Transition to primarily electronic official mail: information and support for citizens

On 11 March 2026, the Parliament approved legislative amendments that will allow primarily electronic official mail for citizens who use digital services. Official paper mail will remain an option for everyone. If you don’t use digital services, you don’t have to change anything. This change requires the laws to be confirmed, which would enter into force on 14 April 2026.

After the law is enacted, anyone who logs into any public authority’s digital service will be directed to activate Suomi.fi Messages. Digital mailboxes are always created through strong identification and will not activate in the background without your knowledge.

- Suomi.fi Messages already has over 2.6 million users, and after this law is enacted, we will have another 1.8 million users – a total of over four million, says Annette Hotari, a project manager at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
 
Primarily electronic official mail does not apply to minors, persons under guardianship or anyone with a confirmed and continuing power of attorney. Anyone already using Suomi.fi Messages will not see any impact from this change.

- We want to reassure those of you who are concerned about this change: if you never use the public authorities’ digital services or strong identification tools, you will see no change and continue to receive official mail on paper. You will not need to submit any notifications to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or any other public authority, according to Hotari.

Return to paper mail is possible for one year at a time

It is also possible for someone who uses digital services to return to using paper mail after activating Suomi.fi Messages. This is an option you can select in the settings of Suomi.fi Messages. You will not receive mail from the public authorities both electronically and as paper mail.
 
This option will remain active for 365 days at a time. During that period, you will receive official mail in the post. After the one-year period ends and you log into to a public authority's digital service for the first time, you will be directed to re-activate Suomi.fi Messages. Suomi.fi Messages will not activate for you on its own. 

Information and support available by telephone, at webinars and at events

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency provides support with this change in various ways. If you have questions about digital official mail or how to use Suomi.fi Messages, you can contact the advisory service on Suomi.fi services. It is also possible to book an in-person appointment at the Digital and Population Data Services Agency by telephone. If you have any questions about a pending matter, you can receive support from the public authority that your matter is with.

We are happy to share information about this change to different operators, networks and events. We also encourage organising viewing sessions of our webinars. The first open webinar will be held on 9 April 2026 at 10 am, available through Yle Areena’s Avoin Areena service. It will also be possible to ask questions at the webinar.

Links

• Instructions and support material for Suomi.fi Messages
• Advisory service on Suomi.fi services
• More information on the remote info sessions: Official mail will become electronic for users of digital services in April
• Sign in to the 9 April 2026 webinar ​​​​​​​

More information 

Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Project Manager Annette Hotari, [email protected]