Extracts from news published on the Ombudsman’s website in 2019 | 71 The case has occasioned the Ombudsman to emphasise – in line with previous statements in other cases – that if digital self-service solutions have not been designed to enable applications on behalf of others, it must be possible to submit such applications without using the digital self-service solution. The Ombudsman also stresses that the responsible authorities must provide guidance on this option. 9 April Dry rules provide quality in public administration Rules on the duty to take notes and keep records and on other forms of documentation easily conjure up images of useless bureaucracy. However, in an article in his Annual Report for 2018, which has just been published, the Ombudsman defends these dry and at times much-maligned rules. 10 April Mayor’s acceptance of offer of loan of room resulted in disqualification When the then Mayor for Employment and Integration of the City of Copenhagen accepted an offer from a privately owned enterprise of a loan of a room for a party, this was contrary to the rules on acceptance of gifts by public employees and disqualified her in relation to the company. For this reason she should not have taken part in the decision to award the company a business prize. This is the conclusion of a statement from the Parliamentary Ombudsman. 11 April Ombudsman offers legal updates on a quarterly basis If you want to keep updated on legal news from the Ombudsman, you can now get an overview in your inbox once a quarter. 8 May Conclusion of investigation of specific aspects in relation to initiatives following Paposhvili case: Ministry of Immigration and Integration has done enough to rectify errors The Minister for Immigration and Integration has previously expressed her regret about the Ministry not having processed a number of cases about humanitarian residence permits correctly following the judgement by the European Court of Human Rights on 13 December 2016 in the case of Paposhvili v Belgium. The Ombudsman has today submitted his report on the case. He has found no grounds for taking further action and states, among other things, that the Ministry of Immigration and Integration ‘has made relevant and sufficient efforts to contact those who were deported or otherwise left the country whose cases had not or might not have been processed correctly’. 16 May IT error meant Customs and Tax Administration was unable to charge interest for more than two years As part of modernisation efforts of the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT), all businesses got a digital tax account – ‘Én Skattekonto’ (‘One Tax Account’) – in 2013. However, a system error meant that for up to 26 months SKAT did not charge businesses interest – as it was required by law to do. This may have resulted in, among other things, errors in the annual accounts of businesses. This is the conclusion of a statement from the Parliamentary Ombudsman which has been published today. The Ombudsman’s investigation focused, among other things, on SKAT providing inadequate guidance to businesses.