Katso service is discontinued – start using the Suomi.fi services now
The Katso service will be replaced by Suomi.fi e-Identification and Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. In September 2021, it will no longer be possible to use the Katso ID for identification and the roles and authorisations in the Katso service will no longer be valid.
Suomi.fi e-Identification
Users of Suomi.fi e-Authorizations will not need any separate identifiers. Katso IDs will be completely disabled. In future, strong personal tokens such as online banking codes, a mobile certificate, an ID card issued by the police or a smart card issued by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be required for logging into the e-services.
- Note: Foreign citizens who have been using Katso identification, do not have a Finnish personal identity code and cannot identify themselves using Finnish tokens must change over from Katso identification in the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service.
Read more about Finnish Authenticator Identification Service
Read more about notarisation of foreign documents
Suomi.fi e-Authorizations
The mandates currently in the Katso service will not be automatically transferred to the new service; they must be separately created as Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.
- Companies authorise independently in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations
- Municipalities, partnerships, educational institutions, parishes, public organisations, foreign companies and other organisations whose representation rights cannot be found in the company or association registers may create the rights to grant mandates in the authorisation service provided by officials. The authorised persons can then independently create mandates for transactions in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.
- Associations, a member of which has the right to represent the association alone (authority to sign), authorise independently in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.
- Other associations authorise in the mandate service provided by officials.
Read more
- How do I change over from Katso to Suomi.fi services?
- Changing over from the Katso service to Suomi.fi services
- How to submit a mandate application in the mandate service provided by officials - Filling in the application step by step
- Finnish Authenticator Identification Service A solution for the identification of representatives of foreign companies
Questions about authorisation in a foreign company
Find out the instructions in the instructions for the mandate service provided for officials: www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations/authorisation-with-an-application
To use services electronically, the foreign managing director must obtain a foreigner's identifier and the Finnish Authenticator app through the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service. You will find the instructions for the service on the Suomi.fi website under Instructions and support.
It is obligatory to use the Finnish Authenticator app if the person intends to use Suomi.fi e-Authorizations for authorising and acting on behalf of another party. In other words, it is not possible to refuse if the person wants to manage the company’s matters electronically in Finland.
You will find the instructions in the mandate service provided by officials under ”Find out the instructions.
The foreign company must apply for the mandates through the mandate service provided by officials because there is no basic register of foreign companies from which the representation rights of a foreign company could be determined.
After the foreign company has applied for the right to grant a mandate for its representative through the mandate service provided by officials, the representative can start to grant mandates for transactions in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.
The foreign managing director must first obtain a foreigner’s identifier and the identification app in the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service. After that, the company must apply for the mandates through the mandate service provided by officials.
When the managing director has received the rights to grant a mandate, they can independently grant mandates for transactions in Suomi.fi Web Service to the employees who need them.
The Finnish Authenticator Identification Service is intended only for foreign citizens. If a Finnish person would like to manage the affairs of a foreign company electronically, they have to obtain a Finnish identification token. After that, the foreign company will use the mandate service provided by officials to apply for a representative’s right to grant a mandate for that person.
The Finnish Authenticator Identification Service may also be needed if the right to create mandates needs to be given to the foreign managing director of a Finnish company and this foreign managing director does not have a Finnish personal identity code or identification tokens. In such a situation, the foreign managing director should obtain a foreigner's identifier because they will become a party to the mandate, the assignee.
However, if the foreign managing director of this Finnish limited liability company only signs the application and the rights to grant a mandate are needed for the Finnish financial director, no foreigner's identifier is required. However, whenever a foreign representative/employee of a company becomes an assignee, a party to the mandate, they must be identified with the foreigner's identifier if there is no Finnish personal identity code or a strong identification token.
Questions about authorisation with an application (Mandate service provided by officials)
The mandate service provided by officials enables parties whose representation rights cannot be determined from a general data register to grant electronic authorisations and act on behalf of another party. Parties that need the mandate service provided by officials include business partnerships, educational institutions, parishes, municipalities, central government and foreign companies.
This is because of the powers of attorney. If you are applying for authorities with a different scope, approval must be obtained from the person who makes the decision. A new application is required for that.
By submitting a new application. You should therefore first give some people a right to grant a mandate so that they grant mandates for transactions for those who use the actual services on behalf of the organisation.
Yes, you can. You can log into the mandate service provided by officials suomi.fi/e-authorizations/authorisation-with-an-application. The person who originally sent the application can see its status when logged in using their own IDs.
You will find your application under Your applications at the bottom of the page. After logging in, you can open the application by clicking it in the list Mandates to be registered.
More details about mandate specifiers can be found in the instructions for Suomi.fi e-Authorizations: Grant a mandate as a company or organisation.
Yes, the e-services are the best source of information in this respect. Actual e-service-specific instructions are not provided in the Suomi.fi service, although the mandate themes browsing service allows you to browse mandate themes to see which of them are accepted in the different e-services. However, the information in it does not include all information updated by the e-services.
You will find the instructions for the e-services on the Katso website