The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care is criticised for delaying by just over two weeks a decision concerning a request for the disclosure of official documents

Summary of the decision: Having been denied a request for the release of certain documents, an individual requested the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) to provide a copy of the authority’s decision on the matter. It took just over two weeks for the authority to reach its decision.

In this decision, the Parliamentary Ombudsman states that the provision of the Freedom of the Press Act (SFS 1949:105) that requests for copies of official documents shall be dealt with promptly also applies to the authority’s decision on the matter. Notwithstanding SiS’ assessment that the issue of law in question was complex and a matter of principle, the Parliamentary Ombudsman comes to conclusion that the processing time in the particular case was too long. SiS is therefore criticised for the delay in notifying its decision, as well as for providing misleading information in an email concerning the obligation of public authorities to deal with such requests promptly.