Statement on the requirements that should be placed on the documentation of a decision to bring someone in for questioning

Summary of the decision: On his own initiative, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has investigated the requirements that should be placed on the documentation of a decision to bring someone in for questioning. The point of departure for the investigation was ultimately the individual’s interest in being treated in a lawful and otherwise legally certain manner, as well as providing adequate conditions for subsequent review by, for example, the Parliamentary Ombudsmen.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that a decision to bring someone in for questioning, or at least the agency’s case documents, must describe the circumstances on which the decision-maker’s assessment is based, such as why there is a reasonable concern that the person in question will ignore a summons, or on receiving a summons interfere with the investigation. If the decision-maker’s assessment is based on any additional circumstances that are not apparent from the case documents, this must be noted.

One specific question raised by the Parliamentary Ombudsman is the extent to which the decision-maker’s detailed deliberations on whether the conditions exist to bring someone in for questioning need to be recorded. The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that this question must be answered with due consideration for the circumstance of the individual case. As a rule, such deliberations should be documented when the decision relates to someone who is not suspected of an offence, when the child perspective must be considered, or when proportionality is a particularly prominent concern for some other reason.