The rule of law and legal protection Ministry of Justice’s main responsibility is to ensure the operation of the rule of law in Finland. The Ministry drafts also the provisions which aim to ensure fair trials and good governance. The Ministry also...

Recognition And Enforcement Of Decisions On Child Custody And Right Of Access The enforcement of a decision on child custody and/or right of access in a foreign country requires usually the existence of an international treaty. If a decision canno...

Family Law Matters This section contains information on the international family law matters for which the Ministry of Justice is responsible in the capacity of the Central Authority under different international treaties. Such matters are, for ex...

Civil Matters - General Information International legal assistance may be divided in to legal assistance in civil matters and in criminal matters. This section contains information on legal assistance in civil matters. Petitionary matters and disp...

Enforcement of Civil Judgments This page contains general information on the enforcement of judgments in civil matters (such as judgments establishing a payment liability) in Finland. There are international treaties, EU legislation and national l...

International Recovery Of Maintenance The EU legislation and several international treaties binding on Finland contain provisions on the international aspects of maintenance obligations and payments. Within the framework of these arrangements, it ...

Security Clearance Act Provisions on the procedures to be applied to verify the reliability of persons and companies are laid down in the Security Clearance Act. The objective of the Act is to reduce the vulnerability of society and to protect pub...

Representative actions are a joint EU tool for improving consumer rights. They are based on the EU Representative Actions Directive.

International Legal Assistance In Criminal Matters International legal assistance in criminal matters encompasses cooperation between countries on account of crime. In a broad sense cooperation covers mutual legal assistance, extradition and trans...

The project providing Whistleblower Act (1171/2022) training aims to increase awareness of this Act, which will transpose the Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937/EU) into national legislation, among private and public sector organisations and among employees and citizens. The project will disseminate information through communications and training.

Extradition General Extradition deals with handing over of suspects or sentenced persons to a foreign country for legal proceedings or service of sentence. Extradition from Finland is regulated in the Act on Extradition. The Act contains only a fe...

Child Welfare In Cross-Border Situations This section contains information on the procedures, legislation and agreements related to cross-border situations concerning child welfare. Child welfare falls within the mandate of the Ministry of Social ...

Mutual Legal Assistance Whenever evidence is available in a foreign country or a party to criminal proceedings or witness is located there, mutual legal assistance is required. The most important categories of mutual legal assistance are procuring...

Service of Documents In connection with judicial proceedings, courts sometimes need to serve documents, such as summonses and invitations to appear in court, on persons residing or companies located in another country. When the service of document...

18.12.2025 | A working group proposes that the Arbitration Act be reformed by replacing it with a new act. The objective is, in accordance with the Government Programme, to improve the competitiveness of arbitration in Finland and make the act correspond to the best international practices.

Criminal procedure The criminal procedure consists of several stages. If there is, on the basis of a report made to the police or otherwise, reason to suspect that an offence has been committed, the police or another criminal investigation authori...

Processing of personal data in the services of the Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Justice processes personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation or, in certain situations, to perform a task carried out in the public interest or ba...

Administrative Procedure Act The Administrative Procedure Act lays down provisions on the use of authorities' services and consideration of administrative matters. The Act entered into force in the beginning of 2004. The Administrative Procedure A...

27.6.2025 | The aim of the legislative reform is to promote the realisation of Sámi people's right to self-determination and to improve the operating conditions of the linguistic and cultural autonomy of the Sámi and those of the Sámi Parliament. The Government proposes that the President of the Republic approve the amendments to the Act on the Sámi Parliament today. They will enter into force on the 1st of August 2025.

One of the objectives set out in the Government Programme is to promote democracy and human rights education and the participation of young people and to reinforce the obligation to consult young people. The task of the coordination group is to monitor and support the planning and implementation of the measures.