whether and to what extent to consider our observations. The Ombudsman is unable to participate in the preparation of concrete legislative solutions because of its position, so as not to face subsequent reproach that the office participated in the drafting of an Act. Our observations were already provided to the proposed amendments to the Police Tasks And Powers Act (ZNPPol), which governs the duties and powers of police officers, at the time of the presentation of the ZNPPol amendment in 2015, and later in the further process of preparing the amendment. Several of our observations on the planned amendments to the ZNPPol were considered. As we assessed that several provisions of the ZNPPol-A amendment, which was adopted in 2017, were inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, we filed an initiative for the review of the constitutionality of individual provisions. We are still awaiting the decision of the Constitutional Court of the RS. In the process of preparing the ZNPPol-A amendment, special attention was paid to the introduction of the taser as a coercive measure. We have reservations about its introduction, as we believe (as does the CPT) that its use should be strictly limited to cases of serious and imminent threat to life or grave injury and only if this cannot be prevented in any other way, i.e. when this is the only option instead of using other, riskier means which cause injury or death (e.g. firearms). We are glad that a number of our observations have been considered in this part of preparing the draft Act. Unfortunately, the drafter or legislator did not follow solutions which foresaw stricter use of tasers. We believe that if tasers are introduced as a coercive measure, the law must stipulate that they can be used only by police officers who perform their tasks and duties in intervention teams or in other similar operations. This has been observed by the amended Rules on police powers. This implementing regulation details the method of exercising police powers. Following the ZNPPol-A amendment, the Rules were amended (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 59/2017) after obtaining our preliminary opinion (as stipulated by Article 33 of the ZNPPol). We are especially satisfied with the new Article 43a of the Rules, which stipulates stricter use of the electric taser. The Rules allow the use of electric tasers only by police officers who perform their tasks and duties in intervention teams or in other similar operations, members of the Special Unit, and mobile crime units. In this part, the Rules also follow the recommendations provided by the CPT. We also provided our observations on the amendment to the Criminal Code (KZ-1E), which has brought several innovations in the field of criminal liability, including a definition of the purpose of punishment. We find the definition of the purpose of punishment especially welcoming, as we believe it to be essential and useful, especially with regard to the enforcement of penal sanctions. We also proposed additional consideration of the definition of the purpose of punishment to specifically emphasise the need to give meaning to the time spent in prison, as highlighted in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) under Rule 4, which states that a period of imprisonment should be used to ensure, so far as possible, the reintegration of prisoners into society upon release so that they can lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life. The initial proposal of the amendment also recommended abolishment of life imprisonment; however, this has not yet happened. We also welcomed this (initial) proposed amendment. The Ombudsman has had reservations since the introduction of life imprisonment. During the procedure of drafting the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act (ZKP), which had not yet been adopted in 2017, the Ombudsman provided their observations as requested to the Ministry of Justice, as the drafter of the amendments. In addition to the ZKP, the implementation of remand is regulated in detail by the Rules on the Implementation of Remand. The Ministry of Justice prepared a new amendment in 2017, i.e. the Rules amending the Rules on the Implementation of Remand (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 41/2017). We welcomed these amendments and annexations, which are aimed at facilitating fast action so as to prevent conditions which could violate the prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which is stipulated in Article 18 of the Constitution of the RS, and in Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This would provide an additional measure for preventing similar violations as those established in the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case Mandić and Jović v. Slovenia. We believe that it is (in light of its content) a significant legal remedy which must be based on a law. We have therefore proposed corresponding amendments or annexations to the ZKP, as we do not believe that it suffices to only regulate this by (extension of) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE NPM IN 2017 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT 11