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Is the Port of Svaneke an industrial port? This
was the key issue of a complaint case. The
Danish Coastal Authority regarded it as such
and had therefore granted permission for the
building of a new jetty. By contrast, a man
who lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman
believed it was not an industrial port, which
rendered the jetty illegal. The Ombudsman’s
investigation of the case revealed that the
Bornholm Regional Authority had classified the
port as a minor industrial port. He therefore
declared himself in agreement with the
Coastal Authority, which meant that he could
not help the complainant.
If the Ombudsman discovers that an authority
has handled a case correctly and, among other
things, taken account of the relevant circum
stances, he will typically state that he is unable
to assess and weigh the circumstances of the
case in a different and better way than the
authority.
A government agency granted a man access to the information and documents filed in a case, with a
few exceptions. Later, it turned out that the agency held another 1,500 or so e-mails about the case
which had not been filed.
The case caused the Ombudsman to ask the agency which files it believed had to be released. The
agency agreed with the Ombudsman that the right of access is not limited to the documents filed
in a case. It also agreed that e-mails – depending on their content – may be ‘documents’ subject to
access. However, it took the view that the approx. 1,500 e-mails were so casual and informal in nature
that they did not constitute ‘documents’ within the meaning of the Act on Public Access to Docu
ments on Public Files. Nonetheless, the agency decided to grant the man access to the e-mails.
As there was thus agreement on the rules applying to the specific case and as the man had been
granted access to the e-mails, the Ombudsman took no further action in the case.
Nonetheless, he expressed surprise that hardly any of the 1,500 e-mails constituted documents
within the meaning of the Act on Public Access to Documents on Public Files. In fact, the agency’s
description of them suggested that some of these e-mails might be of significant importance to the
case and therefore to be regarded as documents.
The Ombudsman may decide to close a case without an actual Ombudsman statement. This may, for
instance, occur if the authority expresses agreement with the Ombudsman in its reply to him or if the
problem has been resolved in the meantime.
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