Guidebook Under the Paris Principles, the OPCAT and the CRPD292, NHRIs also have the responsibility to make recommendations to their governments and other relevant authorities on human rights issues. Within this advisory function they can – where necessary – recommend changes or the adaption of new measures to ensure compliance with human rights standards. 93 In this regard, in the transposition process of EU law NHRIs can engage with national authorities and issue motions and opinion on laws, in order to strengthen procedural rights of suspects and accused (see Chapter 3.6.2). Many NHRIs have adopted legal opinions on the rights of suspects and accused in criminal proceedings making it the most used mode of engagement for rights of suspects and accused. Although some NHRIs have noted that their impact is rather limited on the legislative power294, others mentioned that opinions have served as a contribution to the parliamentary discussions on new draft bills and policies. Hungary The Hungarian NHRI (Department of Public Law) regularly attended the negotiations on the codification of the new Code on Criminal Procedure, and strived for advocating for normative safeguards on the procedural rights of defendants. They advocated for the introduction of audio-visual recording of interrogations of children. This was partly into consideration in the new CCP: While audiovisual recording is discretional in most of the cases, it is obligatory in cases of procedural acts involving minors under 14 years with some limits and illiterate persons. The SPT urges States to ‘inform the NPM of any draft legislation that may be under consideration which is relevant to its mandate and allow the NPM to make proposals or observations on any existing or draft policy or legislation. The State should take into consideration any proposals or observations on such legislation received from the NPM.’295 Overall, In order to make the advisory function on draft legislation possible, States should inform the NHRI of any draft legislation (including in the framework of the transposition of EU Directives) that may be under consideration and is relevant to the NHRI mandate.296 70 WAYS TO PROMOTE CHANGE Slovenia The Slovenian NHRI was invited by the Ministry of Interior as an external member of the working group discussing the revision to the new Criminal Procedural Act. The Institute specifically addressed the position of persons with a disability in the criminal procedure. 297 In some cases legislative advice is given under a specialised mandate. For example, in the Dutch NHRI issued an opinion on the rights of suspects and accused within its CRPD mandate (see above, Chapter 2.5). The Netherlands The Dutch NHRI prepared a legislative advice in the context of the parliamentary discussions on the new code of criminal procedure acting under its CRPD monitoring mandate. The opinion focused on vulnerable suspects and more specifically on how the right to information should be tailored to these suspects. In this opinion, the Dutch NHRI also referred to the EU Recommendation on vulnerable suspects and accused. 298 However, in practice, some of them stated that in view of the targeted expertise and considerable resources required by this type of work it can be difficult to fulfil this part of the mandate.299 Most NHRIs have a strong expertise on commenting on laws and, therefore, cooperation between NHRIs and specialized bodies in this area could be particularly fruitful. Besides giving opinions on bills and proposals, NHRIs can also examine legislation and administration provisions in force. This is an especially important aspect in the context of the EU binding instruments. NHRIs have used opinions to advocate for an amendment of existing laws and practices in the past. Poland After the adoption of the EU Directive on the right to information (2012/13/EU), the Polish NHRI has put forward a motion that concerned the right to information. It referred in details to the Directive 2012/2013/ 71