Population Register Centre and local register offices will merge to form the Digital and Population Data Services Agency at the beginning of 2020

The Act on the Establishment of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency was approved today by the President of the Republic. The Act will enter into force on 1 January 2020, when the new Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Finnish Digital Agency) will begin operations in Finland.

The agency will be created when the Population Register Centre, local register offices and the Development and Steering Unit for the Local Register Offices operating under the Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland are merged to form a single agency within the Population Register Centre. At the same time, the name of the Population Register Centre will change to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Promotion of digitalisation and harmonisation of practices as the task

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will promote the digitalisation of society, secure the availability of information and provide services related to customers’ life events. Operations will focus, in particular, on national approaches, uniform practices and the possibilities offered by digitalisation. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be a national authority operating at several regional offices.

"The aim of the reform is to promote digitalisation and the e-services of public administration, and to develop the public administration's cooperation in customer service. The name of the Agency indicates its pivotal role as a trailblazer in digitalisation," says Minister of Local Government and Public Reforms Anu Vehviläinen.

“The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be an active and extensive actor promoting digitalisation. The goal is that the merger will allow us to offer citizens more comprehensive, life-situation-oriented services and to strongly promote the digitalisation of public administration and the whole of Finnish society. Now that the law has been approved, organisation of the Agency’s activities can begin in earnest,” says Janne Viskari, Director General of the Population Register Centre and the future Director of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

The Act on the establishment of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency is published in full on the website for the Government's proposals and decisions (in Finnish).

Inquiries

Janne Viskari, Director General, Population Register Centre, tel. +358 (0)295 535 022, janne.viskari(at)vrk.fi

Irja Peltonen, CIO, Ministry of Finance, tel. +358 (0)295 530 138, irja.peltonen(at)vm.fi

Maria Nikkilä, Director of the Digitalisation Unit, Senior Adviser for Information Management, Ministry of Finance, tel. +358 (0)295 530 514, maria.nikkila(at)vm.fi

Tuomas Vanhanen, Special Adviser to Minister of Local Government and Public Reforms Anu Vehviläinen, Ministry of Finance, tel. +358 (0)295 530 216, tuomas.vanhanen(at)vm.fi

What do the Population Register Centre and the local register offices do?

The Population Register Centre and the local register offices currently provide a wide range of services to authorities, businesses and citizens. The Population Register Centre is responsible in particular for the services of Suomi.fi, expert services for public administration information management, and the development of the population information system and certification services.

The local register offices work together with the Population Register Centre as data controllers of the Population Information System, and they are responsible for a wide range of legal security services as well as general administration and service tasks. The local register offices, for example, act as the guardianship authority and carry out public notary duties, civil marriages and trade confirmations.