Permit for engaging in trade or the establishment of a company
As a guardian, you will need a permit when you start engaging in a trade on behalf of your client as a private entrepreneur, i.e. a self-employed person. You will also need a permit when you continue the business or trade that your client has previously conducted or received as an inheritance or gift. If the client is able to personally engage in business activities, a permit is not required.
You will also need a permit when you enter into an agreement on behalf of your client to establish or join a partnership or limited partnership. You will need a permit to become either a general partner or a silent partner. The transfer of shares will not require a permit. Submit the company's financial statements with the annual statement.
Before making any decisions concerning the tasks you are charged with, ask for your client's opinion, if it is important to do so and the hearing can be arranged with significant difficulty. However, a hearing will not be necessary, if your client is unable to understand the meaning or significance of the action.
This is what to do
Fill in the permit application and, where necessary a separate consent form for the legal action from your client.
-
Submit the application and its attachments to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency via the e-service, via email, by post or by taking them personally to the application’s service location.
-
The processing of your permit application will be faster if you submit all the necessary attachments at the same time with your application. Where necessary, we will ask you for supplementary data.
-
We will send any request for supplementary data electronically to the Suomi.fi Messages service or via email, by post as a letter or by phone.
Required documents
Required documents for engaging in trade or business
- Information on the scope, funding, content and profitability of the business and its resulting responsibilities to the client
- If your client is a minor aged 15 or over or an adult whose functional capacity is not limited and they understand the significance of the matter, attach the client’s written opinion on the action to the application.
Required attachments for establishing a partnership or limited partnership
- Partnership agreement
- Information on the scope, funding, content and profitability of the business and its resulting responsibilities to the client
- The most recent financial statements, if you are seeking to join an already existing company, for a change to the company’s form of business or for a merger.
- If it is agreed that after the death of the general partner, the company’s activities will continue and the deceased partner will be replaced by his or her estate, in which the client is a stakeholder, attach a copy of the estate inventory deed, a copy of the deceased person's potential will, including its service of notice or certificate of validity, and a copy of any prenuptial agreement.
- If your client is a minor aged 15 or over or an adult whose functional capacity is not limited and they understand the significance of the matter, attach the client’s written opinion on the action to the application.
Check list
- Consider whether the planned action will benefit your client.
- Discuss the matter with your client and find out their opinion, if the client is able to understand the significance of the matter.
- Check that you have all the necessary attachments for the permit application. The attachments to the application may be copies.
- Make sure that you are not disqualified from acting as a guardian in the action. If you yourself or your close relative is a party to the action, you will need to apply for a substitute guardian
Price
A permit decision costs EUR 184.
Processing period
The average processing time is two months. As a rule, cases are processed in their order of arrival. In individual cases, the processing time may be less or more than this depending on the size and complexity of the matter. Processing times are longer when not all necessary reports have been included as attachments to the application.
Links to laws related to the matter
Guardianship Services Act (442/1999), Unofficial translation in English (pdf)
Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2022 (1136/2021), in Finnish
Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2021 (969/2020), in Finnish
Guardianship Services contact information
When sending an email, please use the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s secure email to ensure that your information is sent securely. Select [email protected] as the recipient in the secure mail
Send the email as a secure email
Postal address
Property inventories, annual statements and final statements must be sent to the postal address of the service location.
All other post to the Guardianship Service must be sent to the address:
Digital and Population Data Services Agency / Guardianship, PO Box 1004, FI-00531 Helsinki
Telephone number
The telephone service is open 9.00-12.00 on weekdays
Service number +358 295 536 256
Service locations
Addresses of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service location
- Individuals
- Processing times
- Marriage
- Having or adopting a child
- Names
- Moving
- Guardianship
- Continuing power of attorney
- Appointment of a guardian
- Duties of the guardian
- Guardianship for a minor
- Who can act as a guardian?
- Actions that require the permission of the guardianship authority
- Appointing a substitute guardian
- Termination of guardianship
- Giving up the guardian’s task
- Guardianship authority's means of supervision
- Looking after the interests of an absent person or the future owner of the property
- Restrictions to competency and declaration of incompetence
- Extracts from the Register of Guardianship Affairs
- Information for doctors, authorities and other parties
- Life changes while living abroad
- Registration of a child born abroad
- Marriage concluded abroad
- Partnership registered abroad
- Divorce granted abroad
- Registration of a name change performed abroad
- Gender recognised abroad
- Death abroad
- Registration of citizenship
- Notification of retaining Finnish citizenship
- Legalisation of foreign documents
- Submitting foreign documents
- As a foreigner in Finland
- Check your own personal details
- Elections and Right to vote
- Suomi.fi Web Service
- Citizen Certificate and electronic identity
- Certificates from the Population Information System
- Population information in the Population Information System
- Registration of a gift notification
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Citizens’ initiative
- Death and estate inventory
- Public Service Info
- Address service
- Forms
- Digital support for citizens
- Organisations
- Certificates
- Updating customer registers
- Sampling services
- Search services of the Population Information System
- Local Register Office Register search services
- Extracts from registers
- Maintaining the Population Information System
- Suomi.fi services
- Services to promote digitalisation
- Digital support
- Digital identity reform
- Digital security services
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Right to officiate weddings
- E-services
- Finnish Authenticator identification service
- About the agency