When the Ombudsman concludes that rights of complainant are infringed by state administration bodies set out in Article 2 of the Law on the Ombudsman he may:
- give recommendations, proposals, opinions and indications on the manner of the removal of the determined infringements (the Ombudsman gives recommendations when there are undoubted infringements of rights by concrete act or action. He gives opinion when estimate that there is a need for change or amendment of general act of the organ or organisation. Indications are given when facts indicates that continuing acting of the organ or organisation will infringe rights of complainant);
- propose implementation of certain procedure pursuant to law if there are conditions for repeat or renew of the proceeding on request of citizen or if there are base for change of administrative ex-officio act;
- raise an initiative for commencing disciplinary proceedings against an official i.e. the responsible person if estimate that by action or non-action that official gives base for suspicion that he/she had infringed work or official duty;
- submit a request to the competent Public Prosecutor for initiation of a procedure in order to determine a criminal responsibility if estimate that there is grounded suspicion on made offence or criminal act foreseen by law;
- to request temporarily postponement of the implementation of the administrative act until the decision by the second-instance body or competent court is adopted if he estimate that infringements of rights and execution of the administrative act may cause irreparable damage to the right of some of interested person in the proceeding.
During the proceeding the Ombudsman can call on the principle of equity when from objective and subjective circumstances and existing positive law arise that use of rules of law will result with obvious injustice.
Following situation on adequate and equitable representation of community members the Ombudsman acts: on submitted complaints; on his own initiative if get information for breaching of these principles; on the base of direct insight in organs, organisations and agencies; by monitoring on established obligations in programmes of work of the organs and agencies; by monitoring of notice for admission of new employees in organs and agencies which has to respect those constitutional rules.
To secure and respect constitutional and legal rights and principles of non-discrimination and adequate and equitable representation of community members the Ombudsman can send suggestions, opinions and critics on his own initiative to the organs on which he has competence to treat if he estimate that some general or particular acts, taking or non-taking particular activities organs or organisations doesn’t respect or doesn’t create legal mechanisms for respect and realisation of citizens rights and principles regarding members of communities.
After the receipt of the petition, the Ombudsman can decide to reject it or not investigate it if it is anonymous, it was not submitted within a prescribed deadline, or it represents an abuse of the right to appeal. The Ombudsman is obliged to inform the petitioner in the shortest possible deadline, to explain the reasons for it, and, where possible, to give him guidance as to how to exercise his right.
The Ombudsman rejects the petition if:
- From the available data it turns out that there has been no violation of the basic human rights and freedoms of a citizen, or any other irregularity;
- The petition is incomplete, and the petitioner failed to furnish the missing information even after Ombudsman’s prompting;
- The case the petition refers to is pending before court organs.The Ombudsman does not initiate proceedings if from the last activity or decision of the organ, that is, organization has elapsed more than a year, save if he assesses that the petitioner missed the deadline due to justified reasons.
If the Ombudsman decides to start the proceedings, he informs about it both the petitioner and the organ, that is, the organization the petition refers to.
Within his remit, after the receipt of the petition, in the proceedings the Ombudsman can:
- Call for requisite clarification and additional information from the organs, that is, the organizations named in the allegations of the petition;
- Conduct inspection of the operations within the authority of the organs, that is, organizations;
- Invite for an interview an official or employee of the organ, that is, organization and any other person, as well as request opinion from scientific and expert institutions.
The organs and organizations have the obligation to cooperate with the Ombudsman and, at his request, provide all the data and information, regardless of the degree of confidentiality, and to make provisions for a conducting of the procedure. The Ombudsman is bound by the regulations respecting keeping a secret.
When the Ombudsman ascertains that a petitioner’s constitutional and legal right has been violated, with respect to the organs and organizations that violated said right, he can do as follows:
- Suggest that the organ, that is, organization conduct a certain procedure in compliance with law;
- Submit a claim to the organ, that is, organization for a temporary stay of execution;
- Suggest taking disciplinary actions against the official of the organ, that is, organization;
- File a claim to the authorized public prosecutor for the initiating of the procedure for the determining of misdemeanour or criminal responsibility;
- Give proposals for the improvement of work with and treatment of parties by the organs, that is, organizations.
The organs and organizations have the obligation to act upon the proposals, opinions, and recommendations of the Ombudsman, and, within a time framework not longer than 30 days, notify the Ombudsman about the undertaken measures and actions initiated by his requests. If they fail to comply and do not inform the Ombudsman about the implementation of his proposals and recommendations, or only partially adopt said activities, the Ombudsman can inform the next higher organ about it, an authorized ministry, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, and, with a special report, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, or publicise the case.
After the procedure is completed, the Ombudsman notifies the petitioner.