14 | Annual Report 2019 ‘Buying elastic by the metre’ The man who wanted a deduction for the expenses for upgrading the sewer system had, with good reason, difficulties understanding why he had to negotiate with the authority about his deduction. Among other things, he wrote to SKAT: ‘I notice (…) that there is no reference to any sections in acts or guidelines. But that you sit there solely assessing what to accept, it does not seem legally correct, if one of your colleagues assessed the same case, your colleague might have another interpretation and perception and therefore accept things which you won’t. It is like buying elastic by the metre.’ The examples in this article show that it is important that authorities manage their different roles because otherwise it may have consequences for the citizens’ legal rights. Ultimately, a citizen can end up suffering an actual loss of rights. In the article ‘When schools have to be legal eagles’ from the Ombudsman’s Annual Report for 2015, a number of examples are given of schools making decisions without being aware of their role as decision-making authorities. – contrary to guidance – makes increased demands on the case investigation and the case processing for that matter, for example that the Public Administration Act’s rules on parties’ legal rights must be observed. Obviously, this does not mean that authorities ought to stop giving citizens proper and concrete guidance – the authorities just have to remember to let citizens know that it is solely a matter of guidance and therefore not a decision. Common to the examples are furthermore that they illustrate that the authorities’ confusion about their role may harm citizens’ trust in the public authorities.