6: FINLAND

Seppo Tiihonen, Senior Public Sector Management Specialist, World Bank

Overview

The aim of the public administration reforms which have been actively pursued in
Finland since the late 1980s, has been to modernize the Finnish administration in order to
meet the challenges that globalization places on the Finnish economy. The main
emphasis has been on improving the competitiveness of the economy. Deep economic
depression in the early 1990s and Finland’s participation in the European integration
process (with accession to the European Union (EU) membership in 1995) all paved the
way for intensifying the reforms which had been started in the late 1980s. The reforms
involved all sectors of public management: structures, management, budgeting,
regulation policy, administration, personnel policies and technology.

Finland increasingly relies on market mechanisms in public administration. There has

also been extensive privatization.

The goals of public administration reform have been widely accepted in Finland. The
general principle in public management reforms – that is, emphasis on market-oriented
methods as well as on securing economy and efficiency − have remained very much the
same since the late 1980s.

Reformers' concerns

Deep economic depression in the early 1990s led government to look for possible
reductions in the public sector wage bill. Finland’s bid for accession to the EU also led
to a further intensification of the reform process.

In 1998 the Government published a report The Government Resolution: High-Quality

Services, Good Governance and a Responsible Civic Society that set out some broad
guidelines for the reforms. The Government emphasized that it felt itself to be caught
between the challenges of globalization and the demands of citizens, all in the context of
decreasing economic resources.
Institutional starting points

Constitution/political system

Finland is a constitutional and strongly parliamentary democracy. Parliament holds the

legislative power and determines state finances. The President of the Republic and the
Government exercises the executive powers. The members of government must have the
confidence of the Parliament. The judicial powers are exercised by independent courts of
law, with the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court as the highest
instances.

Finland has reformed its Constitution during the last two decades with the new
Constitution agreed in March 2000. One of the main goals of the constitutional reform
process was to strengthen further the parliamentary system of government. The new
Constitution increases the legislature's powers to initiate legal changes. Procedures for
regulating presidential decision-making procedures are specified more precisely, while
the Government, responsible to Parliament and dependent on the confidence of
Parliament, is given a greater role in presidential decision-making.

In relation to the formation of the Government, the practical effect of the new
Constitution is to transfer the appointment of the Prime Minister from the President to
Parliament. This will ensure that the composition of the Government will reflect, as
directly as possible, the results of the parliamentary elections and the spread of opinion in
Parliament. The new Constitution marks the end of the President's leading role in the
formation of the Government.

Structure of Government

In Finland, the public service is defined as the services that are rendered through the state
and municipal administrations (and including the army, healthcare, and education). The
civil service is not considered a separate entity from the public service.

Finnish Governments are often multi-party Governments given the nature of the Finnish
party structure. Since the Second World War, no single party has been I a position to be
able to form a majority Government alone. Most Governments have comprised four or
five parties. The present Government has five parties.

By law, the maximum size of the Finnish Government is 18 Ministers. However, there
can be ministers without portfolio in the Government although this is very rare. Most
ministries have only one minister, but the tasks of some ministries have been divided for
two or even three ministers. There are 12 ministries in Finland - a number that has
remained unchanged for decades (see Box 9 below).
Box 1 Organizational structure of government in Finland
Prime Minister's Office Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Transport and
Ministry of Justice Communications
Ministry of the Interior Ministry of Trade and Industry
Ministry of Defense Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Ministry of Finance Ministry of Labor
Ministry of Education Ministry of the Environment.

Ministries prepare and implement decisions made in joint sessions composed of the
President of the Republic and the Council of State (the Government). Traditionally, the
decision-making in the Finnish Government was collegial in nature, but following the
administrative reforms carried out in the 1990s, the ministries have become increasingly
independent within their own policy domains.

The ministries are quite small. At present, the number of civil servants working in the
ministries totals altogether about 5,000. That total has increased by one thousand over
the last decade, but the total number of civil servants has decreased notably. The main
reasons for the growth of the size of ministries are that agencies working under the
ministries have been abolished in the 1990s and consolidated into ministries; together
with Finland’s accession to the EU in 1995.

The abolition of central agencies was a crucial step away from the old Swedish-type
agency model towards a system of ministerial administration. The earlier centralized and
uniform State administration has now to a degree given way to a more diverse and
decentralized structure. The decentralization of central government has led to increased
variations between sectors in organizational structures, and operational and financing
arrangements.

Central agencies and reform management

Recent moves towards a parliamentary system of government have raised the position of
the Prime Minister’s Office to that of the central coordinating body in the government.
The Prime Minister’s Office now actively co-ordinates political work in both
Government and EU matters. EU matters were transferred from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to the Prime Minister’s Office in July 2000.

The Prime Minister’s Office is composed of two parts: the political secretariat of the
Prime Minister (at present five persons) and a unit that is similar to the Cabinet Office in
the UK. This unit is composed of permanent civil servants whose task it is to ensure that
decision-making by the President of the Republic and the Council of State proceeds
smoothly, and to assist the Prime Minister by providing operational and administrative
services. It is also responsible for the preparation of legislation. The civil servants
working in this office do not have any substantial co-ordination role in the decision-
making of the Government. The political secretariat advises the Prime Minister in his
role as a Prime Minister and provides political services for the Prime Minister.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for budgetary and economic questions, for public
management matters and for personnel policies.

The Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office are the main co-ordination
centers in the Finnish Government. In the 1990s, the traditional power structure amongst
the ministries changed, however. Ministries now enjoy more independence and the old
collegial decision-making tradition in the Government has lost significance. The
Ministry of Finance ceased its detailed ex ante control of the budgetary process,
personnel policies and resource management. Although the reforms have radically
decreased the amount of detailed steering power of the Ministry of Finance, its position
as the central co-ordination body has not been diminished. The Ministry of Finance
remains responsible for drawing up the policy framework for overall economic and
financial policies.
The Prime Minister chairs Government Committees, including the Cabinet Committees
on Economic Policy, Foreign and Security Policies, Cabinet Finance Committee and
European Union Affairs.

Politicization

Finland is one of the few countries in Europe that does not have a system of political state
secretaries reporting to and advising Ministers, although the possibility of introducing a
system of political state secretaries similar to that in most European countries has been
discussed frequently.

Political nominations of individuals for positions within the civil service increased in the
1970s and 80s. Traditionally, recruitment policy for the civil service has assumed the
need for a representative bureaucracy. It was considered that the political views in the
administration should be broadly similar to the views held in government and society.

However, in the 1980s,opposition to use of political nominations increased because

merit-based politically neutral civil servants felt they were increasingly less able to
advance in their careers. In the 1990s, the number of political nominations diminished
substantially. Competence and merit became the key elements in the appointment of civil
servants.
Reform activities

Summary

The present wave of administrative reforms started in the late 1980s. The reforms were
introduced systematically, first adopted at the agency level and in municipalities.
Subsequently, regional administration and central agencies working under the ministries
were reformed in more comprehensive way. In summer 2000, the Government launched
wide reforms in the whole central administration, particularly in the ministries and in the
working processes of the Government.

Reforms to the organizational structure of government

Creating new agencies

Attempts to reform central government had been discussed for decades, and at the end of
the 1980s, the reforms finally started. The structural reforms have been perhaps the most
visible reforms.

This restructuring has decreased the size of the central administration. Nearly all
ministries and other bodies in central government have undergone various reforms.
Some of the traditional semi-autonomous agencies have been closed down and turned
into 'development centers'. Their tasks have been transferred to the ministries, to other
agencies and to newly established agencies as well as to regional and local government.
User charges and contracting out

In Finland, the responsibility for the delivery of public services is shared between the central
government and municipalities (including joint authorities formed by municipalities). In
order to cut expenditure and to improve the efficiency of services, both these sectors have
made some use of contracting out and have placed a greater reliance on user fees since the
late 1980s. In 1993, the Government emphasized market-oriented forms of operation in its
Decision In-Principle on Reforms in Central and Regional Government. The government
stated that, "as a rule, the customer is paying, and can freely choose the producer or service.
The producer, in turn, carries out the order in line with the customer’s wishes and quality
demands, and the money available. Government services will be made chargeable and
placed on a competitive footing with each other and with open sector services. As a rule, all
outputs other than those under public law must be produced on commercial principles as a
chargeable services and using a net-budgeting system, through either a public enterprise or a
company."

The conversion of agencies into enterprises, the establishing of off-budget enterprises and in
many cases limited stock companies, represents a major use of market mechanisms in the
Finnish public administration. In addition, user charges have gained ground after the
adoption of the 1992 Act. The government policy has been to apply market-testing to
support services and, in some cases, to the final outputs of government agencies.

Municipalities and their joint authorities have increasingly turned to competitive tendering
as financial conditions facing municipalities became more stringent as a result of the
economic recession. In particular support functions and some maintenance of infrastructure
have been opened up to competition in a number of municipalities. However, overall, the
majority of these functions remain in-house.

It is also noteworthy that the principles of competitive tendering have been applied to
specific local government functions only. Key services, the core functions of the local
government sector, such as welfare services, have remained mostly unchanged. There have
been no far-reaching measures to subject the provision of these services to market
principles.

Cutting back the programs undertaken by government

It is clear that as a result of the deep recession in the early 1990s, the government was
obliged to make tough decisions to cut expenditure in the public sector. As a result of the
decisions of Prime Minister Aho’s government in 1991-1995, the total reduction in
annual expenditure was about 6 per cent of GDP in 1995 as compared to 1991 (FIM 34.5
billion).

The savings implemented by Prime Minister Aho’s Government fell most heavily on
transfers to local governments and households. Responsibility for funding social security
became increasingly more a responsibility borne by employees.
The next Government of Prime Minister Lipponen (1995-1999) continued the policy of
reducing the budgetary deficit by making net cutbacks in expenditures. Between 1991
and 1999, successive governments have reduced public expenditure in 1999 by about 8
per cent of GDP in 1999 compared to 1991 (FIM 60 billion).

The policy now is that central government total spending should be kept constant in
volume terms over the government’s term of office. The government will seek in
addition to ensure a structural surplus in central government finances and to reduce the
central government debt ratio by the end of its electoral term to below 50% of GDP.
Given economic growth was very strong (around 4-5 per cent a year) in the late 1990s,
these targets are not regarded as very ambitious.

Civil service and personnel reforms

Downsizing

The number of personnel in central government decreased from 27,000 to 24,000

between 1991 and 1996. Where state administration still employed 215,000 people in
1988, by 2000 the number of personnel employed fully or partly through State budget
funds was only 124,000. The total decrease is about 90,000 people, i.e. 43 per cent
Although the number of personnel in central government has decreased by approximately
3,000 persons, their relative share in overall central government staff numbers has risen
from 13 to 20 per cent.

Delegation of personnel management

The actions of state civil servants are regulated and guided by numerous provisions,
guidelines and principles. Overall, during the last few years, the aim has been to increase
the authority and responsibility of the operating units in order to improve the flexibility
and efficiency of administration. The differences between the public and the private
sectors have diminished.

Personnel policy has been made more flexible, competitive, active, decentralized and
streamlined. The goal has been to make full use of personnel and resources.
Arrangements for negotiating and agreeing terms and conditions of employment were
reformed in the 1990s. In 1990, the transfer of posts from one agency to another became
possible.

Personnel policies follow the principles defined in a Government Decision-In-Principle

of Future Personnel Policies in 1991. Under this decision authority for personnel
management, earlier largely vested at central level, was delegated to the agencies. The
central regulation of personnel numbers has ceased and agencies now cover their
operating appropriations from their net budget.

Recruitment and merit

The terms of state employment relationship, in particular job security and pensions and
working-time systems have been brought closer to those in the private sector.

In 1997, the Government adopted principles on the appointment and selection procedures
applied for the higher-level civil servants (senior civil service) but there have not been
any developments that demarcate a group of senior civil servants as a distinct managerial
class.

Merit has traditionally been the most important nomination criteria for most civil
servants. Section 125 in the new Constitution contains the main provisions on the
general qualifications for public office and other grounds for appointment. "The general
qualifications for public office shall be skill, ability and proven civic merit." This
paragraph is similar to that in the previous Constitution dating back to 1919. However,
as the extent of political nominations for positions within the civil service illustrates,
merit can be interpreted both professionally and politically. Political merit includes party
affiliations, work in party offices and trade unions. Since the 1960s, there has been a
wide discussion on the relative value of professional merit and political merit in
nominations. Political merit became dominant in the 1980s, but by the 1990s,
professional merit became dominant.

In 1997, the Government decided to revise the criteria and procedures for the selection of
Government officials. According to the decision, qualifications are of two types:
statutory and general. Statutory qualifications consist of a higher academic degree,
expertise, proven managerial ability and managerial experience at senior government
level. General qualifications include ethics, extensive experience, teamwork and
communications, language proficiency, development potential.
Leadership skills are seen as being an increasingly important general qualification for
senior civil servants.

Pay reform

The traditional pay system provides that the salary of a civil servant consists of a basic
salary as set out in an approved salary schedule and supplemented by a cost-of-living
supplement and age bonuses. The cost-of-living supplement is 6 to 9 per cent of the
basic salary. Age bonuses are paid in accordance with a six-stage scale based on 3-18
years of service in the public sector or in a corresponding professional field. The age
bonuses are calculated as a percentage of the basic salary and the maximum total is 25
per cent. In 1998, approximately 92 per cent of all civil servants worked under this
traditional pay system.

According to the principles of the collective agreement of 1993, pay policies and systems
in government departments and agencies are to be changed so as to ensure that pay is
based on the demands of the job, personal performance and skills, and effectiveness. The
negotiating and bargaining system has been changed to give departments and agencies a
freer hand in agreements on changes in pay policy and other agency-specific employment
terms.
The aim of the reforms has been to seek to relate base pay more closely to job
requirements, individual work performance and professional skills. Agencies are
responsible for setting the right pay level and its relation to the wages and salaries in
other sectors of state administration.

The demands of a particular job are evaluated using an evaluation framework that
agencies either purchase or develop themselves. Individual work performance and
professional skills are to be assessed to determine the personal component of
remuneration. The personal component forms between 25-50 per cent of the total pay
based on the demands of the job. Pay factors based exclusively on formal indicators such
as years of service and such like are now rarely used.

At the end of 2000, approximately 80 per cent of central government employees worked
in an agency where the pay systems were being developed according to the above
principles. However, at present, personnel working under these reformed salary systems
account for only approximately 8 per cent of all public sector employees.

Ethics

The State Civil Servants’ Act contains provisions that are important in determining
ethical norms of conduct. The Personnel Strategy of the State, approved in autumn 1995,
refers to high ethical standards and provides guidelines for agencies that they use when
drawing up personnel strategies applicable in their own units. Additional guidelines on
ethics and personnel strategy are included in the Government Resolution on High-Quality
Service, Good Governance and a Responsible Civic Society. No code has been compiled
for the whole of state administration.

According to the Government Resolution on the Reform of the Selection Qualifications

and Selection Procedure of Top Civil Servants (1997), the most important values in state
administration are: independence, impartiality, objectivity, reliability of administrative
operations, openness, a principle of service, and responsibility.

Budget process changes

Flexibility within constraints

One of the most important strategies in public sector reforms in the past ten years has
been the adoption of flexibility accompanied by strengthened accountability for
management. The introduction of budget reforms began with three pilot agencies in
1988. In 1990, the first government agencies drew up their budgets on the new model.
By 1995 the whole central government was formally operating in line with a principle of
decentralization in which line ministries have the authority to allocate resources to their
administration within given budget guidelines decided by the Government.
Medium term budgeting

In 1992, the budget proposals of all ministries and government agencies were for the first
time based on personnel and expenditure ceilings set by the Government. This new
budgeting procedure based on budget ceilings is one of the cornerstones in Finnish
budgeting reforms. The Government adopted the first ceilings in 1990. In this system of
budgeting the Government sets politically binding budgetary ceilings for the ministries in
February for the following year and for two years thereafter. The purpose of these budget
ceilings and guidelines is to create an expenditure cap in budgetary planning that may not
be exceeded. On the other hand, the ministries receive more responsibility in allocating
the funds for each agency under their control and have full responsibility for steering and
controlling the budget process in their field. More discipline as well as efficiency was
also gained by budgeting the operating appropriations of ministries and agencies into
two-year transferable allocations which cannot be exceeded in any circumstances without
the permission of Parliament.

This process allows the Government to integrate the process of multi-year budgetary
planning and strategic planning in the ministries into the annual budget process. The
system of top-down expenditure ceilings has enhanced budgetary discipline in the
ministries and increased efficiency in the use of existing resources. The budget ceilings
have restrained bottom-up expenditure demands. Overall, the new budgeting system has
had a significant effect on both the productive and allocative efficiency of public
expenditure.

The system of budget ceilings was however been criticized from the parliamentary
perspective: members of Parliament considered it to be inappropriate that they were given
no opportunity to participate in the process of setting the budget ceilings. Thus, in March
2000, the Government submitted the budgetary appropriation guidelines for the next four
years to Parliament for the first time.

Reporting

An important area in the budgetary reforms concerns financial control and evaluation.
The most important steps were taken in the early 1990s when ex ante budget controls
were replaced with ex post reporting, auditing and evaluation. The change from a
centrally steered and detailed administration system of ex ante financial control was one
of the cornerstones of the centralized budgetary traditions in Finland. It gave
responsibility to the ministries and agencies in the implementation of their budgetary
appropriations.

In 1998, the government accounting system was changed to business accounting based on
accrual concepts.

Each ministry is responsible for assigning targets to the administrative units in its branch
of administration. Preliminary formulations of the targets are included in the budget
proposal submitted to Parliament. A number of budget items were combined during the
reform process into larger appropriation items to allow more flexibility and efficiency.

The result management system has proved to work well, in principle, though the State
auditors and the State Audit Office have noted some shortcomings. The main
improvements needed are better information about results important for political control
and deficiencies in the various chains of accountability.

The government has reformed the system of monitoring and reporting on the
effectiveness of organizations within the state administration. All ministries are required
to draw up an annual report covering the whole of their sphere of government. This
report is a tool of accountability for operations in the ministries own remit, and for their
impact. Specifically, it aims to meet the needs of political decision-makers. These
reports are utilized when Government reports to Parliament of its activities every
September. In the future it is intended that the system will be developed so that the
reports include more information on progress in the effectiveness, quality and economy
of the services activities of the agencies and the ministries.

The majority of public welfare services are produced through municipal self-government.
The State, which is a part-financier, does not interfere in the way in which the services are
produced, but does monitor service quality. The municipalities are felt to be in a better
position to take into account the viewpoints of citizens and customers.

Transparent costings

Efficiency is encouraged by the use of a cost attribution system that reduces bias in resource
usage by managers at all levels. The process started in 1991 with the introduction of a
pensions charge on wages and salaries in agencies. It was continued with attribution to the
agencies of several minor, centrally financed services in 1993. A system of charging
market-level rent for state-owned office premises was introduced in 1994 and this system
was extended to other premises in 1995. The remaining costs not attributed to agencies are
mainly costs related to the use of capital (interest charge on non-fixed assets and cash
requirements, certain asset-related service charges), where only a calculated rate-of-return
requirement is applied.

In reforming the internal structures of central government, there has been a distinct tendency
to make the financial and personnel operations of the main ministries and other central
government departments function more flexibly and to provide an independent authority and
a clearer responsibility for their performance. Detailed forms of control are abandoned and
regulatory functions, other than those in necessary policy-making, have been trimmed down.
At the same time, central government functions better suited to other units, particularly at
the regional and local level, have been moved to local authorities, privatized and transferred
into the public enterprises and companies.

E-government
Finnish legislation on freedom of information has recently been reformed. The Act on
Openness of Government Activities, which entered into force on 1 December 1999, was
intended to stimulate and encourage good information management practice, allowing
individuals and organizations to supervise the exercise of public power and the use of
public funds. The Act contains provisions on the right of access to information, the duty
of an authority to promote access to information and good practice on information
management, and secrecy obligations.

An Act on electronic services in administration was passed in early 2001. Finland was
the first country in the world to launch an act on electronic services in administration.
The basic aim of the law is to improve the smooth and rapid functioning of services in the
administration, as well as to secure data security. The act contains provisions on the
rights, duties and responsibilities of administrative authorities and their customers in the
context of electronic services. In addition, the act contains provisions on the key
requirements for the electronic identification of persons. Authorities and agencies with
adequate technical, financial and other resources shall offer to the public the option to
send an electronic message to designated electronic addresses or other designated devices
for the processing or handling of matters. Furthermore, the authority shall offer the
public the option of delivering notifications, accounts and other comparable documents
and messages electronically. The authorities may sign their decisions electronically.i

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Finance in early 2001, 90% of all
agencies provide web services. The total number of agencies in the survey was 130. 52
per cent of all agencies offer application forms and other forms in their web services.
The number of interactive customer services is 29 but at the same time 37 agencies are
developing new interactive services.ii

Every agency is responsible for developing their own electronic services. There have
been and there still are several projects ongoing. By September 2000 only three services
had been developed to use electronic ID cards, but there are more than 100 different pilot
schemes and projects in different fields within the Finnish public administration sector
for creating new electronic services for citizens and corporations.

Electronic forms used by authorities are also available in the web.iii A project coordinated
by the Ministry of the Interior has produced a common gateway to the electronic forms of
authorities. At present it can be used for delivering the forms, but the electronic ID card
will open new possibilities, for example services like tax returns, applications for changes
in tax cards, registration as a job-seeker at an employment office, etc. There are now 380
forms and about 200,000 users have used the service in two years.
Reform outcomes

For a number of decades the Finnish economy was characterized by fast growth
combined with sensitivity to international cyclical fluctuations. Because of the economic
recession in the early 1990s, the financial deficit in central government finances relative
to GDP deteriorated to a record 11 per cent of GDP in 1993 and 1994, and the debt-to-
GDP ratio as defined in EMU terms escalated to 59½ per cent in 1994. At the time,
Finnish institutions and production structures were unable adequately to adjust to the
demands of the new operating environment, where movement of capital had become
freer. The 1990s slump gave urgency to structural changes that became increasingly
inevitable as Finland progressed towards an open economy and further integrated with
the European Community. Administrative reforms were a part of these larger structural
reforms.

The Finnish economy is now growing fast again – between 1994 and 1998 GDP grew at
an annual average of about 5 per cent. The present Government's aim is to safeguard the
budgetary balance, to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio in government finances to below 50
per cent by 2003, and to reduce overall public sector consolidated debt to roughly 35 per
cent of GDP.

These positive economic developments are a result of reforms in different sectors. The
Ministry of Finance has emphasized that public administration reforms must be
integrated into the broader economic and structural policy reforms. The co-
ordination of these policies has succeeded because the Ministry of Finance is responsible
for all these sectors and all Governments have been committed to this policy of
fundamental change.

Although the basic reforms have succeeded, a number of failures and setbacks have also
occurred. The reforms were started at the local level and at the agency level, and while
broadly speaking these have been reasonably successful, the central government level of
administration, especially in the ministries, has been slow to respond. The structure
of Ministries, and the agencies under the jurisdiction of the ministries, has not been
reformed in any fundamental way. The delegation of decision-making power from the
ministries has not accompanied by a reduction in the number of civil servants in the
ministries or any delayering. There has been significant delegation of decision-making
authority from the level of the government. The Government Plenary Session made a
decision in 2,511 matters in 1987. In 1997, the number of matters to be decided was only
676.

Outside of the central ministries, results management, increased managerial flexibility

and the delegation of general decision-making and of personnel policies to the agency
level have improved efficiency considerably.
i
See: http://www.om.fi/2838.htm
ii
Examples of typical services offered currently by state agencies are:
• Orders and inquiries (The Consumer Agency)
• Submitting legal matters (Ministry of Justice)
• Ordering maps (National Survey Board)
• Booking leisure services and paying for them (National Board of Forestry)
• User feedback of national participation projects (Ministry of the Interior, Department of
Municipalities)
• Electronic newspapers (Central Development Agency of the Social Welfare and Health
Sector)
• Television set notifications and ordering domain names (Telecommunications
Administration Centre)
• Marketplace of Statistical Information and StatFin (Statistics Finland)
• Notifications on job vacancies; information on vacant jobs and educational opportunities
(Ministry of Labour)
• Virtual Finland (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Notification on change of address (Population Register Centre).
The Prime Minister’s Office offers information on their www-pages (http://www.vn.fi/) on
acts being drafted in the ministries. Parliament offers access to the drafts and also to the
documents produced by Parliament (www.eduskunta.fi). All acts, regulations, juridical
decisions and state agreements are published by the Ministry of Justice in a database
available on the Internet (http://finlex.edita.fi/). A new act on making legislative acts public
decrees that these are made free of charge on the Internet.
The Ministry of Finance offers a Citizen’s Guide in the web (www.opas.vn.fi). It offers
public administration services needed in different situations in life. This electronic guide
also provides useful information to companies and communities. There is information from
more than 100 authorities and communities.
iii
See: http://lomake.vn.fi