Introduction Introduction The traditional area of responsibility of the Austrian Ombudsman Board (AOB) is to monitor and control public administration. The importance of this function is evidenced inter alia by the high frequency with which citizens approach the AOB. Expressed in numbers, this means that some 18,500 people contacted the AOB in the year under review. On average 74 complaints were submitted or presented in person to the AOB on every working day. Every fifth complaint that resulted in investigative proceedings was justified. That means that maladministration was ascertained in these cases. The numbers with regard to the investigative work are explained in detail in the chapter on “Performance record”. They provide information about the number of processed complaints and investigative proceedings initiated in the federal administration as well as in the municipal and regional administration. In order to obtain a complete picture of the AOB’s services in 2016, the basic indicators for the preventive monitoring and control of human rights, which is the AOB’s new field of work added in 2012, are also displayed. Detailed information on the preventive work will also be given in this report. The performance record in this volume should however also depict AOB activities that are not included in the investigative work but are definitely an important part of the range of tasks performed. For this reason, the performance record also includes reports about international activities, public relations work and other focal points of the AOB’s work in the year under review. Performance record informs about basic work results The results and focal points of the investigative work are depicted by area of responsibility as already familiar from past reports. They document everyday problems citizens encounter in their contact with the authorities. As the extensive details show, the problems are complex. For example, citizens are affected by unacceptably long proceedings, welfare benefits are paid unfairly or too late, which sometimes even threatens the livelihood of those affected, in particularly serious cases even basic and human rights are violated. Maladministration is identified A list of legislative recommendations that were made during the year under review, serves to uncover unclear or discriminating regulations that were observed during the investigative work. The long-term efforts on the part of the AOB to effect a reform of the legislation on legal guardianship is proof that implementation requires great patience. A new legal regulation of this particularly sensitive area is due to come into effect in mid-2018. Legislative changes should provide the impetus for reform The support of the members of the Parliament is necessary in order to implement suggested changes in legislation and to push forward reform plans. With this report, the AOB hopes to provide the impetus to tackle the necessary changes. The depiction of the observed cases of maladministration should also contribute to increasing the sensitivity of the administration to a correct and 11