Official mail becomes electronic – learn more in webinars in January 2026

In 2026, mail from public authorities in Finland will primarily be electronic. In January 2026, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency will organise webinars for citizens to explain the transition to digital official mail. Five webinars will be held: two in Finnish, one in Swedish and one in English.

The webinars will cover the basics of the change:

• how official mail will change,
• what the change will mean,
• when the change will take place,
• who the change applies to,
• how a person can return to receiving paper mail if necessary

People can also ask questions at the webinars. A participation link will be sent to all registered participants before a webinar. The webinars will be recorded, and a link to the recording will be sent to the participants of a webinar. 

Register for a webinar:

• Webinar in Finnish 15 January 2026 at 13:00
• Webinar in Finnish 21 January 2026 at 10:00
• Webinar in Swedish 21 January 2026 at 13:00
• Webinar in English 15 January 2026 at 10:00

Digital support actor – share the information with your customers!

We also encourage all digital support actors to provide remote viewing of the webinars for their customers! Please also share the registration links!

What is the Digital First change about?

From 2026 onwards, mail from public authorities will primarily be sent electronically. In 2026, Suomi.fi Messages will be activated for all adults who use digital services and who have not yet activated the service. Suomi.fi Messages will be activated when a person identifies themselves for the first time in the e-services of a public authority in early 2026. During identification, the user will be informed of the activation of Suomi.fi Messages and asked to provide the email address where they want to receive notifications of their new messages in Suomi.fi Messages. After the change is implemented, more than four million people will primarily receive their official mail digitally.

The change will not apply to persons who do not use the public administration's e-services, to minors, or to people who are under guardianship or have a valid continuing power of attorney. These people will continue to receive paper mail from public authorities.

Users can later switch back to receiving paper mail if they want to. Switching back to paper mail can be done by changing the relevant setting in Suomi.fi Messages or by contacting the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s customer service.

However, changing back to paper mail is only possible after Suomi.fi Messages has been activated in 2026, not in advance. The setting for receiving paper mail will remain active for six months at a time. After six months, Suomi.fi Messages will be reactivated when the user identifies again in the e-services of public authorities.

More information: https://suomi.fi/en/messages