INSTITUTION STATUS – A COMPLEX AUTHORITY ISSUE restriction was authorised by ‘the local authority’s competence as employer’, i.e. its non-statutory right as employer to manage and distribute work. However, a local authority’s competence as employer only authorises decisions in relation to local authority employees, not citizens. The correct authority for the visiting restriction was institution status. The local authority likewise had not realised that the relationship between the nursing home resident and his close family members was covered by Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention. Moreover, the Ombudsman considered it doubtful whether the actual wording of the visiting restriction was in accordance with the principle of proportionality in Article 8. REGULATION MAY CONSTITUTE A DECISION Some of the actual resolutions made in relation to individual citizens on the basis of institution status are decisions within the meaning of the Public Administration Act. This results in certain requirements in relation to the case processing, including the requirements to hear parties to the case and to give grounds. It is therefore important that the authorities are aware when they are processing a decision case. In the above-mentioned nursing home case, the visiting restriction undoubtedly constituted a decision. However, the local authority had not realised this – with rather unfortunate consequences. The borderline between decisions and other resolutions made on the basis of institution status can also be illustrated by two other cases from 2010. In one case (Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2010, Case No. 20-2), a local authority had decided that a citizen must not contact the family and labour market administration by telephone, but had to turn up in person by prior agreement. The prohibition only applied to the citizen’s contacting the local authority as party representative in his spouse’s case. On the basis of a significance assessment, the Ombudsman did not regard this as a decision within the meaning of the Public Administration Act. By contrast, a decision was involved in another case (Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2010, Case No. 20-3), where a citizen was forbidden to turn up at the town hall in person for initially three years. However, the citizen was still allowed to contact the local authority by telephone or in writing, via a contact person. REGULATION BY STATUTE INSTEAD OF NON-STATUTORY RULES? It is our impression that the local authority in the nursing home case (Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2010, Case No. 20-7) is not alone in 31