Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto (Finland)

Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto Dataombudsmannens byrå
Name:	Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto Dataombudsmannens byrå
Abbreviation:	Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto
Jurisdiction:	Finland
Head:	Anu Talus
Deputy:	Heljä-Tuulia Pihamaa Annina Hautala
Address:	Lintulahdenkuja 4 00530 Helsinki P.O. Box 800 FI-00531 Helsinki Finland
Webpage:	www.tietosuoja.fi/en/
Email:	tietosuoja@om.fi
Phone:	+358-29-56-66700
Twitter:	@Tietosuoja_DPA
Procedural Law:	Administrative Procedure Act 434/2003 (Originals in FI and SV) Data Protection Act 1050/2018 (Originals in FI and in SV)
Decision Database:	Finlex (in FI)
Translated Decisions:	Category:Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto (Finland)
Head Count:	54 (2022)
Budget:	€4,900,000 (2024)
Wikidata-Item:	Q5474493

The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto in Finnish or Dataombudsmannens byrå in Swedish) is the national Data Protection Authority for Finland. It resides in Helsinki and is in charge of enforcing GDPR in Finland.

Structure

The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman is headed by the Data Protection Ombudsman (tietosuojavaltuutettu / dataombudsman) and two Deputy Data Protection Ombudsmen (apulaistietosuojavaltuutettu / biträdande dataombudsman) who all may take decisions. They are appointed by the government for five-years terms. Collectively they form the Sanctions Board, which imposes the fines set out in the GDPR.

An independent Expert Board is also appointed by the government for three-year term, and its task is to issue statements on significant questions relating to the application of the legislation if the Data Protection Ombudsman requests so. The Board consists of the Chair, Vice-Chair, and three Members, with everyone having a personal deputy.

The Office consists of the following units: the management support and core services unit led by the Data Protection Ombudsman, the private-sector and public-sector guidance and supervision units led by the Deputy Ombudsmen, and the administrative unit led by the Head of Administration.

Procedural Information

Applicable Procedural Law

The Finnish DPA operates under the Administrative Procedure Act 434/2003 (hallintolaki / förvaltningslag). Following the GDPR, specific rules on the DPA were given in the Data Protection Act 1050/2018 (tietosuojalaki / dataskyddslag).

For the Directive (EU) 2016/680 a separate Act on the Processing of Personal Data in Criminal Matters and in Connection with Maintaining National Security 1054/2018 (rikosasioiden tietosuojalaki / dataskyddslagen för brottmål) applies.

Complaints Procedure under Art 77 GDPR

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Ex Officio Procedures under Art 57 GDPR

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Appeals

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Practical Information

Filing with the DPA

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Known Problems

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Filing an Appeal

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Decision Database

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Statistics

Funding

The DPA is financed by the Finnish government and gets their budget allocation every October from the Ministry of Finance. The funding for 2024 is €4,900,000.

Historical numbers (based on the annual reports):

• 2023: €4,730,000
• 2022: €4,450,000
• 2021: €4,351,000
• 2020: €3,700,000
• 2019: €3,862,000
• 2018: €2,372,000

Personnel

In the end of 2023, the Office had 54 personnel with an average age of 42,1 years.

Historical numbers (based on the annual reports):

• 2022: 54
• 2021: 55
• 2020: 48
• 2019: 46
• 2018: 31

Caseload

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Fines

In May 2020 the Sanctions Board of the Office imposed fines for the first time. The Board has imposed a total of 21 fines, the total amount of which is €3,503,400.

The largest imposed fine is €856,000 for the IT retailer Verkkokauppa.com Oyj. See Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto (Finland) - TSV/26/2020.

Annual Reports

The DPA's annual reports from 2018 (ongoing) are available on this page.