Hallintolaissa

Hallintolaissa, the Administrative Procedure Act, is the Finnish statute that governs how public authorities conduct administrative proceedings. It provides the general rules for initiating matters, collecting and weighing evidence, hearing parties, issuing decisions, and serving them. The act aims to ensure legality, predictability, and fairness in public administration by offering a common procedural framework for ministries, agencies, municipalities, and other public bodies.

The scope is broad but non-judicial: it applies to most administrative decisions affecting individuals and organizations, such as permits, social benefits, licenses, sanctions, and other regulatory decisions. It does not itself decide substantive rights; instead it sets the process by which such rights are determined under other laws.

Core provisions include principles of legality, impartiality, and equality; procedural rights such as the right to be heard and to present evidence; access to information and to one’s own case file (subject to confidentiality rules); duties to investigate and to base decisions on a reasoned, written decision, served with information on how to appeal. Decisions typically include instructions on appeal to an administrative court and time limits.

The act interacts with the Finnish Constitution and other sector-specific legislation, providing a general framework that supports due process across administrative branches. It has been amended several times to reflect evolving administrative practice and constitutional requirements and remains central to Finnish administrative law.