The Ombudsman

For whom?

Any person engaged in litigation with a Walloon public authority:

• Citizens;
• Companies, associations;
• Municipalities;
• ...

An individual complaint may be lodged by a natural or a legal person. A company, irrespective of its legal form, or an association, may lodge a complaint (which is not the case for a group of people, in particular through a signed petition).

About what?

All areas that fall under the purview of the Walloon Region.

• Town planning permits
• Housing aid
• Regional taxes and levies
• Mains water
• Aid to companies
• Aid to disabled persons
• Aid to energy
• Mobility and transport
• Environmental permit
• Road management
• Social housing
• Agricultural aids
• ...

What?

The role of the Walloon Region’s Ombudsman consists of helping any person, natural or legal, who is experiencing difficulties with the Walloon regional authorities.

The Ombudsman may intervene if:

• You do not agree with an administrative decision concerning you;
• You think that the Walloon civil service has made a mistake, and that its judgement is not founded.

Once contacted, the Ombudsman will:

• Clarify an administrative decision or position, or provide reasons for the need to amend them;
• Facilitate the dialogue between intervening parties and open doors that lead to reconciliation.

In general, its action leads to recommendations for improving the way that the Walloon civil service operates.

• When a claim is justified and recurrent, the Ombudsman recommends to the authority concerned a solution so as to settle the dispute amicably.
• When the Ombudsman notes that the stringency of the regulations may entail unfair or inappropriate consequences for the citizen’s situation, it makes recommendations to the Walloon Parliament.

The Ombudsman of the Walloon Region is an independent institution; its agents do not work under a Walloon administrative authority or the Walloon Parliament. They are neither judges nor parties. They endeavour to reconcile points of view.

The Ombudsman is therefore a privileged contact for the non-litigation settlement of a dispute that you may have with the Walloon civil service.

How to lodge a complaint?

You can lodge your complaint :
In writing

• Ordinary post
• Fax
• E-mail
• Form available at www.mediateur.wallonie.be

Verbally

• At the office nearest you
• At the headquarters of the institution in Namur
• In French or in German

It must contain in the very least

• Your particulars
• The precise object of the complaint
• A description of steps already taken

Under what conditions can your complaint be lodged?

• The object of the complaint concerns a Walloon administrative authority;
• A prior step has been taken with the administrative authority concerned;
• The dispute has not been referred to legal proceedings;
• The claim was lodged with the department at the latest one year after the facts.

The procedure is free of charge.