Other Legal Assistance in Civil Matters Information on foreign law It is sometimes necessary to acquire information on the legislation of a foreign country in a matter pending in a court or before another judicial authority. In such a case, the au...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

On 20.3.2025, the Government adopted a resolution on a national programme to promote democracy and participation. The task of the cross-administrative working group appointed by the Ministry of Justice is to coordinate the implementation of the programme in the Government in 2025-2027.

Transfer of Sentenced Persons General The purpose of transferring sentenced persons to their home countries is advancing their rehabilitation into society. Accordingly, a sentenced person is offered a possibility to continue serving his sentence i...

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 ...

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 Government has appointed an Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy (KANE) for a four-year term from 27 January 2022 to 26 January 2026. The Advisory Board is chaired by Taina Susiluoto, CEO of the Finnish Olympic Committee. The Advisory Board on Civil Society Policy works under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice. The Advisory Board’s tasks include promoting the interaction between administration and civil society and enhancing the operating conditions for civil society.

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...

Fundamental and human rights The Ministry of Justice prepares amendments to the Constitution and the fundamental rights provisions laid down in it. The Ministry is also responsible for coordinating the national fundamental and human rights policy....

The national Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations The national level Etno works under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice , Mr. Antti Leinonen chairs the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board has thr...

International cooperation The Ministry of Justice aims to promote a stable rule of law in Finland and especially in its neighbouring areas. International cooperation seeks to reinforce cross-border legal protection, and it also brings new angles t...

Anti-corruption efforts As in many other countries, corruption is a problem present also in Finland. Studies show that instead of street-level corruption, Finland is characterised by larger-scale structural corruption that is more difficult to det...