Voimassaolosta

Voimassaolo is a Finnish noun referring to the state of being in force, valid, or enforceable. It describes whether a regulation, decision, permit, contract, or other instrument currently applies and binding. The term is commonly used in legal, administrative, and policy contexts to distinguish what is currently operative from other statuses.

The genitive form voimassaolosta is used when the sentence concerns the status itself or information about validity. In official language it often appears after nouns to indicate the subject matter of a statement, such as sopimuksen voimassaolosta (about the contract’s validity) or päätöksen voimassaolosta (about the decision’s validity). Voimassaolo is thus about ongoing applicability, not about the moment of coming into force.

Voimaantulo, by contrast, denotes the moment when something begins to be in force. The two terms are related but refer to different aspects of legal timing: voimaantulo is the start of validity, voimassaolo is the continued state of being in force. The phrase voimassaolosta is common in notices, decisions, and communications that report on current applicability or changes in validity, often alongside dates or time limits.

Common contexts include statutes and regulations that are “in force” on a given date, licenses whose validity is time-limited, or contracts whose terms are currently applicable. In drafting, voimassaolosta helps specify what aspect the communication concerns—namely, the current status of validity rather than the entry into force.