114
ANNUAL REPORT 2017
In the Ombudsman’s opinion there was no authority under the relevant Act
or Executive Order for the practice described of requiring the young people to
hand in their clothes for washing on arrival. The Ombudsman also stated that
it was to be regarded as highly doubtful whether such a restrictive measure
could be authorised by the non-statutory legal principle of implied powers (a
Danish principle that a public institution may to a certain degree establish
such rules and make such decisions as are necessary for the overall functioning of the institution). The Ombudsman gave weight to, among other things,
the fact that the legislature had decided when passing the Act on Adult
Responsibility for Children and Young Persons in Placement Facilities not
to follow a recommendation made by the pre-legislative committee to give
secure institutions the right to search children’s and young persons’ clothes in
addition to the right to frisk children and young persons.
However, the Ombudsman was of the opinion that the principle of implied
powers did authorise the institution’s practice of requiring residents to hand
over their outdoor clothes on arrival and its ban on wearing outdoor footwear
inside.
The Ombudsman recommended that the institution discontinue as soon as
possible its practice of washing residents’ clothes on their arrival.
2017-23. Document sent from municipally owned self-governing
harbour to the municipality had been made available to a third
party
The Ombudsman received three complaints about a refusal by a municipally
owned self-governing harbour of access to a report prepared by the harbour
administration.
The report concerned the possible misuse of assets of the harbour and had
been prepared in continuation of an investigation carried out by an auditing
firm. The harbour refused the requests for access to the report with reference
to section 23(1) paragraph (1) of the Access to Public Administration Files
Act, under which documents which have not been made available to third
parties are exempt from access.
According to the available information, the harbour had sent the report to the
municipality’s HR and payroll department, which had registered the report
in the personnel files of the relevant employees of the harbour in order that
any taxable values of trips made etc. could be reported to the tax authorities.
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