CERD/C/63/D/27/2002 Page 7 4.9 The State party points out that it satisfied its obligations under article 6, in addition, by the Chief Constable’s determination on whether or not an investigation should be initiated, and by providing for recourse to the independent Parliamentary Ombudsman if it was thought that the decisions of the Chief Constable or the Regional Public Prosecutor were invalid, insufficiently reasoned or contrary to the law. In addition, under section 63 of the Constitution, decisions of administrative authorities, including the Chief Constable and the Regional Public Prosecutor, may be challenged judicially before the courts on the same grounds. While this possibility exists, the State party cannot refer to an instance where this has been resorted to. 4.10 In conclusion, the State party considers that it is not possible to infer an obligation under the Convention to carry out an investigation in situations that provide no basis for it. The Administration of Justice Act provides for the appropriate remedies in accordance with the Convention, and the competent authorities fully discharged their obligations in the specific case. The petitioner’s comments 5.1 By letter of 10 March 2003, the petitioner responded to the State party’s comments, clarifying that he did not contend the State party was in breach of article 6 by not providing for corporate liability under section 266(b). Given this situation, however, it was of great importance that there be an effective investigation as to whether members of the executive board of a legal entity could be held responsible for the conduct in question. 5.2 On the merits, the petitioner contends that there is a breach of article 6 due to an inability to appeal decisions of the Regional Public Prosecutor. He refers to a previous decision of the Committee to the effect that the possibility to appeal to the Parliamentary Ombudsman did not amount to an effective remedy, for purposes of article 6.3 The Ombudsman has full discretion as to whether to pursue a case, and the State party does not refer to a single occasion where the Ombudsman has investigated a Regional Public Prosecutor’s refusal to initiate an investigation. In addition, the State party’s own inability to invoke a case where judicial review under the Constitution was invoked in such a case suggests this recourse is ineffective. 5.3 As to the Regional Public Prosecutor’s review of the Chief Constable’s decision, the petitioner argues that both the conduct and outcome of the appeal violated article 6. Firstly, non-mandatory review of the merits of the decision is said itself to breach article 6 of the Convention, as it does not involve a mandatory examination of the case. Even if there was a merits review by the Regional Public Prosecutor, the petitioner considers it unclear why the case did not give rise to any comments, and the actual ground for dismissal of the appeal was the lack of standing. Thus, the rejection of the appeal also breached article 6. 5.4 The petitioner agrees that article 6 does not guarantee a specific outcome of a a given case. However, his case relates not to the outcome of the investigation, but to the investigation itself. He disagrees that the Chief Constable’s decision not to initiate an investigation was “acceptable”, as it was based on the DRC’s detailed report. In his view, the 3 Habassi v Denmark Case No 10/1997, Opinion adopted on 17 March 1999.