Finland: Legal Environment

Business Contract

General Observation: Obligations of the vendor and the methods of quality control must be stated clearly.
Law Applicable to the Contract: Finland is a signatory to the Vienna Convention on International Contracts. Click here to visualize the list of signatory countries.
Advisable Incoterms: FINNTERMS are the terms often used in domestic trade. Preferred and the most used general terms in are CIF, FOB and DDU.
Language of Domestic Contract: Finnish, Swedish, English
Other Laws Which Can Be Used in Domestic Contracts: The laws and courts of the United States, The Great Britain and Switzerland provide fair justice and are understandable in English, which is likely to be accepted by the Finnish supplier.

National Organisations: Ministry of Education and Culture
National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR)
Regional Organisations: For the protection of patents: the European Patent Office (EPO). To control trademarks, designs and models: the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
International Membership: Member of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)
Signatory to the Paris Convention For the Protection of Intellectual Property
Membership to the TRIPS agreement - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

Type of property and law	Validity	International Agreements Signed
Patent Patents act	20 years	Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
Trademark Trademarks act	10 years	Trademark Law Treaty Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
Design Registered designs act	5 years, renewable
Copyright Copyright act		Berne convention For the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms Rome ConventionFor the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations WIPO Copyright Treaty WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
Industrial Models Act on utility model rights	4 years, renewable (maximum 10 years total)

Equal Treatment of Nationals and Foreigners: Yes
The Language of Justice: Finnish and Swedish
Recourse to an Interpreter: In connection with certain matters involving the fundamental rights of an individual, the party concerned is - according to the Language Act - always entitled to use his or her own language regardless of the language of the municipality. If necessary, interpreters can be used.
Legal Similarities: Finland has a parliamentary system, with the main source of the law the constitution of March 2000. The legal system is based on a civil law system that originates from the Swedish law. European Community law is directly applicable and takes precedence over national legislation. The country accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction but with reservations.

Foundation of the state, rights of individuals	The Constitution
Civil law, right of possession, consumer rights	The Civil Code
Company law	The Business Code
Taxation law	The Taxation Code
Work and social affairs law	The Work and Social Affairs Code
Environment law	The Environment Code
Criminal law	The Penal Code
State law, law on education, safety law	The Public Code

Checking National Laws Online: Constitution of Finland
Legislation in Finland
Other Useful Resources: Judicial system in Finland
Country Guides: Jurist World Law

61 District courts	District courts that operate on a local level deal with criminal cases, civil cases and petitions matters, such as divorce, the custody of children or debt adjustment.
6 Courts of Appeal	Most of the cases are dealt with by the Courts of Appeal. In addition, Courts of Appeal decide, as the first instance, matters of treason and high treason, as well as certain offences in public office. The Helsinki Court of Appeal has special responsibilities, such as decisions of pardoning felons serving a life sentence.
The Supreme Court	The most important function of the Supreme Court is to establish judicial precedents in leading cases thus ensuring uniformity in the administration of justice by the lower courts (District courts and Courts of appeal).
8 Regional administrative courts	A person or a corporation that believes a decision of a state or local authority relating to them is illegal is entitled to appeal against the decision. The administrative acts are recognized from the hallmark that they become binding without the consent of the other involved parties. The contracts between authorities and private persons fall usually to the jurisdiction of the general court system.
The Supreme Administrative Court	The court has three chambers that focus on different cases and deal with appeals against decisions of the Regional Administrative courts.
Special Courts	Market Court, Labor Court and Insurance Court deal cases on the field indicated in the name of the court.

District Court judges: A district court is headed by the Chief Judge and the other judges have the title District Judge. In certain cases, the district court may also have Lay Judges. The cases are handled and resolved either in a session, where the parties are summoned to, or in chambers where the decision is based solely on documents. In simple cases decisions can be made by notaries training at the court and by trained office staff.
Courts of Appeal judges: The head of a Court of Appeal is the chief justice. The other judges of the court are called senior justices or justices. All the judges of the Courts of Appeal are appointed by the President, on the basis of a draft decision presented by the government.
Supreme Court judges: The president and other judges called justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President of the Republic. According to the law, the Supreme Court shall have a President and at least 15 members. At present the Court consists of 18 members. The average age of a justice is 48 when he/she is appointed
The Supreme Administrative Court judges: The judges of the Supreme Administrative Court include the President and twenty Justices, as well as a few temporary Justices.

Arbitration: Arbitration proceedings are used especially in the business community. The procedure can be applied only to disputes which can be settled between the parties. More information can be found on the Finnish Arbitration Institute website.
Arbitration Law: Finnish arbitration laws are in substance identical to those of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.
Conformity to International Commercial Arbitration Rules: Party to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
Party to the Geneva Protocol on Arbitration Clauses.
Party to the Geneva Convention of the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
Appointment of Arbitrators: Free determination of the number (minimum three) and the method of appointment by the parties.
Arbitration Procedure: After hearing the parties, the arbitrator makes an award which is enforced by the regional court. No appeal is allowed against an award except if it has been made on false evidence. In this case, it can be annulled by the law.
Permanent Arbitration Bodies: The Arbitration Institute of the Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland (Sectors Covered: Domestic and international arbitration proceedings)
Court of Arbitration for Sport (Sectors Covered: Sports, especially doping disputes)

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