freedom of expression refers "in principle to the right to give expression in any situation or at any time to ones opinion or feelings using any means available" (/Ragnemalm, grundlagar, 1980, p. This does not mean, however, that there are no restrictions to the areas in which this statute applies. Freedom of expression as laid down in the Instrument of Government does not grant citizens - or an association of citizens - the right of access to a specific organisation or an enclosed environment, such as a , to spread their opinions there. The same observations apply to the provisions guaranteeing the right to circulate printed matter in the Freedom of the Press Act. The second paragraph of 1.2 of the Freedom of the Press Act expressly prohibits a central administrative authority or other public body from taking any action not authorised by the act to prevent the printing or publication of printed matter or its circulation among the public on the grounds of its content. The circulation of printed matter within a school is, as is putting up a poster on one of its notice boards, customarily considered to constitute circulation among the public. The right to circulate a publication in this may not therefore be restricted on the grounds of its content, unless authority to do so can be found in the Freedom of the Press Act. On the other hand, it is also customary to regard such restrictions as permissible if they are required to maintain order. The management of a school therefore has the right to prevent the circulation or display of printed matter within the , but only if this is to maintain order. This assertion does not however resolve the issue of whether an outsider has the right of entry to a school in order to circulate printed matter within a certain area. A school is not a place to which the general public have unrestricted right of entry. The Military Ombudsman has adjudicated on the right of entry of an outsider wishing to circulate printed matter to an area or facility to which the general public does not have free admission: Someone who does not for some other reason have the right of entry to such an area, can obviously not claim this right in order to be able to circulate printed matter there. It cannot be considered that the refusal of entry for such a purpose could constitute the prohibition of the circulation of printed matter denoted in the wording of the Freedom of the Press Act. Thus it can be claimed that the appropriate authorities are obliged to grant special privileges enabling entry for such a purpose. Where entry is granted, however, it may not be linked to conditions implying the proscription of the circulation of specific printed matter on the grounds of its content. (Military Ombudsmans Annual Report 1950, p. 276, and in particular p. I share this point of view, and therefore consider that it is up to the managers of a school to decide whether a request for admission to circulate printed matter within the school is to be granted or not. In making its decision, the school managers have the right to take aspects other than the sheer maintenance of order into account. The overriding provision in 1.9 of the Instrument of Government must, nevertheless, still be considered: courts, public authorities and others performing functions within the public administration shall observe in their work the equality of all persons before the law and shall maintain objectivity and impartiality. The enquiry reveals that was refused admission to the school to distribute party political information but that SSU was allowed into the school to conduct a campaign against racism. As has been made clear above, political organizations, for instance, do not have any unconditional right of access to schools. In deciding whether to afford organisations of this kind entry to its premises, however, the school has to comply with the stipulations in the Instrument of Government concerning impartiality and may not, therefore, restrict such permission to only one or several of them. In his response, the headmaster has described the schools regulations concerning political information. Neither these regulations, nor the new guidelines subsequently adopted in their stead, contain anything that runs counter to the system of regulations described in the adjudication by the Parliamentary Ombudsman cited above and they give me no reason to expression an opinion in this case. SSU was granted permission to conduct a campaign in the schools premises on an issue that was not a party political matter. In practice, however, there must be difficulties for an established party-political youth organization to draw a firm line between issues that are of a more general political nature and those that are purely party-political. Moreover, the possibility cannot be excluded that some pupils, especially those with different political leanings, will perceive a party-political message even when an issue can in itself be deemed to be of a general political nature. In view of this, there was reason for the school to exercise caution in granting permission in this case. The headmaster has also pointed out in his statement that he was hesitant about the suitability of granting such permission. This is ultimately a question of the kind of judgement which it would be inappropriate for the Parliamentary Ombudsman to subject to appraisal. In my opinion, nevertheless, the decision to allow SSU access to the purpose described cannot provide grounds for requiring the school to accept, in accordance with the demands of objectivity, all other forms of political activity by political youth associations. SSUs activities, judging by and large, were organized in such a way that there were tangible differences from the intentions that itself ascribed to its visit to the school. I do not consider, therefore, that I have any basis for criticizing the school because was refused admission. With this adjudication I consider the case to be concluded. The question of the obligation to arrange for the translation of the contents of a document (information that a confiscation order had been rescinded) sent by a authority to a Polish citizen in In his capacity as counsel for R.B., U.F. requested the Parliamentary Ombudsman to appraise the way in which the authorities in had dealt with the rescission of a confiscation order. Part of the complaint was that R.B., who understood no Swedish, had been notified that he could collect the confiscated items from the in a letter written in Swedish, with the result that he was unable to read it. A number of documents from the confiscation register of the authority dealing with case 1205-K36378-96 were examined. The authority (Assistant ) submitted a response which included a statement from Per , Region in the area concerned.