In July of this year, a complainant turned to the Human Rights Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) because they had not yet received a decision on their request for the recognition of the right to an old-age pension, which they filed in May with the Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance of Slovenia (Institute). They turned to the Institute at least twice in the period until the decision was issued on 31 August 2022. The Institute confirmed to the Ombudsman that there was indeed a delay in considering the complainant’s matter, for which they apologised. However, the Institute could not explain the reasons for the delay.

The Ombudsman considered the complaint as justified. In this specific case, the Institute violated the provisions of the General Administrative Procedure Act (ZUP) and the principle of good governance by taking a long time to decide on the complainant’s application, thus endangering the constitutional principle of legal certainty.

The Ombudsman expects the Institute to make decisions in the future without delaying and according to statutory deadlines. He also reminded the Institute that this is the third such case this year that has been dealt with by the Ombudsman,[1] although he had reminded the Institute of the importance of the traceability of the administrative procedure already in 2021.[2] The Ombudsman also made the decision that the deficient traceability of cases at the ZPIZ (Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia) will be examined in more detail if they occur again in the future, within the scope of the Ombudsman’s powers. 9.1-7/2022

[1] Cases of the Ombudsman nos.: 9.1-6/2022 and 9.2-26/2021 (for the first case, see: www.varuh-rs.si/obravnavane-pobude/primer/na-vloge-posameznikov-se-je-treba-odzivati/).

[2] Case of the Ombudsman no. 9.1-2/2021 (see: www.varuh-rs.si/sporocila-za-javnost/novica/pomanjkljiva-sledljivost-upravnega-postopka-predstavlja-krsitev-nacela-dobrega-upravljanja/)