“Sections 13 and 17 of the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act contain provisions to avoid conflicts of interest for the Ombudsman and the Deputy-Ombudsmen. Section 17 (2) of the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act and Section 13 of the Act on Parliament’s Civil Servants contain provisions to avoid conflicts of interest for the Director of the HRC.

The FNHRI indicates that to ensure that conflicts of interest do not compromise the work of the NHRI, generally applicable rules of impartiality, as laid down in the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003), are applied rigorously.

The enabling legislation of the NHRI states that members of the HRD are appointed in a personal capacity. However, there are no express provisions on preventing conflicts of interest specifically with regards to members of the HRD in the enabling law.

The SCA is of the view that avoidance of conflicts of interest protects the reputation, and the real and perceived independence of NHRIs.

The SCA encourages the FNHRI to advocate for provisions to avoid conflict of interest among members of the HRD to be included in legislation, and to develop guidance with respect to what constitutes a conflict of interest for members of the HRD and the process by which a determination would be made about the existence of such a conflict.

The SCA refers to Paris Principle B.2 and to its General Observation 1.9 on ‘Political representatives on NHRIs’.”