suggestion to inform the affected persons of the reasons for any lengthier duration of the proceeding and to indicate when they can count on a decision. Of course, this does not change the fact that delays can have financial consequences or that uncertainty impairs people’s quality of life. But many people simply want “their matter of concern to be settled”. Ombudswoman Terezija Stoisits In my area of responsibility, there was a total of 2,605 new cases in the period under review, of which 1,959 cases concerned federal administration authorities and 646 regional and municipal administration authorities. In the area of federal administration, most of the complaints submitted concerned issues within the purview of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Most of the complaints at the regional level referred to traffic fines, citizenship and municipal taxes and fees. 2,605 new cases Complaints concerning the Asylum Court again rose substantially. In the year under review a total of 717 complaints was submitted (2010: 222). The reason for almost all the complaints was the duration of the appeal proceedings. Regrettably, I was forced to conclude this year as well that the Asylum Court could not fulfil the objectives prescribed by the lawmakers. On one hand, the backlog of old proceedings undertaken by the previous Independent Federal Asylum Senate could not be completely finished by the end of 2011, and on the other, the Asylum Court is already backed up with a large number of new proceedings. It has been noted that procedural delays are anywhere from 6 months to 3.5 years. Even though the President of the Asylum Court lately did not request more personnel on the occasion of the presentation of the three-year progress report (1 July 2008 to 1 July 2011), the situation cannot be called satisfactory. Government plans to change the structure of the Asylum Court system in the near future might eventually offer the possibility to increase staff. Again more complaints about the Asylum Court The Austrian Citizenship Act (StbG) is a federal law that is executed by the Laender. In the course of the past years, more strict interpretations of the citizenship law have been observed. Complaints received by the AOB show clearly that the Austrian Citizenship Act contains some harsh provisions that make it impossible for persons who Hardship under the citizenship law 29