The Suomi.fi e-Authorizations mandate service provided by officials is now operational
– Users of the Katso service can switch to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations

The Suomi.fi e-Authorizations mandate service provided by officials became operational in on 11 June 2020.

In the mandate service provided by officials, parties that cannot grant electronic mandates in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations can grant electronic mandates and act on behalf of other parties. These parties include business partnerships, educational institutions, parishes, public organisations and foreign companies.

The Suomi.fi e-Authorizations mandate service provided by officials has been implemented by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. At this stage, the Finnish Tax Administration is responsible for offering the service.

Use of Katso service will end on 31 December 2020

The launch of the new service is a particularly significant step in the discontinuation of the Katso service as Suomi.fi e-Authorizations now covers parties that need electronic mandates. The use of the Katso service will be discontinued on 31 December 2020.

Suomi.fi e-Authorizations is an electronic authorisation service in which persons who have identified themselves can manage both their own mandates and the mandates of the organisations they represent, provided that their right to represent the organisation can be determined from the Trade Register and the Register of Associations.

The mandate service provided by officials enables companies and organisations whose representation rights cannot be found in registers to manage their mandates.

What are the main features of the new service?

In the mandate service provided by officials, parties that cannot grant electronic mandates in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations can grant electronic mandates and act on behalf of other parties. The service is intended for organisations whose representatives are not registered in the Trade Register (such as parishes, educational institutions, business partnerships, estates of deceased persons granted a Business ID, public organisations and foreign companies).

With the new service, persons with no online banking codes or those who are otherwise unable to use electronic means can also grant electronic mandates.

The registration of the mandate begins by sending a mandate application and the required appendices to the mandate service provided by officials. In the service, the mandates presented in the application are entered by the official in the authorisation register on behalf of the applicant.

How is the mandate application prepared and submitted?

The mandate service provided by officials enables companies or organisations to apply for mandates for their employees. The type of these mandates is primarily the right to grant a mandate. After the rights to grant a mandate have been registered, the persons with this right can grant mandates for transactions in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. The company or organisation can then manage its mandates for transactions independently in the same way as companies that have been registered in the Trade Register.

The details of the assignor and assignee and the extent of the mandate to be granted (right to grant a mandate) must be given in the mandate application. The mandate application must be signed by the assignor or the assignor's legal representative. Depending on the assignor, the authority to sign is shown with one or more documents appended to the mandate application.

Depending on the assignor, there are three ways to submit a mandate application to be processed by an official:

• electronic mandate application (only for Finnish companies and organisations)
• walk-in service (mainly intended for persons acting as assignors)
• application sent by post (mainly intended for foreign organisations that must present certified and legalised documents).

Electronic mandate application:

The electronic mandate application service is available on the Suomi.fi Web Service and it has three parts:

• Preparation of the mandate application, in which the assignor is shown how to get the required appendix documents and how to submit the mandate application.
• Completion of the mandate application, in which the assignor determines the mandates to be granted and the parties to whom they are granted.
• Saving and sending the mandate application. Before sending the application, the party preparing it must get the signatures and appendices required for the application. In the meanwhile, the prepared application can be saved in the service as an incomplete application.
• To save and send the application, the user must log in using strong identification. 

It is not yet possible for persons acting as assignors or foreign companies and organisations to submit electronic mandate applications.

Walk-in service

The walk-in service can be used by all those that need to official-assisted registration of mandates. The person using this service may be the mandate signatory or the signatory's agent. The agent must present all necessary appendix documents, including the signed application, at the service location.

Walk-in service is possible at all Tax Administration offices in Finland. Further details of where these offices are located can be found under “Service locations” in the instructions for mandate applications.

Sending the application by post

You can also send the mandate application by post to the following address

Digital and Population Data Services Agency
PO Box 1003
FI-02151 Espoo.

This option is mainly intended for foreign organisations and for those Finnish organisations that cannot submit their mandate applications electronically. The mandate application must first be completed and printed in the mandate application service on the Suomi.fi website and the signatures required on it must be obtained. In addition, the other required appendix documents must be enclosed in the application.

Preparing to make a mandate application

First read the instructions. Instructions related to the mandate service provided by officials have been published in the instructions and support for e-Authorizations section on the Suomi.fi website as part of the general instructions related to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. In addition, more detailed instructions for completing a mandate application can be found on the first page of the mandate application service: https://www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations/mandate-application

Companies and organisations that need the mandate service provided by officials can also prepare for submitting the mandate application in the following way:

• You must appoint at least two persons for whom the registration of the right to grant a mandate is applied.
• Familiarise yourselves with the instructions specific to those e-services that you use. Pay special attention to what mandate themes are accepted by the e-service concerned. The mandate theme defines the authority of the service user.
• If you use the Katso service, familiarise yourselves with the e-service-specific instructions under the heading ”Use of Katso service will be discontinued” on the Katso service home page.
• Select the mandate themes each of the appointed persons can manage. The right to grant a mandate is limited to specific mandate themes, which means that it is not an unlimited right. 
• You can also read about the different mandate themes used in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations on the Suomi.fi website. 
• You can also use a mandate specifier to narrow down the right to grant a mandate so that it only applies to a specific suborganisation. However, mandate specifiers can only be used for certain mandate themes. Find out more about them in advance and think about how you will be able to use them.
• You should determine which members of your organisation are authorised to sign the mandate application on behalf of the organisation.
• If the mandate application is signed manually, copies of the personal identity cards or passports of all of the signatories must be enclosed as an appendix. If the power of attorney appended to the mandate application is signed electronically using the organisation certificate of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or a professional ID, no copies of the personal identity documents are needed.

Frequently asked questions

Our municipality uses the e-services of Kela and the Finnish Tax Administration. Do we need to submit a notification of joining the new service or apply for a permit to act as assignors?

No. The mandate service provided by officials will be available to all users without any separate notifications or registrations.

Do you need to apply for Suomi.fi IDs in order to use the mandate service provided by officials?

No. When logging in to Suomi.fi services requiring identification, you must use strong electronic identification tokens, such as online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a certificate card. The same applies to the mandate services provided by officials and the mandate application.

What is the transition period during which the use of the Katso IDs will end and Suomi.fi e-Identification will remain the only way of identifying oneself?

Each e-service will replace Katso identification with Suomi.fi e-Identification according to its own timetable. However, the use of Katso identification as a whole will be discontinued by the end of 2020 at the latest. The links to each agency’s instructions can be found at yritys.tunnistus.fi/ under the heading “Use of Katso service will be discontinued”

What kind of agreement or application will the municipality submit on behalf of a person with the right to grant a mandate?

The mandate application is submitted in the Suomi.fi Web Service using the mandate application.

How do I know what mandates are required in our municipality?

Familiarise yourselves with the instructions for the e-services that you use. If you use the Katso service, familiarise yourselves with the e-service-specific instructions under the heading ”Use of Katso service will be discontinued” on the Katso service home page. You can also read about the different mandate themes used in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations on the Suomi.fi website: suomi.fi/e-authorizations/mandate-themes.

Does the municipality have to apply for the mandates for transactions separately or can all required mandates be applied for at the same time?

The required mandate themes can be applied for at the same time. However, please note that new mandate themes may be accepted to e-services in future. You may therefore have to submit more applications later.

Why do you need strong identification to be able to use the mandates?

The user is identified with strong identification to ensure that the level of data security and data protection in the service will be high enough and the mandates can be allocated to the right person.

How do I prove that I have the authority to apply for the right to grant a mandate on behalf of a foundation, association or farming consortium?

The mandate application service on the Suomi.fi website includes instructions for each type of assignor. By selecting “Preparation of the mandate application” in the service, the user is guided in obtaining the right required appendix documents and signatures from the right parties. Advice on submitting the mandate application is also provided.

Is it possible to grant a mandate on behalf of a company that has terminated its operation?

Yes, by submitting a mandate application. The application is submitted in the mandate application service in the Suomi.fi Web Service. The mandate application service also provides the instructions for it.

Which one will apply for the right to grant a mandate, the parent company or the subsidiary?

The company on behalf of which the different e-services will be used will apply for the right to grant a mandate. If the company in question has been registered in the Trade Register and its legal representative(s) have a Finnish personal identity code, the right to grant a mandate can also be granted independently in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. If help from the mandate service provided by officials is required for the registration of the right to grant a mandate, the mandate application must be signed by the company's legal representative. The instructions for the mandate application service provide guidance on what documents must be enclosed as appendices to prove the authority to sign.

How does a company's foreign managing director apply for the right to grant a mandate to himself of herself or to an employee?

The mandate application service provides instructions for what is required in this case. By selecting “Preparation of the mandate application” in the service, the user is guided in obtaining the right required appendix documents and signatures from the right parties. Advice on submitting the mandate application is also provided.

If the person to whom the mandate is granted is a foreign citizen, the person must first obtain a token from the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service and the foreigner’s identifier related to it. Instructions for obtaining the identifier: suomi.fi/instructions-and-support/information-on-eidentification

How will a company’s foreign employee who does not have a Finnish personal identity code obtain a mandate for transactions?

The person to whom the mandate will be granted must first obtain a token from the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service and the foreigner’s identifier related to it. Instructions for obtaining the identifier: suomi.fi/instructions-and-support/information-on-eidentification. The person can then be granted the mandate, either in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations or, if authorisation is not possible as a self-service, through the mandate service provided by officials.