Citizens' rights
Article 41 - Right to good administration
1. Every person has the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union. 2. This right includes: (a) the right of every person to be heard, before any individual measure which would affect him or her adversely is taken; (b) the right of every person to have access to his or her file, while respecting the legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy; (c) the obligation of the administration to give reasons for its decisions. 3. Every person has the right to have the Union make good any damage caused by its institutions or by its servants in the performance of their duties, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States.4. Every person may write to the institutions of the Union in one of the languages of the Treaties and must have an answer in the same language.
Article 41 is based on the existence of the Union as subject to the rule of law whose characteristics were developed in the case-law which enshrined inter alia good administration as a general principle of law (see inter alia Court of Justice judgment of 31 March 1992 in Case C-255/90 P Burban [1992] ECR I-2253, and Court of First Instance judgments of 18 September 1995 in Case T-167/94 Nölle [1995] ECR II-2589, and 9 July 1999 in Case T-231/97 New Europe Consulting and others [1999] ECR II-2403). The wording for that right in the first two paragraphs results from the case-law (Court of Justice judgment of 15 October 1987 in Case 222/86 Heylens [1987] ECR 4097, paragraph 15 of the grounds, judgment of 18 October 1989 in Case 374/87 Orkem [1989] ECR 3283, judgment of 21 November 1991 in Case C-269/90 TU München [1991] ECR I-5469, and Court of First Instance judgments of 6 December 1994 in Case T-450/93 Lisrestal [1994] ECR II-1177, 18 September 1995 in Case T-167/94 Nölle [1995] ECR II-2589) and the wording regarding the obligation to give reasons comes from Article 296 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (cf. also the legal base in Article 298 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union for the adoption of legislation in the interest of an open, efficient and independent European administration).
Paragraph 3 reproduces the right now guaranteed by Article 340 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Paragraph 4 reproduces the right now guaranteed by Article 20(2)(d) and Article 25 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In accordance with Article 52(2) of the Charter, those rights are to be applied under the conditions and within the limits defined by the Treaties.
The right to an effective remedy, which is an important aspect of this question, is guaranteed in Article 47 of this Charter.
Art. 103 (1) In the courts every person shall be entitled to a hearing in accordance with law.
Art. 103 (1) Vor Gericht hat jedermann Anspruch auf rechtliches Gehör.
Section 17 Right to one's language and culture (...) The right of everyone to use his or her own language, either Finnish or Swedish, before courts of law and other authorities, and to receive official documents in that language, shall be guaranteed by an Act. (...) Provisions on the right of the Sami to use the Sami language before the authorities are laid down by an Act. The rights of persons using sign language and of persons in need of interpretation or translation aid owing to disability shall be guaranteed by an Act. Section 21 Protection under the law Everyone has the right to have his or her case dealt with appropriately and without undue delay by a legally competent court of law or other authority, as well as to have a decision pertaining to his or her rights or obligations reviewed by a court of law or other independent organ for the administration of justice. Provisions concerning the publicity of proceedings, the right to be heard, the right to receive a reasoned decision and the right of appeal, as well as the other guarantees of a fair trial and good governance shall be laid down by an Act.
17 § Oikeus omaan kieleen ja kulttuuriin (...) Jokaisen oikeus käyttää tuomioistuimessa ja muussa viranomaisessa asiassaan omaa kieltään, joko suomea tai ruotsia, sekä saada toimituskirjansa tällä kielellä turvataan lailla. (...) Saamelaisten oikeudesta käyttää saamen kieltä viranomaisessa säädetään lailla. Viittomakieltä käyttävien sekä vammaisuuden vuoksi tulkitsemis- ja käännösapua tarvitsevien oikeudet turvataan lailla. 21 § Oikeusturva Jokaisella on oikeus saada asiansa käsitellyksi asianmukaisesti ja ilman aiheetonta viivytystä lain mukaan toimivaltaisessa tuomioistuimessa tai muussa viranomaisessa sekä oikeus saada oikeuksiaan ja velvollisuuksiaan koskeva päätös tuomioistuimen tai muun riippumattoman lainkäyttöelimen käsiteltäväksi. Käsittelyn julkisuus sekä oikeus tulla kuulluksi, saada perusteltu päätös ja hakea muutosta samoin kuin muut oikeudenmukaisen oikeudenkäynnin ja hyvän hallinnon takeet turvataan lailla.
Article 14. It is the duty of the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and of local authorities, to guarantee the rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution. Article 44. (…) Pursuant to a procedure provided by law, all government agencies, local authorities, and their officials have a duty to provide information about their activities to any citizen of Estonia at his or her request, except for information whose disclosure is prohibited by law and information intended exclusively for internal use. Pursuant to a procedure provided by law, any citizen of Estonia is entitled to access information about himself or herself held by government agencies and local authorities and in government and local authority archives. This right may be circumscribed pursuant to law to protect the rights and freedoms of others, to protect the confidentiality of a child’s filiation, and in the interests of preventing a criminal offence, apprehending the offender, or of ascertaining the truth in a criminal case. Unless otherwise provided by law, citizens of foreign states and stateless persons in Estonia enjoy the rights specified in paragraphs two and three of this section equally with citizens of Estonia. Article 46. Everyone has the right to address informational letters and petitions to government agencies, local authorities, and their officials. The procedure for responding to such letters and petitions is provided by law.
Article 29 1. Every person has the right individually or jointly with others to address written requests or complaints to any competent public authority and to have them attended to and decided expeditiously; an immediate notice of any such decision taken duly reasoned shall be given to the person making the request or complaint and in any event within a period not exceeding thirty days. 2. Where any interested person is aggrieved by any such decision or where no such decision is notified to such person within the period specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, such person may have recourse to a competent court in the matter of such request or complaint.
ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 29 1. Έκαστος έχει το δικαίωμα ατομικώς ή ομού μετ’ άλλων να υποβάλλη εγγράφους αιτήσεις ή παράπονα προς οιανδήποτε αρμοδίαν δημοσίαν αρχήν δικαιούμενος ν’ απαιτήση, όπως αύτη επιληφθή αυτών και αποφασίση ταχέως. Η απόφασις της αρχής ταύτης, δεόντως ητιολογημένη, γνωστοποιείται εγγράφως αμέσως εις τον υποβαλόντα την αίτησιν ή τα παράπονα εν πάση περιπτώσει ενός προθεσμίας μη υπερβαινούσης τας τριάκοντα ημέρας. 2. Εφ’ όσον ο ενδιαφερόμενος δεν ικανοποιείται εκ της αποφάσεως ή οσάκις ουδεμία απόφασις γνωστοποιήται προς αυτόν εντός της καθοριζομένης εν τη πρώτη παραγράφω του παρόντος άρθρου προθεσμίας δύναται ο ενδιαφερόμενος ν’ αγάγη ενώπιον αρμοδίου δικαστηρίου διά προσφυγής την υπόθεσιν, εις ην αφορά η αίτησις ή το παράπονον αυτού.
Article 46 Everyone shall be entitled to file petitions and complaints and to submit proposals to governmental and other public bodies, and to receive responses thereto.
Article 93 (2)Everyone may lodge a complaint to the Ombudsperson if he/she deems that his/her constitutional or legal rights have been threatened or violated as a result of any illegal or irregular act by governmental bodies and the civil service, local and regional selfgovernmental bodies and bodies vested with public authority.
Article 146 Citizens of the Republic of Croatia shall be European Union citizens and shall enjoy the rights guaranteed by the European Union acquis communautaire, and in particular: (...) – the right to submit petitions to the European Parliament, complaints to the European Ombudsman and the right to apply to European Union institutions and advisory bodies in the Croatian language, as well as in all the other official languages of the European Union, and to receive a reply in the same language. All rights shall be exercised in compliance with the conditions and limitations laid down in the founding treaties of the European Union and the measures undertaken pursuant to such treaties. In the Republic of Croatia, all rights guaranteed by the European Union acquis communautaire shall be enjoyed by all citizens of the European Union.
Članak 46. Svatko ima pravo slati predstavke i pritužbe, davati prijedloge državnim i drugim javnim tijelima i dobiti na njih odgovor.
Članak 93. (2)Svatko može podnijeti pritužbu pučkom pravobranitelju ako smatra da su, uslijed nezakonitog ili nepravilnog rada državnih tijela, tijela lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i tijela s javnim ovlastima, ugrožena ili povrijeđena njegova ustavna ili zakonska prava.
Članak 146. Državljani Republike Hrvatske su građani Europske unije i uživaju prava koja im jamči pravna stečevina Europske unije, a osobito: (...) – pravo podnošenja peticija Europskom parlamentu, predstavki Europskom ombudsmanu te pravo obraćanja institucijama i savjetodavnim tijelima Europske unije na hrvatskom jeziku, kao i na svim službenim jezicima Europske unije, te pravo dobiti odgovor na istom jeziku. Sva prava ostvaruju se u skladu s uvjetima i ograničenjima propisanima ugovorima na kojima se temelji Europska unija te mjerama prihvaćenima na temelju tih ugovora. U Republici Hrvatskoj sva prava zajamčena pravnom stečevinom Europske unije uživaju svi građani Europske unije.
Art. 7. The State shall be held liable for any damages caused by unlawful acts or actions on the part of its agencies and officials.
Чл. 7. Държавата отговаря за вреди, причинени от незаконни актове или действия на нейни органи и длъжностни лица.
Artikel 18 (1) Die gesamte staatliche Verwaltung darf nur auf Grund der Gesetze ausgeübt werden. Artikel 23 (1) Der Bund, die Länder, die Gemeinden und die sonstigen Körperschaften und Anstalten des öffentlichen Rechts haften für den Schaden, den die als ihre Organe handelnden Personen in Vollziehung der Gesetze durch ein rechtswidriges Verhalten wem immer schuldhaft zugefügt haben.
Article 18 (1) The entire public administration shall be based on law. Article 23 (1) The Federation, the Laender, the districts, the municipalities and the other bodies and institutions established under public law are liable for the injury which persons acting on their behalf in execution of the laws have by illegal behaviour culpably inflicted on whomsoever.