henkilörekisterilaki

Henkilörekisterilaki, often translated as the Personal Data Act, was a Finnish law governing the processing of personal data. It was enacted in 1987 and served as the primary legislation for data protection in Finland for many years. The law aimed to protect the privacy of individuals and ensure that personal data was handled responsibly by organizations.

The core principles of the Henkilörekisterilaki included the obligation for data controllers to inform individuals about the collection and use of their data, the right of individuals to access their data, and the requirement for data to be accurate and up-to-date. It also stipulated that data should only be collected for specified purposes and not retained for longer than necessary. The law applied to both manual and automated processing of personal data.

Enforcement of the Henkilörekisterilaki was initially under the purview of the Data Protection Ombudsman. The law provided a framework for individuals to seek remedies if their data protection rights were violated. While it was a significant piece of legislation for its time, the evolving digital landscape and international data protection standards eventually necessitated a new legal framework.

In May 2018, the Henkilörekisterilaki was repealed and replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU regulation that is directly applicable in all member states, including Finland, and the new Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki), which supplements the GDPR. The GDPR brought about more comprehensive and harmonized data protection rules across the European Union.