The Prevention of Torture Through a National Mechanism jurisdictional scope to cover the Ombudsman and his/her Assistants; their inviolability for the opinions that they formulate and the acts that they perform in the course of their duties; and a strict system of incompatibility with the holding of other positions or the membership of the political party to which they are subject. They have secure tenure in their positions during the five years of their mandate and can only be dismissed for clearly defined causes. In regard to the role of the Ombudsman as NPM, it must be pointed out that this independence complies with the provisions of Art. 18.1 of the OPCAT. 16. The legislators were also concerned to assure that the Ombudsman could The LODP assures full carry out his/her remit effectively. To that end, a preferential, urgent duty to capability for institutional co-operate and assist the Ombudsman was established, applicable to all public authorities under Article 19 of the LODP. This duty is so strong that failure to comply with it is listed as an offence under Article 502.2 of the Criminal Code, action. This is reinforced by the provisions of the Spanish Criminal Code together with other offences against the institutions of the state. Along the same lines, Article 11 of the LODP safeguards the Ombudsman’s entitlement to act in all circumstances, including states of emergency or of siege. A system is also established whereby an interim Ombudsman is appointed should the office be vacant (as it is at the time of writing this report), thus assuring that full capacity for institutional action is maintained (Art. 5.4 LODP). 17. In 2010 no cases of failure to co-operate were detected among the authorities Co-operation on the part of responsible for the places of deprivation of liberty inspected. Any such failure, the authorities responsible e.g. any attempt to prevent or limit access to the said places or to restrict access to documentation, to personnel or to detainees, would have been met by an immediate attempt to solve the problem. If it had persisted, then the disciplinary and criminal-law actions entailed by failure to co-operate with the Ombudsman would have been brought. IV. Structure & Powers of an NPM 18. With the entry into force of the reformulated LODP including the Preventive component of designation of the Ombudsman as NPM, The Office of the Ombudsman took inspection visits on this task in full. Thus, as from November 5, 2009 inspection visits by the Ombudsman have included a more specific preventive component. The first inspection visits made revealed the need to establish a dedicated operational structure. This was also in line with the indications of the SPT, whose third annual report (2010, § 51) states that: “Where existing institutions such as the Ombudsman or the national human rights institution are designated as national preventive mechanisms, a clear distinction should be made between such THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN 17