Summaries of selected statements | 55 opened on the basis of information from the Panama Papers. 2019-34. The role of the carrier in connection with online shopping from non-EU countries. Guidance on appeal in decisions of the Danish Customs Agency on customs duty etc. Information on the website of the Danish Tax Administration caused the Ombudsman to open a general investigation of the role of the carrier when citizens buy products online from non-EU countries, including a question about delegation of decision-making powers. On the website it was stated, among other things, that when a citizen buys a product online from a non-EU country, it is the carrier that will calculate the customs duty etc. payable on the product and that the citizen will pay the customs duty etc. to the carrier. The Ombudsman noted that the carrier’s task of declaring customs, receiving the decision of the Danish Customs Agency on customs duty etc. and paying customs duty etc. to the Agency is based on a private law agreement between the citizen and the carrier. The agreement has the effect that the carrier will act as the citizen’s representative in relation to customs. On that basis, the Ombudsman found that there is no delegation of decision-making powers to the carrier. The Ombudsman also considered whether decisions of the Danish Customs Agency on customs duty etc. must be accompanied by guidance on appeal. The Ombudsman noted, among other things, that customs duty etc. is calculated automatically in the Agency’s electronic import system, that calculations of customs duty etc. are based exclusively on the information about product code, value and country of origin entered by the carrier and that this information can yield only one result. Under these conditions and in the light of the special procedure laid down in relation to customs, the Ombudsman agreed with the Danish Customs Agency that a decision on customs duty etc. can be regarded as being wholly in favour of the carrier and that therefore the decision is not required to be accompanied by guidance on appeal. Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior The following statements on cases concluded in 2019 have been published: 2019-9. Documents about financial equalisation between municipalities were part of case concerning legislation and therefore exempt from access A journalist asked the then Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Interior and the Finance Committee (a committee of civil servants under the Ministry) for access to information about the educational qualifications of immigrants. The request was connected with a letter sent by a municipality to the Ministry in October 2014 in which the municipality had pointed out that the data underlying the criteria on which the system for financial equalisation between municipalities was based lacked information about the educational qualifications of immigrants. As a result, some municipalities had been allocated too low and others too high financial resources. The Finance Committee considered all its documents on the matter to be part of a case concerning legislation and therefore to be exempt from access, and the Ministry denied the journalist access to a number of documents on the grounds that they were part of the same case concerning legislation. The Ombudsman agreed with the authorities that there was a case concerning legislation within the meaning of section 20 of the Access to Public Administration Files Act. The case concerned work on adjusting the system for financial equalisation between municipalities which was prepared in the Finance Committee, and the issue of information about the educational qualifications of immigrants was part of the basis for the work.