In English
Supervision of municipalities
Supervision of municipalities
What do we supervise?
The regional state administrations supervise that municipalities comply with the legislation that specifically apply to public authorities. This may for instance be the Municipal Administration Act, the Public Administration Act, the Access to Information Act etc.
Our scope of competence is limited, i.e. there are many types of cases that we cannot deal with.
For this reason we cannot deal with cases concerning for instance:
- civil law issues such as agreements, liability and appointments, and
- whether the municipality has complied with good administrative practice, i.e. whether the municipality has made errors or been negligent or been too slow
- whether a municipal decision is reasonable or appropriate
- decisions in individual cases that can only be processed by a specific complaints agency or supervisory authority, for instance the Social Complaints Board.
We are not a complaints agency, and therefore we decide ourselves whether we will take up a case.
If we take up a case, we may issue a preliminary statement as to whether the municipality has acted within the law. In very special cases we may apply certain sanctions vis-à-vis the municipalities.
Is there a time limit?
There is no time limit for approaching the regional state administrations in cases that concern supervision of municipalities. But a case may be so old that we do not find that it is relevant to deal with it because our statement will not be relevant to the state of law today.
Who should you contact?
Each of the five state administrations supervises the municipalities that belong in their region. If you find that a municipality infringes the law, you should contact the state administration that supervises the municipality in question. Find the relevant state administration here.
Other complaints and supervisory authorities
You may contact the Folketing's Ombudsman if you find that the municipality has not complied with good administrative practice.
If your case can be dealt with by a special complaints or supervisory agency, you should contact that agency.
Below you will find links to some of these:
- The Social Complaints Board - find it via your regional state administration
- The National Patients Complaints Board
- The Ministry of the Environment
Further information
You will find more information on supervision by the regional state administration in Sections 47 to 50 in the Municipal Administration Act and on the web page of the Ministry of the Interior and Social Affairs.
