Annexes In its instructions for the Ombudsman, the Storting may establish: a) whether specific public institutions or enterprises shall be regarded as belonging to the public administration or a part of the services of the state, the municipalities or the county authorities under this Act, b) that certain parts of the activity of a public agency or a public institution shall fall outside the sphere of the Ombudsman’s responsibility. section 43, second paragraph, of the Courts of Justice Act. The court hearings are not open to the public. Section 8. Access to premises, places of service, etc The Ombudsman is entitled to access to places of service, offices and other premises of any administrative agency and any enterprise that comes within his sphere of responsibility. Section 9. Access to documents and duty of confidentiality Section 5. Basis for action The Ombudsman may consider cases either in response to a complaint or on his own initiative. Section 6. Further provisions regarding complaints and time limits for complaints Any person who believes he has been subjected to injustice by the public administration may bring a complaint to the Ombudsman. Any person who is deprived of his personal freedom is entitled to complain to the Ombudsman in a sealed letter. A complaint shall state the name of the complainant and must be submitted not later than one year after the administrative action or matter complained of was committed or ceased. If the complainant has brought the matter before a higher administrative agency, the time limit runs from the date on which this authority renders its decision. The Ombudsman will decide whether a complaint provides sufficient grounds for dealing with the matter. The Ombudsman’s case documents are public. The Ombudsman will make the final decision on whether a document is to be wholly or partially exempt from access. Further rules, including on the right to exempt documents from access, will be provided in the instructions to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has a duty of confidentiality as regards information concerning matters of a personal nature to which he becomes party to during the course of his duties. The duty of confidentiality also applies to information concerning operational and commercial secrets, and information that is classified under the Security Act or the Protection Instructions. The duty of confidentiality continues to apply after the Ombudsman has left his position. The same duty of confidentiality applies to his staff and others who provide assistance. Section 10. Completion of the Ombudsman’s procedures in a case The Ombudsman is entitled to express his opinion on matters within his sphere of responsibility. The Ombudsman may require public officials and all others engaged in the service of the public administration to provide him with such information as he needs to discharge his duties. As the national preventive mechanism, the Ombudsman has a corresponding right to require information from persons in the service of private institutions such as are mentioned in section 4, first paragraph, second sentence. To the same extent he may require that minutes/records and other documents are produced. The Ombudsman may call attention to errors that have been committed or negligence that has been shown in the public administration. If he finds sufficient reason for so doing, he may inform the prosecuting authority or appointments authority of what action he believes should be taken in this connection against the official concerned. If the Ombudsman concludes that a decision must be considered invalid or clearly unreasonable or that it clearly conflicts with good administrative practice, he may express this opinion. If the Ombudsman believes that there is reasonable doubt relating to factors of importance in the case, he may make the appropriate administrative agency aware of this. The Ombudsman may require the taking of evidence by the courts of law, in accordance with the provisions of If the Ombudsman finds that there are circumstances that may entail liability to pay compensation, he may, Section 7. Right to information Norway’s National Preventive Mechanism – Annual Report 2014 69