Call for applications for organisations until 7 February 2025 A call for applications for organisations to become members of the Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations (ETNO) for the 2025–2029 term has ended. The member organisations for both the nat...

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 ...

Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy (KANE) The Government has appointed a new Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy (KANE) for a four-year term from 27 January 2022 to 26 January 2026. The Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy works under the...

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...

The Ministry of Justice The Ministry of Justice maintains and develops legal order and legal protection, reinforces the structures of democracy, and safeguards citizens’ fundamental rights. The Ministry is responsible for drafting the key legislat...

International child abduction A case usually concerns international child abduction if the following criteria are met: A child is taken to or retained in a foreign country without the consent of the person who has custody of the child , the child ...

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...

About the website The website of the Ministry of Justice, www.ministryofjustice.fi, provides information on, i.a., the Ministry, its work and duties and on ongoing legislation and development projects at the Ministry. Finnish and Swedish pages are...

Act on the Openness of Government Activities Brochure Which documents are governed by the Act? Public authorities whose documents are governed by the Act on the Openness of Government Activities include, for example state administrative authoritie...

In accordance with the Language Act (423/2003), the Government submits a report to Parliament each parliamentary term on the application of language legislation and the realisation of linguistic rights as well as, where necessary, on other linguistic conditions. In addition to Finnish and Swedish, the report discusses at least the Sámi, Romani and sign languages.

19.5.2022 | Border security will be strengthened by improving the ability of the Finnish Border Guard to prepare for and respond to incidents under normal conditions. The Ministry of the Interior has sent a draft government proposal on amending the Border Guard Act out for comments. The aim is to make the necessary amendments to the Border Guard Act to help prepare for hybrid influence activities that exploit migration, for example.

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...

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

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...

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 ...

Organising and securing the exercise of rights of access under the hague convention on international child abduction A child has the right to keep in touch and spend time with the parent with whom he or she does not reside also when the parent res...

Linguistic rights The Ministry of Justice is responsible for promoting the realisation of linguistic rights by monitoring the implementation and application of the Language Act and by issuing recommendations. The Unit for Democracy, Language Affai...

Addresses The Unit for International Judicial Assistance functions as the designated Central Authority for the purposes of numerous EU regulations and international treaties concerning international cooperation in civil or criminal matters. The ke...

Finnish and Swedish Linguistic rights are based on section 17 of the Constitution . The Language Act contains more detailed provisions on the linguistic rights laid down in the Constitution, and it applies to the Finnish and Swedish languages. Eve...

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...