APPROVED
by Resolution No XI-1583 of 15 September 2011
of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
(wording of Resolution No XIV-976 of 24 March 2022
of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania)
REGULATIONS
OF THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSPERSON
FOR ACADEMIC ETHICS AND PROCEDURES OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
SECTION I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. Regulations (hereinafter: the ‘Regulations’) of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Office of the Ombudsperson’) shall establish the functions, rights, and duties of the Ombudsperson for Academic Ethics and Procedures of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Ombudsperson’), objectives and tasks of the work of the Office of the Ombudsperson, its field and types of activities, functions, structure and organisation of work.
2. The Office of the Ombudsperson shall be a state budgetary institution which aims to ensure the work of the Ombudsperson in considering complaints, initiating investigations into a possible violation of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, supervising compliance with the provisions of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, investigating administrative offences, and preventing unethical behaviour.
3. In its activities, the Office of the Ombudsperson shall obey the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Higher Education and Research, the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Administration, the Regulations, the Rules of Procedure of the Office of Ombudsperson, other legal acts, internal documents of the Office of the Ombudsperson, as well as good (universally recognised) research practices (standards of academic ethics).
4. The activity of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be based on the principles of legitimacy, justice, impartiality, freedom of activity, independence, publicity, priority of rights and legitimate interests of members of the academic community of higher education and research institutions.
5. The Office of the Ombudsperson shall be a legal person that has a settlement account in a bank and a seal bearing the national emblem of Lithuania and its name.
7. The owner of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be the State. The rights and duties of the State as the institution’s owner shall be implemented by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
8. The Ombudsperson shall be appointed and his powers shall cease in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 17 of the Law on Higher Education and Research.
SECTION II
FIELD AND TYPES OF ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSPERSON, ITS TASKS, FUNCTIONS AND RIGHTS
10. The field of activity of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be legislative and executive activities of central administrative authorities. The types of activity of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be regulation, supervision and internal administration of the Office of the Ombudsperson.
11. The tasks of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be as follows:
11.1. to promote compliance of research and higher education institutions with academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
11.2. to supervise compliance of research and higher education institutions with the standards of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
11.3. to supervise the implementation of provisions of international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania, legal acts of the European Union, laws and other legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania regulating academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
11.4. to cooperate with research and higher education institutions in solving the issues related to violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
11.5. to ensure effective and confidential investigation into possible violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
11.6. to contribute to the quality of higher education and research by nurturing the universally recognised values in this field, principles and research practices ensuring the dissemination of research and science (art), transparency of higher education and related activities, fairness, justice, responsibility, equality of persons being members of the academic community, their non-discrimination, academic freedom, trust and respect;
11.8. to organise and/or to implement preventive measures against unethical behaviour of the academic community;
12. Within the framework of its objectives and tasks, the Office of the Ombudsperson shall:
12.1. consider complaints of the applicants upon assignment of the Ombudsperson and, at the Ombudsperson’s initiative, carry out investigations into the actions (acts or omissions) of the members of the academic community which constitute a possible violation of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, including complaints regarding the abuse by heads of research and higher education institutions and heads of divisions in the field of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
12.2. draw up guidelines, recommendations and other documents for research and higher education institutions on the development, implementation and improvement of codes of academic ethics and other measures promoting academic ethics;
12.3. make proposals to the Seimas, the Government and other competent authorities of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the measures to promote and/or to ensure compliance with academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in the academic community;
12.4. collect, store and summarise the information on violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics known to the Ombudsperson, cases of imposition of administrative liability, and other data related to compliance with academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in Lithuania;
12.5. cooperate with Lithuanian and foreign institutions, services and organisations as well as international organisations and other natural and legal persons with a view to exchanging the good practices of promotion of academic ethics and/or analysing the cases of possible violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, use academic and other networks to exchange depersonalised and/or generalised information on violations of academic ethics after the deadline for appeal against Ombudsperson’s decisions and entry into effect of those decisions, and take part in the events and activities (initiatives) intended to promote activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson;
12.6. establish the good practices of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics in research activities, dissemination of science (art), in higher education and activities related to higher education, and supervise compliance therewith;
12.7. promote and support, in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, activities (initiatives) of natural and legal persons and society that contribute to the implementation of measures, based on the principles of academic ethics, for promoting and ensuring the quality of higher education and research;
12.8. inform the public about activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson, announce on its website depersonalised information about the pending complaints or ongoing investigations as well as the depersonalised decisions made by the Ombudsperson;
13. In performing the functions assigned to it and the Ombudsperson, the Office of the Ombudsperson shall have the right:
13.1. to receive free of charge all information necessary for performance of the functions from state and municipal institutions, companies, organisations and members of the academic community;
13.2. to receive from natural and legal persons information, explanations, protocols, materials, data and other documents necessary for the implementation of the functions, rights and duties of the Ombudsperson stipulated in the Law on Higher Education and Research and other legal acts, to get access, in accordance with the procedure laid down by law, to the documents which are necessary for the implementation of these functions, rights and duties and which comprise state, official or commercial secret, as well as to the documents containing information on personal data protected under law;
13.3. to attend meetings and sittings of the Seimas, the Government, councils and senates of research and higher education institutions, and other management or self-government bodies as well as to participate in activities of commissions/committees and work groups when discussing the issues related to activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson, quality of research and higher education, academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, and to express opinion and make proposals within its remit;
13.4. to engage, in solving the issues related to academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, representatives of state or municipal institutions and agencies, research and higher education institutions, non-governmental organisations as well as other persons related to considered issues, projects and initiatives;
13.5. when carrying out investigations into possible violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, to engage experts of text analysis, graphology, computer science (including information technologies), law and other fields and to remunerate them for work in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, if applicable;
13.6. to carry out scientific and other research in relation to academic ethics and improvement of own work in which the persons employed with the Lithuanian research and higher education institutions do not participate and to publish their results;
13.8. to organise, within its remit, conferences, workshops, training, discussions and other events, activities (initiatives) and/or to contribute to the organisation whereof;
13.9. to issue publications related to academic ethics and its implementation, to administer its website providing the information on activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts, to create and administer other websites in the field of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics;
SECTION III
FUNCTIONS OF THE OMBUDSPERSON
14. The Ombudsperson as the head of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall perform the following functions:
14.3. ensure compliance with the requirements of laws and other legal acts in activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson;
14.5. approve the structure, rules of procedure and other internal documents of the Office of the Ombudsperson, list of positions of civil servants and employees working under an employment contract with the Office of the Ombudsperson (hereinafter: ‘employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson’), limits on hours of work and job descriptions and set wage rates;
14.6. recruit and release/dismiss employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson in accordance with the procedure laid down by law;
14.8. make decisions regarding improvement of qualifications of employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson;
14.9. promote the employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson, impose disciplinary penalties and make deductions for damage caused;
14.10. approve guidelines, recommendations and other documents related to academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics, issue orders within its remit and control their implementation;
15. The Ombudsperson may assign control of his orders, decisions and contracts of the Office of the Ombudsperson to employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson.
SECTION IV
STRUCTURE OF THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSPERSON
AND ORGANISATION OF WORK
17. The Office of the Ombudsperson shall comprise the Ombudsperson and employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson. The Board of the Seimas shall establish the maximum permitted number of positions at the Office of the Ombudsperson.
18. Complaints shall be filed and considered and decisions regarding the filed complaints shall be made in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Public Administration, the Law on Higher Education and Research and the Description of Complaint Consideration approved by the Ombudsperson. The investigation initiated by the Ombudsperson shall be carried out and the decision thereon shall be made in accordance with the same procedure.
19. If the Ombudsperson receives a complaint the investigation whereof could result in a conflict of public and private interests, the Ombudsperson shall submit an application to the Board of the Seimas on withdrawal from the complaint’s consideration and decision-making, as well as a request to appoint the substituting person for the investigation in question. Where the Board of the Seimas accepts the application for the Ombudsperson’s withdrawal from the complaint’s consideration and decision-making and assigns the substituting person for the investigation, the Office of the Ombudsperson shall forward the entire material related to the complaint to the substituting person electronically at the e-mail address specified by him. The documents, information and other data shall be collected and registered at the institution of the substituting person assigned to carry out the investigation. The Ombudsperson’s decision signed by the substituting person assigned to carry out the investigation shall be registered at the Office of the Ombudsperson and forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsperson together with all the entire material of the complaint (previously forwarded and additionally collected) after the deadline for appeal against the Ombudsperson’s decision and entry into effect of that decision.
20. The procedure for renewal of consideration of complaints related to higher education and extension of time limits of considering the complaints shall be laid down in the Description of Complaint Consideration approved by the Ombudsperson. The consideration of the complaint related to higher education may be renewed if the complaint satisfies the following criteria: the indicated violation cannot be regarded as negligible and/or the circumstances for verifying and/or specifying the data on the violation have not disappeared.
21. When promoting self-regulation of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics of research and higher education institutions, the Ombudsperson may forward the information submitted by an applicant on a possible violation of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics to the relevant research and higher education institution, unless the same possible violations of academic ethics and procedures related to the implementation of the provisions of academic ethics have been referred to this research and higher education institution. Where the Ombudsperson determines that the research and higher education institution has not considered the forwarded complaint in a sufficiently thorough and impartial manner, he may initiate the consideration of the complaint from anew.
22. Decisions of the Ombudsperson may be appealed against in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Administrative Proceedings.
23. The employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson must keep state, official and commercial secrets and personal data protected by law which become known to them in carrying out their duties. When carrying out an investigation, the Office of the Ombudsperson must ensure the anonymity of applicants and other persons and confidentiality of the information about the persons who have officially provided information necessary for the investigation and/or the persons who requested to be undisclosed experts.
24. By 1 March each year, the Ombudsperson shall account to the Seimas for the previous calendar year and submit a report on activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson. The report on activities of the Office of the Ombudsperson for the previous calendar year shall be published on the website of the Office of the Ombudsperson.
SECTION V
FUNDING OF THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSPERSON
26. The Office of the Ombudsperson shall be entitled to receive support in accordance with procedure laid down by legal acts.
27. The Office of the Ombudsperson may have other lawfully acquired funds at its disposal, including the funds from participation in the projects financed by the European Union, international organisations and foreign countries for support, Lithuanian development cooperation and democracy promotion and in other projects (hereinafter: ‘project activities or activities under cooperation agreements’).
28. The procedure and conditions of remuneration of employees of the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Civil Service, the Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts.
29. The procedure and conditions of remuneration of the Ombudsperson shall be stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Remuneration of State Politicians and State Officials and these Regulations.
30. The Ombudsperson may be granted a lump sum premium for overtime work and work on rest days and holidays not exceeding the amount of one basic salary. The Ombudsperson shall submit an application for the lump sum premium and a certificate of overtime work to the Board of the Seimas, which may grant the lump sum premium on the basis of the overtime worked. The lump sum premium for overtime work and work on rest days and holidays in the current year shall be granted and paid until 15 December of the current year.
31. The Ombudsperson may be paid for the creative work and participation in the projects funded by the European Union, international organisations and foreign countries which are related to academic ethics and the improvement of the work of the Office of the Ombudsperson and in which the persons employed with the Lithuanian research and higher education institutions do not participate. The Board of the Seimas shall make a decision about the other job of the Ombudsperson at the Office of the Ombudsperson. The Ombudsperson shall be paid for the other job at the Office of the Ombudsperson according to the conditions and rates established for the respective position in project contracts or cooperation agreements. Where the conditions and rates for the respective position in project activities or activities under cooperation agreements are not established, the remuneration of the Ombudsperson for participation in project activities or activities under cooperation agreements as the other job at the Office of the Ombudsperson shall be determined by the Board of the Seimas.