How to authorise users

The users of the Finnish Transparency Register act on behalf of organisations. A natural person using the Register must therefore have an authorisation to act as a representative of the organisation in the service portal of the Transparency Register. The authorisation is given for the theme Disclosures of lobbying activities. The authorisation ensures that only appropriate persons can give information on behalf of the organisation.

1. Acting on behalf of an organisation

The following persons have automatically an authorisation to represent their organisation:

  • managing director

  • deputy managing director

  • entrepreneur

  • president of an association

  • person entitled to sign for the organisation (persons entitled to represent the organisation on the basis of their position, right of representation or procuration).

In addition, an organisation can be represented by persons who have been granted an authorisation for carrying out transactions in the Transparency Register. The granting of authorisations is described in section 2.

The Transparency Register receives information on the persons who have the right to act on behalf of their organisation through the Suomi.fi service from the Finnish Trade Register, the Business Information System, the Finnish Register of Associations or the Authorisation Register (authorisations granted in Suomi.fi e-authorisations). The Transparency Register does not get information from the Register of Foundations.

A person for whom a right to represent an organisation has been registered in the Finnish Trade Register without a personal identity code may not act on behalf of the organisation in the Transparency Register. Personal identity codes have been disclosed to and registered in the Finnish Trade Register starting from 1 January 1994.

You can find more information about acting on behalf of an organisation under Acting on behalf of an organisation in the Suomi.fi e-Authorisations.

2. Granting of authorisations

The persons who are automatically authorised to act on behalf of an organisation in the Finnish Transparency Register are listed in section 1. Other persons should be authorised separately so that they can log in to the service portal of the Transparency Register.

An authorisation can be granted to one or more persons. The mandate theme used for the Transparency Register is “Disclosures of lobbying activities”. An authorised person can act on behalf of the organisation in the Transparency Register and submit the following disclosures of lobbying activities:

  • registration

  • disclosures of activities

  • deregistration.

The authorisations are granted either directly under e-Authorisations in the Suomi.fi service or applied for with an application. Check below which method your organisation should use.

Associations

The way in which associations can grant authorisations depends on the provision concerning the authority to sign for the association as entered in the Finnish Patent and Registration Office’s Register of Associations or on the authorisation rights granted in Suomi.fi e-authorisations.

A representative of an association can authorise users directly in Suomi.fi e-authorisations if the right to represent the association solely has been entered for the representative in the Register of Associations or if the representative has been granted the right to grant authorisations in the Suomi.fi e-authorisations. You can find instructions on direct authorisation under “Granting authorisations directly in Suomi.fi e-authorisations”.

If, according to the provision concerning the authority to sign, the association is represented jointly by two or more persons, the authorisation must be applied for with an application. You can find instructions under “Applying for authorisations with an application”.

Companies

As a rule, companies can grant authorisations directly in Suomi.fi e-authorisations. You can find instructions under “Granting authorisations directly in Suomi.fi e-authorisations”.

If necessary, the authorisation is applied for with an application. You can find instructions under “Applying for authorisations with an application”.

Foundations

An authorisation to act on behalf of foundations must always be applied for with an application. For instructions, see “Applying for authorisations with an application”.

Possible obstacles to direct authorisation in Suomi.fi e-authorisations

All organisations cannot grant authorisations directly through Suomi.fi e-authorisations. The reason for this may be, for example, that

  • according to the provision concerning the authority to sign for the association, the association is represented jointly by two or more persons

  • the organisation has no representatives entered in the Trade Register, such as foundations

  • the organisation has no Finnish means of identification or business ID

  • the organisation is, for example, a church, educational institutions or an organisation of the central government, wellbeing services county or municipality.

  • there is an obstacle to the use of electronic services.

In these cases, the authorisation is applied for with an application. You can find instructions under “Applying for authorisations with an application”.

Granting authorisations directly in Suomi.fi e-authorisations

There are two ways to grant authorisations directly in the Suomi.fi service: A) The person to be authorised may request an authorisation from the organisation, or B) the organisation may grant the authorisation without a separate request. For instructions, see below.

A. This is how you can request an authorisation mandate to act on behalf of an organisation in the Finnish Transparency Register:

  1. Identify yourself in the Suomi.fi service. You need your personal banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.

  2. Select “Personal mandates”.

  3. Select “Request mandates”.

  4. As the assignor, add the company on behalf of which you want to act. Search for a company using the business ID or name.

  5. Search for a mandate theme for the Transparency Register. The mandate theme is “Disclosures of lobbying activities”.

  6. Specify a period of validity for the authorisation and send the request for authorisation.

  7. The request for authorisation is sent to a person who has the right to grant authorisations in the organisation. The right to grant authorisations is automatically held by, for example, the managing director, the president of an association, a private entrepreneur or another person with the right to represent the organisation alone. In some cases, the request for authorisation is accepted jointly. See more detailed information on who can accept your request for authorisation.

  8. A notification of a new request is sent to the person who is entitled to accept the request for authorisation if the person has activated Suomi.fi Messages. As these messages are not necessarily in use, we advise you to also tell about your request for authorisation within the organisation.

  9. If you have activated Suomi.fi Messages, you will be notified of the acceptance of your request. Otherwise, you can view the requests sent and the authorisations granted on the “Personal mandates” page under either “Sent requests” or “Received mandates”. The authorisation enters into force as soon as it has been accepted. A rejected request is removed from Suomi.fi e-authorisations.

This is how a person entitled to grant authorisations accepts a request received:

  1. If you, based on register information, have the right to represent an organisation solely or if you have been granted the right to grant authorisations in Suomi.fi e-authorisations, you can accept a request for authorisation. The request for authorisation can also be accepted jointly by members of a company's board of directors entered in the Trade Register.

  2. Identify yourself in the Suomi.fi service. You need your personal banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.

  3. Select “Organisation's mandates”.

  4. Select the organisation to which the authorisation request has been sent.

  5. Proceed to accepting the request for authorisation. Check the request details and confirm the authorisation. The authorisation enters into force immediately.

  6. The authorised person is notified of the acceptance of the request if the person has activated Suomi.fi Messages. You can view the authorisations you have granted on the “Granted mandates” page. A rejected request is removed from the Suomi.fi authorisations.

B. This is how an organisation grants an authorisation without a separate request from the person to be authorised:

  1. If you, based on register information, have the right to represent an organisation solely or if you have been granted the right to grant authorisations in Suomi.fi e-authorisations, you can grant authorisations.

  2. Identify yourself in the Suomi.fi service. You need your personal banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.

  3. Select “Organisation's mandates” and the organisation on whose behalf you want to grant the authorisation.

  4. Select “Grant authorisations”.

  5. Select the mandate type "mandate for transactions”.

  6. Fill in the details of the parties.

  7. Search for the mandate theme of the Transparency Register. The mandate theme is “Disclosures of lobbying activities”.

  8. Specify the duration of the authorisation.

  9. Confirm the authorisation. It enters into force immediately after confirmation.

Note: The members of a company's board of directors may also grant authorisations jointly, in which case one board member initiates the granting of authorisations and the others approve it. Read more about granting authorisations jointly in the Suomi.fi instructions.

If you have problems requesting or granting an authorisation, please contact the Digital and Population Data Services Agency: tel. +358 (0)295 53 5115 (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00, local network charge / mobile call charge) or organisaatiopalvelut@dvv.fi.

Applying for authorisations with an application

All organisations cannot grant authorisations directly through Suomi.fi e-authorisations. In this case, organisations can apply for authorisations with an application processed by an official of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The processing time of the application is approximately one week from the sending of the application.

Read more about authorisation with an application in the Suomi.fi service. Start by determining the requirements to get detailed instructions on how to file an application.

If necessary, you can request additional information on authorisation with an application from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency: tel. +358 (0)295 53 5115 (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00, local network charge / mobile call charge) or organisaatiopalvelut@dvv.fi.

3. Authorisations of foreign organisations

A person using the Finnish Transparency Register must have an authorisation to act on behalf of the organisation. Most foreign organisations apply for authorisations with an application.

Read more about authorisation with an application in the Suomi.fi service. Start by determining the requirements to get detailed instructions on how to file an application. The processing time of the application is approximately one week from the sending of the application.

4. Contact information in case of problems

If you have problems related to authorisations, please contact the customer service of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency: Tel. +358 (0)295 53 5115 (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00, local network charge / mobile call charge) or organisaatiopalvelut@dvv.fi.

If you have problems or questions related to transactions in the Finnish Transparency Register, please contact the customer service of the Transparency Register: avoimuusrekisteri@vtv.fi.