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• Our Ombudsman's Report for 2023-24
• Resources on patient safety
• A new Case Digest on care homes
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Quarterly Bulletin - October 2024 (427.19 KB, pdf)

Today, 17 October 2024, Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina welcomed the President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia Marko Lotrič to the premises of the Ombudsman. They talked about the existing cooperation between the institutions and the possibilities for joint action in the field of human rights protection. They assessed that the cooperation between the Ombudsman and the National Council is exemplary, and Ombudsman Svetina emphasised the importance of regular meetings between institutions, which enables better addressing of the issues of the realisation of human rights at the national level.

They also discussed the preparation of joint projects in the field of raising awareness of human rights and social justice. They paid special attention to topics that concern vulnerable groups of the population and strengthening their position in society. They agreed that cooperation is key to achieving progress in the field of human rights protection and that the two institutions will continue to work together in this direction.

News - Date Monday | 21 October 2024
Case OI/2/2023/MIK - Opened on Thursday | 08 June 2023 - Recommendation on Monday | 21 October 2024 - Institution concerned European Commission - Country France

• Inquiry opened

  08/05/2023

• Inquiry ongoing

  08/06/2023

• Preliminary outcome

  17/10/2024

• Preliminary outcome

• Outcome

The Ombudsman has found the European Commission’s persistent failure to meet the legal deadlines for preparing authorisation decisions concerning dangerous chemical substances to be maladministration.

It takes the Commission on average 14.5 months to prepare draft decisions although the deadline for doing so is three months. In certain cases, it takes several years.

These delays represent a threat to human health and the environment as companies are able to continue using the chemical substances, which may be carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction, or have endocrine disrupting properties, during the authorisation process. Additional conditions and monitoring arrangements that the Commission may define in its decision to limit the substances’ harm are also not applicable during this process.

Under the EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), companies wishing to use chemical substances that have been deemed as ‘of very high concern’ and included in the list of substances subject to prior authorisation must apply for authorisation from the Commission. The Commission then presents a draft decision to the REACH Committee, composed of Member State representatives, who vote on authorisation.

Stressing that the purpose of REACH is to urgently phase out or control the use of particularly dangerous chemical substances, the Ombudsman has asked the Commission to review its internal procedures for preparing authorisation decisions.

As a significant cause of these delays may be the lack of sufficient information in many companies’ applications, the Ombudsman called on the Commission to ensure companies submit applications that contain all the necessary information and prioritise the rejection of applications that do not. Companies that have their applications rejected would no longer be able to use the dangerous substances in the EU.

Transparency of authorisation process

The Ombudsman also found maladministration in the Commission’s failure to ensure the decision-making process for authorisation was sufficiently transparent.

In particular, she criticised the lack of information it published concerning the REACH Committee’s deliberations, with summary records of its meetings not fully capturing the state of play of individual files or the reasons for delays, such as disagreements among the Member States.

She asked the Commission to publish timely and more substantial summaries of Committee meetings, noting that this would help the public scrutinise the cause of excessive delays and keep decision makers accountable.

E’ stato firmato nella sede pescarese del Consiglio regionale, l’Accordo di collaborazione tra il Dipartimento di Scienze giuridiche e sociali dell’Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” di Chieti-Pescara e l’Ufficio del Difensore civico della Regione Abruzzo. L’obiettivo è realizzare attività didattica, formativa, di public engagement, di ricerca e sviluppo sulle materie rientranti nelle competenze del Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche e Sociali e della Difesa Civica. La stipula della convenzione è stata seguita da un incontro, al quale hanno partecipato il Difensore civico avvocato Umberto Di Primio, il professore associato del Dipartimento di Scienze giuridiche e sociali dottor Antonello Canzano e i funzionari del Servizio di supporto Autorità Indipendenti del Consiglio regionale dell’Abruzzo. Nel corso della riunione sono stati pianificati una serie di eventi formativi e di comunicazione che verteranno proprio sulla figura e sulle competenze del Difensore civico. Si tratta di 4 appuntamenti che coinvolgeranno tutte le province abruzzesi. La convenzione ha durata biennale ed è finalizzata a promuovere e svolgere attività di ricerca congiunta, ad organizzare corsi, seminari, attività divulgativa, nonché corsi di aggiornamento e convegni di studio. È volontà dei sottoscrittori promuovere il dibattito scientifico, curare la pubblicazione di saggi, articoli e approfondimenti in materia di accesso agli atti e documenti della pubblica amministrazione e sui modelli di democrazia partecipata. L’accordo siglato agevolerà anche la presenza di laureandi e laureati negli Uffici della Difesa Civica al fine di svolgere periodi di ricerca-stage-tirocini formativi. Infine, con la sottoscrizione, le parti daranno significativo impulso alla terza missione universitaria mediante il coinvolgimento di entità rappresentative della società e del territorio.

(fonte: https://www.emiciclonews.it/notizie/229613-difesa-civica-firmato-accordo-tra-regione-e-universit%C3%A0)

The Western Trust approved two special chairs for an autistic child to use in school without properly assessing his needs. The Trust should also have given the school clearer instructions on how the chairs were to be used.

Read our full report here.