Complaints
Article 2
1. Any citizen of the Union or any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State may, directly or through a member of the European Parliament, lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman in respect of an instance of maladministration. 2. A complaint shall make clear reference to its object and to the identity of the complainant. A complainant may request that the complaint, or parts of it, remains confidential. 3. A complaint shall be lodged within two years of the date on which the facts on which it is based came to the attention of the complainant. Before the complaint is lodged, the complainant shall make the appropriate administrative approaches to the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned. 4. The Ombudsman shall dismiss a complaint as inadmissible if it is outside the scope of the Ombudsman’s mandate or if the procedural requirements laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 are not fulfilled. Where a complaint is outside the scope of the Ombudsman’s mandate, he or she may advise the complainant to address it to another authority. 5. If the Ombudsman finds that the complaint is manifestly unfounded, he or she shall close the file and inform the complainant of that finding. In cases where the complainant has informed the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned about the complaint, the Ombudsman shall also inform the authority concerned. 6. Complaints concerning employment relations between the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies and their staff shall be admissible only if the person concerned has exhausted all internal administrative procedures, in particular those referred to in Article 90 of the Staff Regulations, and the competent authority of the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned has taken a decision or the time limits for its reply have expired. The Ombudsman shall also be entitled to verify the measures adopted by the competent authority of the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned to ensure the protection of alleged victims of harassment and to restore a healthy and safe working environment respecting the dignity of the persons concerned while an administrative inquiry is ongoing, provided that the persons concerned have exhausted the internal administrative procedures in relation to these measures. 7. The Ombudsman shall inform the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned of a registered complaint, as soon as that complaint has been declared admissible and the decision has been taken to open an inquiry. 8. Complaints lodged with the Ombudsman shall not affect time limits for appeals in administrative or judicial proceedings. 9. Where, because of legal proceedings in progress or concluded concerning the facts which have been put forward, the Ombudsman declares a complaint inadmissible or decides to terminate consideration of it, the outcome of any inquiries that the Ombudsman has carried out up to that point shall be put on file and that file shall be closed. 10. The Ombudsman shall as soon as possible inform the complainant of the action taken on the complaint and, as far as possible, seek a solution with the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned to eliminate the instance of maladministration. The Ombudsman shall inform the complainant of the solution proposed along with the comments, if any, of the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned. The complainant may submit comments or provide, at any stage, additional information that was not known at the time of the submission of the complaint. Where a solution accepted by the complainant and the Union institution, body, office or agency concerned has been found, the Ombudsman may close the file without pursuing the procedure provided for in Article 4.