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of public interest, I may report it to the National Authority for Data Protection and
Freedom of Information.86 I did not avail myself of this possibility in 2015.
5.4.4. Making the NPM’s reports public
“The reports of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights shall be public.” Published reports may not contain
personal data, classified data, secrets protected by an Act or secrets restricted to the exercise of a profession.87
I always send my reports on the visits of the NPM to the head of the place of detention
concerned, the addressees of the recommendations, the members of the Civil Consultative Body
and the Hungarian member of the CPT.
I have to make my reports available to anyone without restrictions, electronically, free of charge
on the homepage of my Office. The NPM’s reports are made publicly available to anyone by my
colleagues, in Hungarian, within a couple of days after having sent them to the above listed
addressees. The reports of the NPM have to be deposited, within thirty days upon their
publication, in the Office’s digital archives as well.88
Due to the lack of appropriate financial resources, there is only one report that I could publish in
English in its entirety. The costs of translating the report on the NPM’s visit to the Debrecen
Guarded Refugee Reception Center to English were borne by the UNHCR Regional
Representation for Central Europe. The English language summaries of the reports on the other
visits were published on the homepage of my Office within thirty days upon their publication.
5.5. Dialog on the NPM’s recommendations
Pursuant to Article 22 of the OPCAT, the “competent authorities of the State Party concerned shall
examine the recommendations of the national preventive mechanism and enter into a dialogue with it on possible
implementation measures”.
Although the recommendations of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights are not binding,
the Ombudsman Act compels the authority concerned to give a meaningful response to the
conclusions and critical remarks of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights and his initiatives
aimed at the elimination of the anomalies discovered. The Ombudsman Act even specifies the
deadline for such responses. The aforementioned provisions have to be complied with not only
in my general activities aimed at the protection of fundamental rights, but also in the course of
performing the tasks of the NPM.
If the authority subject to inquiry is able to terminate the impropriety related to fundamental
rights within its competence, I may initiate redress of the impropriety by the head of the authority
subject to inquiry. Such initiative may be made directly by phone, orally or by e-mail. In such
cases the date, manner and substance of the initiative have to be recorded in the case file. Within
thirty days of receipt of the initiative the authority subject to inquiry has to inform me of its
position on the merits of the initiative and on the measures taken. 89 If the authority subject to
inquiry does not agree with the initiative, it has to, within thirty days of receipt of the initiative,
See Section 36 of the Ombudsman Act
See Section 28, Subsection (2) of the Ombudsman Act
88 See Section 39, Subsection (1) of Directive 2/2012. (January 20) AJB on the professional rules and methods of investigations by
the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights
89 See Section 32, Subsections (1) and (2) of the Ombudsman Act
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