STATISTICS OF PROCEEDINGS 1. General outline of statistics of proceedings In 2012, the Chancellor of Justice received 2040 petitions. In comparison to 2011, the number of petitions has dropped by 3.9%. PART III PART II PART I 1.1. Petition-based statistics Figure 1. Number of petitions 2000–2012 1.2. Statistics based on cases opened Statistics of the Office of the Chancellor of Justice are based on cases opened. A ‘case opened’ means taking procedural steps and drafting documents to resolve an issue falling within the jurisdiction of the Chancellor. Petitions that raise the same issue are joined and regarded as a single case. The Chancellor initiates proceedings based either on a petition or on his own initiative. In dealing with a case, the Chancellor decides whether to carry out substantive proceedings or reject a petition for proceedings. Substantive proceedings are divided as follows based on the Chancellor’s competencies: • review of the legality or constitutionality of legislation (i.e. constitutional review proceedings); • verification of the legality of activities of the Government, local authorities, other public-law legal persons or of a private person, body or institution performing a public function (i.e. ombudsman proceedings); • proceedings arising from the Chancellor of Justice Act and other Acts (i.e. special proceedings). The distribution of cases by substance only includes all the proceedings initiated during the reporting year. 32 During the reporting year, the Chancellor opened 1610 cases, which is 7.4% less than in 2011. As at 5 February 2013, 1509 of the cases had been completed, in 29 cases follow-up proceedings were being conducted and 72 cases were still being investigated. In 296 cases substantive proceedings were conducted, and in 1314 cases no substantive proceedings were initiated for various reasons. 52 cases were opened on the Chancellor’s own initiative, and 44 inspection visits were conducted.