The National Council of the
Slovak Republic Act on Public Defender of Rights
564/2001
ACT
of December 4, 2001
ON PUBLIC DEFENDER OF RIGHTS
The National Council of the
§ 1
Subject of Act
This Act shall deal with:
a)
the scope and the way, whereby the public defender of rights[1]) shall participate in the protection of the
fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and legal entities with
respect to the activities, decision-making or inactivity of public
administration bodies 2), if such activities, decision-making or inactivity is
in conflict with the legal order or the principles of the democratic state
and the rule of law, and
b) details of the election and the recall of the public
defender of rights, his competence, the conditions of performing his function,
the means of providing legal protection and enforcement of rights of natural
persons and legal entities.
Seat and Competence of Public Defender of
Rights
§ 2
Public defender of rights shall have
his seat in
§ 3
(1) The
competence of the public defender of rights shall apply to:
a)
state
administration bodies
b)
local
self-governmental bodies
c)
Legal
entities and natural persons, who are taking decisions on or otherwise
intervene into the rights and duties of natural persons and legal persons in
the area of public administration, following provisions of the specific act.
(2) The
competence of the public defender of rights shall not apply to the National
Council of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter only the “National Council”), the
President of the Slovak Republic, the Government of the Slovak Republic, the
Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, the Supreme Audit Office of the
Slovak Republic, intelligence agencies,
investigators of the Police Corps, the prosecution and courts, with the
exception of state administration of courts and the reasons, in which
disciplinary misdemeanour of the judge is presumed 3).
3)
The competence of the public defender of rights is not applied also to the
matters of operational or mobilization nature.
§ 4
Election of Public Defender of Rights
(1)
The public defender of rights shall be elected by the National Council from
among the candidates proposed by at least 15 members of the National Council.
(2) A person,
who can be elected as public defender of rights, must be a citizen of the
a)
has
reached the age of 35 years by the day of election,
b)
has
full legal capacity,
c)
is
of irreproachable character and has education, skills, experiences and moral
character giving a guarantee that he shall properly exercise the function
of public defender of rights,
d)
is
not a member of a political party or political movement,
e)
has
permanent residence in the territory of the
f)
agrees with his election as public defender of
rights.
(3) The
National Council shall examine fulfilment of the conditions contained in
paragraphs 2 above before voting on a proposal for election.
(4) For the purposes of this Act,
irreproachable citizen is citizen who has not been convicted by a final court
decision for the commission of intentional criminal offence or for criminal
offence, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment without suspension. The
irreproachableness shall be proved by an extract from the Criminal Record 4)
not older than three months.
§ 5
Term of Office
The term of office of
the public defender of rights shall be five years. The period shall start
on the day, when oath is taken. The same
person may be elected as public defender of rights for at most two consecutive
terms.
§ 6
Oath
(1)
The public defender of rights shall take the following oath to the Speaker of
the National Council: “I swear on
my honour and conscience that I shall observe the Constitution of the
Slovak Republic, constitutional laws, laws and international treaties
promulgated in the manner prescribed by law, that I shall participate in
the protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and
legal entities with respect to the activities, decision-making or inactivity of
public administration bodies, and that I shall protect the fundamental
rights and freedoms in compliance with the principles of the democratic
state and the rule of law.”.
(2)
The public defender of rights shall confirm taking the oath by his
signature on a document with the text of the oath; the date of taking the
oath must be indicated on the document.
(3)
The public defender of rights shall start to perform his function by taking the
oath.
(4)
A refusal to take the oath or taking the oath with reservations shall
result in invalidity of the election of the public defender of rights.
§ 7
Incompatibility of Function of Public Defender
of Rights
(1) The performance of the function
of the public defender of rights shall be incompatible with the performance of
the function of the President of the Slovak Republic, a member of the
National Council, a member of the Government of the Slovak Republic,
a director or president of a central body of the state administration
of the Slovak Republic, a president or vice-president of the Supreme Audit
Office of the Slovak Republic, a judge of the Constitutional Court of the
Slovak Republic, a judge, a prosecutor, a member of the Slovak Information
Service, a member of the Police Corps or other armed corps, and with
a function in public administration bodies.
(2) During performance of the
function of public defender of rights, the public defender is not allowed to
perform any business or other profit-making activity with exemption of
administration of his own assets or assets of his minor children and
scientific, educational, literary and artistic activities provided these
activities do not interfere with the proper exercise and dignity of his
function of public defender and do not affect trust in the impartiality and
independence of public defender of rights.
(3) The facts as stated above under
section 1 and 2 above are obstacles to the function of the public defender of
rights.
Termination of Function of Public Defender of
Rights
§ 8
(1) The performance of the function
of public defender of rights shall terminate before expiration of the term of
office
a)
based
on resignation from office,
b)
based
on the loss of eligibility to be elected according to Article 4,
c)
if
there is a valid final court decision, whereby the public defender of
rights was convinced of committing an intentional criminal offence or whereby
he was convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment
without court’s decision on a conditional suspension of the sentence,
d)
by
performance of activity, which is incompatible with the function of public
defender of rights, or
e)
by death.
(2) The public defender of rights is
obliged to report the facts stated under section 1, subparagraphs a) to d)
above to the Speaker of the National Council in writing. The coming into force
of a court decision, whereby the public defender of rights was convinced
of committing an intentional criminal offence or whereby he was convicted of a criminal
offence and sentenced to imprisonment without court’s decision on
a conditional suspension of the sentence, and the coming into force of a
court decision, whereby he was deprived of legal capacity or his legal capacity
was restricted, shall be reported to the Speaker of National Council by a court
that has decided in the matter.
§ 9
(1)
The public defender of rights may resign from his function by a written
notice sent to the Speaker of the National Council.
(2)
The function of the public defender of rights shall then expire at the end of
the calendar month following the month of delivery of the written notice of
resignation to the Speaker of the National Council. However, the public
defender of rights shall be obliged to execute all the activities, which may
not be postponed for prevention from prejudice to the rights of claimants.
§ 10
(1)
The National Council may recall the public defender of rights from his
function, if his health condition disables him to properly perform duties arising
from the function for a long period of time, but at least for three months.
(2)
The public defender of rights shall be recalled from the function on the day
following the day when a decision of the National Council on his recall
from the function has been delivered to him.
Legal Protection of Natural Persons and Legal
Entities
§ 11
(1)
Anybody who believes that his fundamental rights and freedoms were infringed
contrary to the legal order or principles of the democratic state and the rule
of law in relation to the activities, decision-making or inactivity of a public
administration body can turn to the public defender of rights.
(2)
Natural persons may use their mother tongue in contacts with the public
defender of rights. The costs of interpretation shall be borne by the
state.
§ 12
(1)
The public defender of rights shall be under duty to keep confidentiality in
the matters of protection of personality, of which he became aware in
performance of his function. The duty shall persist even after termination of
performance of the function. The Speaker of the National Council can release
the public defender of rights from the confidentiality obligation, except of
case of personal data.
(2)
Information on the activities of the public defender of rights shall be made
available according to specific act. 6)
(3) The public defender of rights
shall be entitled to handle personal data necessary for complaint settlement,
acting in accordance with specific regulation.
7)
§ 13
(1)
The public defender of rights shall act upon a complaint of a natural person or
legal entity or on his own initiative.
(2) A complaint can be filed in
writing, verbally into the minutes, by telegram, facsimile or e-mail.
(3) The
complaint shall clearly indicate a matter, to which it relates, a public
administration body, against which the complaint is filed, and an action,
execution of which the claimant requires.
(4) If the complaint does not contain prescribed essentials,
the public defender of rights shall ask the claimant immediately to complete or
specify an incomplete or unclear complaint within a certain period of time,
which may not be shorter than seven days. He shall also instruct the claimant
how to do the completion or specification. If the claimant fails to complete or
specify the complaint within specified period of time despite the public
defender of rights request and the failure makes it impossible to continue in
dealing with the complaint, the public defender of rights shall put off the
complaint. He shall instruct the claimant on these consequences. If an
addressee fails to pick up the request, sent according to the first sentence
above, within three days from putting the request in post office, the last day
of the period shall be considered as date of delivery, even if the addressee
has not become aware of the put request at all. If the claimant only indicates
e-mail address in his complaint, request according to the first sentence shall
be considered as delivered after expiration of period of three days from its
forwarding, even if the addressee has not become aware of the forwarded request
at all.
(5)
The written complaint of a person who is deprived of personal liberty or person
whose personal liberty is restricted shall not subject to official inspection,
if it is addressed to the public defender of rights.
(6) If
the claimant asks the public defender of rights to keep his identity
confidential or if the confidentiality is in the interest of proper settlement
of the complaint, only a copy of complaint, which contains no personal data 8),
shall be used in dealing with matter. 8) Every person participating in dealing
with the matter, who knows the claimant’s identity, shall be obliged to keep it
confidential.
(7) If
a claimant has asked for his identity to be kept confidential, but the nature
of the complaint does not enable to settle the matter without disclosure of
some of personal data, the claimant shall be immediately notified of it. At the
same time, it shall be necessary to inform the claimant that for further
dealing with the complaint his approval with disclosure of certain needed
personal information has to be given within certain term.
(8) A
complaint, in which the claimant fails to mention his name, surname and address
(business name and registered office in the case of legal entity), is an
anonymous complaint. The public defender of rights is not obliged to deal with
anonymous complaint.
Procedure Used in Dealing with Complaint
§ 14
(1) The public
defender of rights shall investigate the complaint.
(2) If
the public defender of rights finds the complaint, due to its content, is
actually a remedy according to regulations on proceeding in administrative or
judicial matters, a suit or remedy in administrative justice or the
constitutional complaint, he shall immediately notify the claimant of the fact
and instruct the claimant about the correct procedure.
(3) If
the public defender of rights finds facts indicating that there is a person illegally detained at
place of custody, imprisonment, disciplinary sanctions for soldiers,
court-ordered rehabilitation, juvenile correction, court-ordered hospitalization
or residential care of children, or in a detention cell, he shall report the
fact to competent prosecutor, asking the prosecutor to act in accordance with
specific act 9), and inform management of respective facility and person
concerned on the situation.
(4) If
the complaint relates to review of a final decision of a public administration
body or if the public defender of rights considers the decision of the public
administration body is contrary to any act or other generally binding legal
regulation, he can forward matter to competent prosecutor 10) to deal with it
or he shall take other measure, notifying the claimant of taken action. He can
do the same also in the case of a complaint containing proposals of measures,
for which a prosecutor is competent.
(5)
The prosecutor shall be obliged to inform the public defender of rights within
the periods set by the law 11) on the measures he has taken for removing the
illegitimacy.
§ 15
(1) The public
defender of rights shall put off the complaint, if
a)
his
competence doesn’t cover the matter, to which the complaint relates,
b)
the
case, to which the complaint relates, is before a court and there are not
delays in proceeding or a court already has decided in the case,
c)
the
case, to which the complaint relates, is just investigated or already has been investigated by
prosecution,
d)
a
public administration body, which doesn’t fall within competence of the public
defender of rights, is acting in or taking a decision on the case to which the
complaint relates or a public administration body, which doesn’t fall within
competence of the public defender of rights, has already decided on the case,
e)
claimant
withdraws his complaint or notifies he doesn’t longer insist on investigation,
or
f)
essentials given under § 13, sect. 4 were not added or
specified within set term.
(2)
The
public defender of rights may put off the complaint if he finds that
a)
the
complaint doesn’t relate to claimant and the claimant fails to submit written
approval with submission of complaint, issued by a person concerned, or power
of attorney covering the case,
b)
a
period of time longer than three years has passed from the
time of measure or event, which the complaint concerns, to the date of delivery
of the complaint,
c)
the complaint is manifestly unfounded,
d)
the
complaint is anonymous,
e)
the complaint concerns a matter which has been
already settled by the public defender of rights and the repeated complaint
does not contain new facts,
3) The public defender of rights
shall notify the claimant the complaint was put off, informing him on reasons
for such action as well; the provision is not applied to anonymous complaints.
§ 16
(1) The complaint shall be
considered as settled
a)
by
notification in accordance with §14, sect. 2, § 15, § 18, § 22, sect. 1,
b)
by
announcement and notification in accordance with §14, sect. 3,
c)
by forwarding and notification in accordance with
§14, sect. 4.
(2) The complaint shall be
considered as settled even in the case of failed attempt for delivery of the
notice of complaint settlement according to section 1 above to an address,
which the addressee gave in the complaint or provided to the public defender of
rights, when the public defender was dealing with the complaint.
§ 17
(1)
Dealing with the complaint, the public defender of rights shall be authorized
to
a)
enter
into the premises of the public administration bodies 2),202
b)
ask public administration body to provide him with
the necessary files and documents as well as an explanation concerning the
subject of the complaint. The provision is applied even in the case, when right
to look into files is granted only to a limited group of entities in accordance
with specific regulation 11a),
c)
question
the employees of public administration body,
d)
talk
with the persons, who are detained at places of custody, imprisonment,
disciplinary sanctions of soldiers, court-ordered rehabilitation, juvenile
correction, court-ordered hospitalization or residential care of children, or
in detention cell, also in the absence of other persons,
(2)
Upon the public defender of rights demand, public administration bodies shall
be obliged to
a)
provide
him with information and explanations,
b)
enable
him to look into a file or borrow him a file,
c)
submit
to him a written opinion regarding the factual and legal questions,
d)
cope
with evidence proposed by the public defender of rights,
e)
cope
with evidence proposed by the public defender of rights
f)
carry
out the measures proposed by the public defender of rights in the case of
inactivity of the bodies, if they are obliged to carry out such measures based
on law or other generally binding legal regulation,
g)
enable the public defender to take part in hearing
and to question participants of the proceedings and persons taking part in the
proceedings.
(3) Public administration bodies
shall be obliged to enable a usage of authorizations pursuant to section 1
and immediately comply with the public defender of rights request
according to sect. 2, lett. a) and b). Public administration bodies shall be obliged to
comply with the public defender of rights request according to sect. 2, lett. c) up
to f) within 20 days from its delivery.
(4) As to information and
explanation according to sect. 2, lett.
a), an employee, who would breach confidentiality obligation,
acknowledged or imposed by state 12), in the case of provision of required
information and explanation, can refuse to provide the information and
explanation unless he has been exempted of the obligation on the basis of law
(5) If public administration body
fails to comply with the public defender of rights request pursuant to section
2, the public defender of rights shall report the failure to the superior body
or to the Government of the
(6) The superior body or, if no
superior body exists, the Government of the
(7) If
the public defender of rights does not consider the measures adopted according
section 6 as sufficient, he shall report the fact to the National Council or to
a body authorized by the National Council.
(8) Dealing with complaint the
public defender of rights shall be even authorized to look into, make abstracts
and extracts from and copies of files related to cases under legal proceedings
and under proceedings held by bodies competent for criminal proceedings in
matters falling within a scope of his competences, if such activities are
necessary for proper settlement of complaint.
Provisions of §17, sect. 1 and 2, lett.
a) up to e) shall be applied accordingly.
§ 18
If investigation of complaint does
not result in proved breach of the fundamental rights and freedoms, the public
defender of rights shall notify the claimant and the public administration
body, against activities, decision or inactivity of which the complaint has
been submitted, of the result in writing.
§ 19
If investigation of complaint
results in proved breach of the fundamental rights and freedoms, the public
defender of rights shall notify the public administration body, against
activity, decision or inactivity of which the complaint has been submitted, of
the result along with proposal of measures.
(2) The public administration body
shall be obliged to inform the public defender of rights of its opinion of the
results of investigation of complaint and adopted measures within 20 days from
date of delivery of the public defender of rights call for adoption of
measures.
(3) If the public defender of rights
disapproves with the public administration body’s opinion or does not consider
the measures adopted as sufficient, he shall report the fact to the body that
is superior to the body, against which the complaint has been submitted, or to
the Government of the
(4) The superior public
administration body or, if no superior body exists, the Government of the
(5) If
the public defender of rights does not consider the measures adopted according
section 4 as sufficient, he shall report the fact to the National Council or to
a body authorized by the National Council.
§ 20
(1) If
the public defender of rights finds in investigation of the complaint the facts
indicating that a crime, offence or other administrative contravention or disciplinary
offence has been committed in the activity of the public administration body or
that the duty laid down by the law has been breached, he shall notify competent
body of his findings.
(2)
The body, which has been notified by the public defender of rights of facts
pursuant to section 1, shall inform the public defender of rights of the
measures adopted on the basis of his notice.
(3) If
the public defender of rights does not consider the implemented measures as
sufficient, he shall report the fact to the superior body or to the Government
of the
(4) The superior body or, if no
superior body exists, the Government of the
(5) If
the public defender of rights does not consider the measures adopted according
section 4 as sufficient, he shall report the fact to the National Council or to
a body authorized by the National Council.
§ 21
(1) If
the public defender of rights finds in investigation of complaint the facts
indicating infringement of the fundamental rights and freedoms by any act,
other generally binding legal regulation or internal regulation issued by the
public administration body, he can file a motion to change or repeal to the
competent body.
(2)
The body, to which the public defender of rights has submitted the motion
pursuant to section 1, shall notify the public defender of rights of the
measures it has implemented on the basis of his motion.
(3) The public
defender of rights can apply for commencement of proceedings before the
Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic in the matter of consistency of
legal regulations according to the Article 125 sect. 1 of the Constitution of
the Slovak Republic, if their further application could represent a threat
to the fundamental rights and freedoms or human rights and fundamental
freedoms, as arise from an international treaty that has been ratified by the
Slovak Republic and published in a way specified by a law.
§ 22
(1)
The public defender of rights shall notify in writing the complainant
and the natural person whose fundamental rights and freedoms have been
infringed by the activities, decision-making or inactivity of public
administration bodies, of results of the complaint investigation and adopted
measures.
(2) The provisions of § 14, section
3 and § 17 up to 21 shall be applied to the public defender of rights and
public administration bodies even if the public defender of rights performs
tasks, falling within a scope of his competence, on his own initiative without
submitted complaint related to the matter.
Report of Activities
§ 23
(1)
The public defender of rights shall annually submit to the National Council in
the first quarter an activity report which shall contain his findings on
observance of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the natural persons and
legal persons by the public administration bodies, and his proposals and
recommendations for correction of found imperfections.
(2)
The public defender of rights shall publish the activity report pursuant to
section 1 through internet and periodicals and, possibly, other information
media.
(3)
The public defender of rights shall inform about his activities and the results
thereof using internet and other information media.
§ 24
If the public defender of rights
finds facts indicating that an infringement of the fundamental right and
freedom is significant or relates to higher number of persons, he can submit an
extraordinary report to the National Council. The extraordinary report can also
contain a proposal for the report to be discussed on the next plenary session
of the National Council.
§ 25
Co-action
Exercising his competences, the
public defender of rights shall cooperate with respective public administration
bodies and bodies of prosecution. The
public defender of rights can cooperate also with other entities, which are
active in the field of protection of rights and freedoms.
§ 26
Remunerations Paid to Public Defender of
Rights
The public defender of rights shall
be entitled to same remunerations, lump-sum reimbursements and reimbursements
for other expenses connected with execution of his function as remunerations,
lump-sum reimbursements and reimbursements for other expenses paid based on
specific regulation to a member of the National Council, who acts as
Vice-Speaker of the National Council 13).
During a term of his office, the public defender of rights shall be a
subject to health insurance 14), medical insurance and retirement insurance 15)
in the same way as the employees in employment relationship. The public
defender shall be entitled to children benefits under the conditions and in the
amount, as specified by specific regulation 16).
§ 27
The Secretariat of the Public Defender of
Rights
(1)
The Secretariat of the Public Defender of Rights (hereinafter only “the
Secretariat”) shall be established.
(2)
The Secretariat shall be a legal entity with its seat in
(3) The Secretariat shall be
entitled to require from the public administration bodies to provide documents
and information, which the public defender of rights shall need for fulfilment
of his tasks.
(4) The secretariat shall be headed
by the Head of the Secretariat, who shall be appointed and recalled by the
public defender of rights. The Head of the Secretariat shall be responsible for
his activity to the public defender of rights.
(5) The Secretariat of the public
defender of rights shall be budgetary organization 17).
(6) Details of the
organization and tasks of the Secretariat shall be specified in the
organizational rules issued by the public defender of rights.
§ 27a
(1) Tasks of the Secretariat shall
be fulfilled by state employees 18) and employees 19). Number of employees of
the Secretariat shall be approved by the public defender of rights.
(2) The state employees in the
Secretariat and the employees of the Secretariat shall be remunerated in
accordance with specific regulation 20) and rules of remuneration that are
included in enclosure. The Secretariat’s
rules of remuneration include characteristics of wage categories of state
employees in the Secretariat, catalogues of activities of employees of the
Secretariat and wage scales of the Secretariat’s employees. Remunerating the state employees in the
Secretariat and the employees of the Secretariat and their other matters follow
provisions of specific regulation 21) unless otherwise specified by this act.
(3) Increase of wage scales of the state employees in the Secretariat and increase of wage scales of the Secretariat’s employees shall be realized in accordance with level determined on the basis of specific regulation 22). The increased wage scales of the st