- Certificates
- Updating customer registers
- Sampling and analysis 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 security services
- Services of notary public
- Certification of purchase
- Right to officiate weddings
- E-services
Katso service will be 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 January 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-Authorizations are used more extensively than the Katso service in the e-services of the public administration and also the private sector.
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
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.
uses it. The three years refers to mandates granted by the user of the foreigner’s identifier, which are valid for a maximum of three years. After that, the mandate must be created again.
If the user does not use the foreigner’s identifier/account for 4 years to log into any e-service supporting it, the identifier/account will be locked. If the user does not request the identifier to be reactivated by 1 January of the next calendar year, the user account/foreigner’s identifier will be deleted from the system.
Additional information on the Finnish Authenticator service and how to start using it
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.
You will find the instructions for your organisation under Find out the instructions in the mandate service provided by officials.
You can then complete the application in the mandate service provided by officials.
The instructions for each e-service (for example Tax Administration, Kela and Incomes Register) can be found on its website. The links to the instructions can be found on the Katso home page.
The details of the assignor and the assignee and the scope of the right to grant a mandate must be given in the mandate application. The mandate application must be signed by the assignor or the legal representative of the assignor. 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:
- 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. Send the application to the following address: Digital and Population Data Services Agency, PO Box 1003, FI-02151 Espoo, Finland.
A company or an organisation can use the mandate service provided by officials primarily to apply for rights to grant a mandate for its employees. After the rights to grant a mandate have been registered, the persons with a right to grant a mandate can grant mandates for transactions in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations independently on behalf of the company or organisation in question.
In other words, after the rights to grant a mandate have been registered, the company or organisation can manage its mandates independently, without the support of the mandate service provided by officials.
The right to grant a mandate does not give a right to use the services. However, the person with the right to grant a mandate can always grant themself a mandate for transactions.
-
Familiarise yourselves with Suomi.fi e-Authorizations at suomi.fi/instructions-and-support/information-on-eauthorizations
-
You must appoint at least two persons for whom the registration of the right to grant a mandate is applied.
-
Select the mandate themes that each of the persons entitled to grant a mandate / given the right to grant a mandate are authorised to manage. The right to grant a mandate can only be granted for specific mandate themes.
-
Familiarise yourselves with the service providers’ instructions on which mandate themes they accept in their services.
-
You can also familiarise yourselves with the different mandate themes 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 so that you are well-prepared for the changes.
- You should determine which members of your organisation are authorised to sign the mandate application on behalf of the organisation.
Yes. This is because the powers of attorney (or other documents) submitted for Katso have been submitted for a different purpose.
The mandate application completed and printed in the mandate service provided by officials on the Suomi.fi website serves as a power of attorney, enabling the identification and registration of the given mandates in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. The other documents you may need to attach must not be more than six months old.
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.
A driving licence is not an official identity document. A copy of the passport or the ID card issued by the police is required for the application.
If the right to represent the organisation cannot be determined from the Trade Register, the Business Register or the Register of Associations, it must be proven with some other document indicating the right to represent.
You can find out the required company-specific or organisation-specific documents in the instructions for the mandate service provided by officials.
The processing time is 2– 4 weeks. At busy times, it will take longer. The processing time will also be longer if signatures or required appendices are missing from the application.
No. When logging into Suomi.fi services requiring identification, you must use your personal strong identification tokens. These are your online banking codes, your mobile certificate, the ID card issued by the police or a smart card issued by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. You can use these tokens to also log into the mandate service provided by officials.
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.
The mandates must be created again in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. The municipality authorises the joint municipal authority. The joint municipal authority must have a person with a representative’s right to grant mandates in the required mandate theme. This person will then grant mandates to represent in the same mandate theme to the employees.
This way, the municipality does not need to know who to authorise. The joint municipal authority will itself determine which employees can manage customers’ affairs.
The joint municipal authority (in practice, a person with representative’s right to grant a mandate in the joint municipal authority) may either request the municipality to grant a mandate for transactions for a mandate theme applicable for Kela’s services. The municipality (in practice, a person with the right to grant mandates on behalf of the municipality) will then validate the mandate request.
Alternatively, the municipality (a person with the right to grant mandates on behalf of the municipality) may grant a mandate for transactions to the joint municipal authority.
Yes. However, in the beginning, Suomi.fi e-Authorizations are intended only for those who have previously been using the Katso IDs.
If you have identified yourself in the service, you will find the mandate application at suomi.fi/e-authorizations/authorisation-with-an-application.
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.
You can log into the mandate service provided by officials at suomi.fi/e-authorizations/authorisation-with-an-application. The person who originally sent the application can handle the application when logged in using their own IDs.
You will find your application under Your applications at the bottom of the page.
After logging in, open the application by double-clicking 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.
By completing an application in the mandate service provided by officials. You will find more detailed instructions in the service under Find out the instructions.
In some cases, the sole right of representation may have been registered to the estate administrator in the Trade Register. The estate administrator can then authorise independently. Similarly, some e-services allow the use of the services on behalf of the company for the role of a liquidator, in which case the entry in the Trade Register is sufficient and a separate mandate is not needed.
In the case of private entrepreneurs, authorisation is only possible in the mandate service provided by officials.
No. The Katso roles are not automatically transferred to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations.
By completing an application in the mandate service provided by officials. You will find more detailed instructions in the service under Find out the instructions.
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
The new mandates must be registered through the mandate service provided by officials. You will find more detailed instructions under Find out the instructions. Select deemed partnership as the organisation form.
You will find the instructions in the mandate service provided by officials under Find out the instructions. Select deemed partnership as the organisation form.