Chancellor of Justice

The task of the Chancellor of Justice is performing supervision of conformance to the Constitution and inspecting the institutions performing public duties from the aspect of ensuring the constitutional rights and freedoms of persons, i.e. the tasks of an ombudsman.

The Chancellor of Justice is appointed by the Riigikogu for seven years, according to the suggestion of the President of the Republic. On February 12, 2008 the Riigikogu appointed Indrek Teder as the Chancellor of Justice; he gave the oath of office and assumed the office of the Chancellor of Justice on March 10, 2008.

 

The Chancellor of Justice is an official person who is independent in his/her activities. The legal state of the Chancellor of Justice and the work procedures of the Office of the Chancellor of Justice are stated in the Chancellor of Justice Act.

 

Everybody has the right to turn to the Chancellor of Justice for inspecting the activities of state institutions, including the ensuring of constitutional rights and freedoms of persons. The Chancellor of Justice also has the right to personally initiate a procedure for inspecting the ensuring of constitutional rights and freedoms on the basis of previously received information (e.g. presented in media).

The Chancellor of Justice does not proceed with an application based on a case that has a court ruling already in force or that has a pre-trial complaint proceeding or pre-trial court proceeding presently in action.

 

If the Chancellor of Justice finds that the constitutional rights and freedoms of a person have been violated, then he/she makes a suggestion to the violating institution (official) for eliminating the violation and for taking measures to avoid similar violations of law.

If the Chancellor of Justice finds that a legislation is fully or partially non-conformant to the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia or to a legislation with higher status than the Constitution, then he/she makes a justified suggestion to the body having approved the legislation for making the legislation or its relevant clause conform to the Constitution or the higher legislation.

 

On the third working week of the autumn session of the plenary of the Riigikogu, the Chancellor of Justice presents to the Riigikogu an overview of the conformance of the legislation of the local governments and the legislative and executive power of the State to the Constitution and the laws. On one hand, this is a report of the Chancellor of Justice to the parliament about fulfilment of his/her main tasks during the previous 12 months. On the other hand, presenting such an overview allows the Chancellor of Justice to draw the attention of the Riigikogu to shortcomings and legal problems discovered by him/her that have appeared upon implementing the Constitution.