In accordance with the principle of publicity laid down in the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), official documents are public unless otherwise provided by law. However, under section 24(1)(8) of the Act, documents concerning preparedness for accidents or emergency conditions, civil protection, or investigations conducted under the Safety Investigation Act (525/2011) are confidential if disclosing the information would harm or endanger safety or its development, the implementation of civil protection or preparedness for emergency conditions, compromise the safety investigation or its purpose, endanger the acquisition of information necessary for the investigation, or violate the rights of victims of an accident, hazardous situation, or exceptional event, or the memory of the victims or their relatives. A significant portion of the Safety Investigation Authority’s investigation material is confidential.
A person submitting a request for information does not need to identify themselves or justify their request if the document is public and no other factors restrict its disclosure. If the document contains personal data, the requester is often required to provide additional information, such as the purpose for which the data will be used and how it will be protected.
A request for information must be addressed to the authority that holds the material in question. The request must be specified so that it is clear which document or information is being requested. More detailed instructions on how to submit a request can be obtained from the relevant authority, which will assist in specifying the document if necessary.
The Safety Investigation Authority applies the joint decision of the Agency for Specialised Services in the Judicial Administration regarding fees charged under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) and the Ministry of Justice’s Fee Decree (646/2024). The fee is determined by the Safety Investigation Authority.
Fees Charged Under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities
The fee criteria listed below are applied by the Safety Investigation Authority.”
According to section 34(1) of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, no fee is charged for providing a document when:
providing the requested document falls under the authority’s duty to advise, hear parties, or provide information
the request concerns valuable datasets as referred to in section 24 b(1) of the Act on Information Management in Public Administration (906/2019)
information from the document is provided orally
the document is made available for reading or copying on the authority’s premises
a public electronic document is sent to the requester by email
an electronically stored document is sent by email to a party to the matter
A fee corresponding to the costs of retrieving the information is charged when a document has been requested that, within the meaning of section 13(1) of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, cannot be identified and located in the authority’s document register maintained under the Act through the document classification or identifier used in the register, nor in an electronically maintained register through its search functions.
The fee for retrieving information is calculated on the basis of the following hourly rates:
officer/assistant: 80 euros for each commenced hour
specialist: 95 euros for each commenced hour
No value-added tax is charged for hourly work.
The fee for providing copies and printouts is 0.50 euros per page. A double‑sided document is charged as two pages. No value‑added tax is charged for copies or printouts.
The same fee is charged when confidential information contained in a document must be removed by printing or copying the document and then converting it back into electronic form by scanning.
A fee may be charged for a document request that requires special measures in order to remove confidential information. This fee is charged in addition to the fee for providing copies, printouts, or converting the document into electronic form. The fee for removing confidential information is calculated on the basis of the following hourly rates:
officer/assistant: 80 euros for each commenced hour
specialist: 95 euros for each commenced hour
No value-added tax is charged for hourly work.
Fees Charged Under the Ministry of Justice’s Fee Decree
The fee criteria listed below are applied by the Safety Investigation Authority.
The production of data materials under section 21 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities may be charged on the basis of the following hourly rates:
officer/assistant: 80 euros for each commenced hour
specialist: 95 euros for each commenced hour
No value-added tax is charged for hourly work.
In accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679), the information provided to a data subject under Articles 13 and 14, as well as all information and measures based on Articles 15–22 and 34, are in principle free of charge.
If the data subject requests multiple copies of the personal data processed by the controller under the GDPR, a reasonable fee based on administrative costs may be charged for additional copies (Article 15). Furthermore, if requests made by the data subject under the GDPR are manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly due to their repetitive nature, the controller may either charge a reasonable fee taking into account the administrative costs of providing the information or communication or taking the requested action, or refuse to act on the request (Article 12).
A fee based on administrative costs is calculated according to the following hourly rates:
officer/assistant: 80 euros for each commenced hour
