Finland

CRIN would like to express our profound gratitude to our external reviewer, Professor Niina Mäntylä from the University of Vaasa, for her insightful comments on a draft of this report. CRIN also sent a draft version to the State for feedback and any comments received were taken into account in finalising the report. Any errors or inaccuracies remaining in the report are CRIN’s.

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I. National legal protections

A. Are environmental rights protected within the national constitution?

The Constitution of Finland (the “Constitution”) emphasises that the sovereign power in Finland belongs to the people, who are represented by the Parliament. Section 2 of the Constitution specifically entails the right of the individual “to participate in and influence the development of society and his or her living conditions.”¹

Public authorities also have a duty to guarantee and observe basic rights, liberties and human rights,² and “to promote the opportunities for the individual to participate in societal activity and to influence the decisions that concern him or her” (Section 22).

These provisions are given further weight in the Constitution with explicit reference to the environment and land use. For example, Section 20 provides that “nature and its biodiversity, the environment and the national heritage are the responsibility of everyone”. The Constitution further states that “public authorities shall endeavour to guarantee for everyone the right to a healthy environment and for everyone the possibility to influence the decisions that concern their own living environment.”³

When read together, the environmental fundamental rights provisions create a constitutional mandate, as well as a binding obligation for public authorities, to develop environmental legislation in such a way that a healthy environment and people’s opportunities to influence decision making regarding their own living environment are secured and developed through active measures of public authority.

The concept of shared responsibility contained in the basic environmental right recognises the intrinsic value of nature and the environment, and the shared responsibility that comes with protecting it. It forces authorities, individuals, companies and organisations to consider constitutional obligations and rights in, for example, land use, waste management, environmental protection, use of natural resources and nature conservation. At the same time, the law recognises the interdependence of human and environmental well-being, as an unhealthy environment threatens the realisation of other basic rights.

The Constitution also provides that “[e]veryone has the right to have his or her case dealt with appropriately and without undue delay by a legally competent court of law or other authority, as well as to have a decision pertaining to his or her rights or obligations reviewed by a court of law or other independent organ for the administration of justice.”⁴

There are no specific constitutional environmental protections pertaining to children. However, Section 6 of the Constitution provides that “children shall be treated equally and as individuals”, thereby extending the aforementioned protections to children as a matter of principle. Non-discrimination provisions supplement this equality clause. The prohibition of discrimination applies to both indirect and direct discrimination, but allows, for example, affirmative action, as long as this can be justified in a manner acceptable to the fundamental rights system. Children should be allowed to influence matters that concern them in an age-appropriate manner.⁵

In order to give proper effect to these Constitutional rights and enable people to influence decisions concerning their living environment/conditions, Finland has recognised that sufficient participatory rights must also be secured, including access to information and access to court.⁶ For example, the ‘Carbon Neutral Finland 2035 - National Climate and Energy Strategy’ states that “ensuring participation requires technical accessibility, clear language, different language versions and accessibility of events” and that “safeguarding the participatory rights of children and persons with disabilities may also require other forms of participation than written ones”.⁷

B. Have constitutional rights protections been applied by national courts with regards to environmental issues?

The constitutional right to the environment is rarely used as a source of law in the reasoning of decisions of courts, such as the Supreme Administrative Court. The approach is rather the pragmatic use of environmental protection legislation, and if the situation is unclear or where there is a gap in the legislation, constitutional rights protections would be used. Nevertheless, the constitutional right to the environment is not systematically used, but rather depends on the discretion of the courts meaning that the constitutional right to the environment has not been applied in all possible situations.

In circumstances where the national legislation has allowed opportunity for interpretation, the Supreme Administrative Court's rulings have steadily emphasised the development of participatory rights in environmental matters since the inclusion of Section 20 to the Finnish Constitution in 1995. Some examples of this are the following cases: KHO 2003:99, KHO 2004:76 and KHO 2011:49.⁸ The judges of the Supreme Administrative Court have also suggested that, if the Constitutional Law Committee or even the appellant themselves successfully argues the applicability of environmental fundamental rights and constitutional protections, that this can affect the court’s position.

For example:

1. The case of Vuotos (KHO:2002:86) concerned the government-owned Kemijoko company which had applied for an environmental permit to build a large artificial water basin for energy production. It was considered a nationally important energy policy project that was predicted to have considerable environmental effects in northern Finland. The Administrative Court of Vasa set aside the decision and rejected the application for the permit.
   
   On appeal, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the previous decision. The Court confirmed that Section 20 of the Constitution, regarding the value of nature, must be taken into account when interpreting the law. Rather than maintaining the traditional interpretation of the Water Act (where the strong determining factor was the protection of the interests of the energy industry), the Court considered the intention of the legislator with regards to fundamental constitutional rights protections. This decision therefore allowed for a new kind of interpretation which strengthened environmentally favourable interpretation.

2. The case of KKO:2009:47⁹ considered whether nature activists, who opposed the felling of a forest and had stayed in and near the felling area whilst felling was in progress, were guilty of preventing the felling of the forest, which is punishable in Section 18a of the Forestry Act. The District Court held that Section 18a of the Forestry Act did not conflict with Section 12 and 13(1) of the constitution (freedom of expression and freedom of assembly). According to the District Court, there may be necessary restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of demonstration and assembly, and Section 18a of the Forestry Act did not prevent the exercise of these basic rights, rather it only limited them in time and space. As stated above, Section 20(1) of the Constitution states that “responsibility for nature and its diversity belongs to everyone”.¹⁰ The District Court concluded that Section 18a of the Forestry Act did not conflict with this Constitutional protection either because “the logging had been carried out in such a way that the diversity of forest nature is taken into account.”¹¹ The Court of Appeal agreed and did not change the outcome of the district court’s verdict.
   
   The Supreme Court, on the other hand, considered Section 20(2) of the Constitution and emphasised the responsibility that the public authority had to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to influence decision-making regarding their living environment. In its judgement, the Supreme Court stated that “penal provisions should not be applied in such a way as to make it difficult for nature activists to exercise legal civic activities”, and “must not nullify the freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed to everyone in Sections 12 and 13 of the Constitution”.¹² Not only was opposing legal logging and publicising this opposition not illegal in itself, but on the contrary, it was an activity protected by the legal order, regardless of how disturbing it may be to the people carrying out/authorising the logging.
   
   Nevertheless, the Supreme Court also made it equally clear that “nature activism… does not justify the use of illegal means (KKO: 1983:159)”.¹³
   
   The Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the logging was not illegal in accordance with the Forestry Act, and found the activists who deliberately tried to block/interfere with the logging guilty of preventing legal felling.

Another case of note is Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and Greenpeace v. Finland¹⁴ (pending). The applicants argued that the Finnish Government violated the Finnish Climate Act by failing to adequately examine and determine the need for additional climate change mitigation measures before deciding to submit the Annual Climate Report to the Finnish Parliament. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and Greenpeace requested that the Finnish Government's decision regarding the Annual Climate Report 2022 be revoked and sent back to preparation on the grounds that the government had broken its own laws by failing to protect the Nordic nation's carbon sinks, which have fallen below the climate plans and to comply with the Climate Act.

C. Has the concept of intergenerational equity been applied within national courts? If yes, in what circumstances?

The concept of intergenerational equity has not been directly mentioned in court cases, but Finland’s Parliament includes a ‘Committee for the Future’, which is tasked with conducting an “active and imitative-generating dialogue with the government on major future problems and means of solving them”.¹⁵ One of the key proposals raised by this committee, as part of its mission to “revitalise democracy”, is to “[launch] a project to prevent a widening of the intergenerational gap and strengthen multigenerational democracy.¹⁶

The ‘Constitutional Law Committee’ has also stated that Section 20.1 of the Constitution (i.e. the “responsibility for the environment”) is strongly linked to the rights of the future generations and the intrinsic value of nature.¹⁷

D. What legislation is in place to regulate environmental protection? Are there any proposals for legal reforms currently under review in the national legislature?

Existing key legislation providing environmental protection includes:

1. Environmental Protection Act (EPA, 527/2014) – law for the prevention of pollution, reduction of emissions, safeguarding a healthy, sustainable and biologically diverse environment, promotion of sustainable use of natural resources, improving assessment of environmentally damaging activities, and improvement of opportunities for the public to affect environmental policy decision-making.

2. Water Act (587/2011) – law promoting and coordinating use of water resources in a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable manner, preventing and reducing adverse aquatic affects, and improving the aquatic environment.

3. Climate Act (423/2022) – law designed to establish objectives and a framework for the planning of climate change policy and monitoring its implementation. The law aims to enhance and coordinate governmental activities aimed at climate change mitigation, and strengthen opportunities of Parliament and the public to participate in planning of climate change policy. The law also includes new emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2050, specific provisions on the right to appeal, and states that the rights of the Sámi must be taken into account and negotiations with the Sámi Parliament are required in the processes to prepare climate policy plans. The Act will also be supplemented with an obligation for municipalities to draw up climate plans, and with provisions on requests for review concerning the climate policy plans.¹⁸

   • a. The ‘Medium-Term Climate Plan’ is based on the Climate Act.¹⁹ The plan is drawn up once per election term and includes a program of measures to reduce emissions in the burden-sharing sector. The Plan maps the means by which Finland will be carbon neutral by 2035. High school students were consulted on the development of the ‘Medium-Term Climate Plan’ and helped the Ministry of Environment reach over 2,000 young people with the consultation. ²⁰

4. Animal Welfare Act (247/1996) – law regarding the humane treatment of animals, including protection of them from undo pain and suffering. The law also addresses the keeping of wild animals in zoos.

5. Nature Conservation Act (1096/1996) – law providing for the maintenance of biological diversity, conservation of the beauty and scenic values of nature, and the promotion of sustainable use of the environment, awareness of nature and scientific research. The law is currently being reformed to include a compensation procedure for damages caused by species protected under the Nature Conservation Act and for ecological compensation.²¹

6. Hunting Act (615/1993) – law regarding the hunting, capturing and/or killing of unprotected animals and game management. Also addresses the keeping of dogs.

7. Animal Diseases Act (441/2013) – law for the prevention of animal diseases and the monitoring of animals for disease as well as requirements regarding eradication of animal diseases.

8. Waste Act (379/2011, including amendments up to 757/2023) – law designed to prevent the harm to human health and the environment posed by waste, reduce the amount and harmfulness of waste, promote the sustainable use of natural resources, and prevent littering.²²

9. Mining Act (621/2011) – law that regulates the use and control of mining resources.

10. Land Extraction Act (555/1981) – law that regulates the use and control of certain natural resources.

11. Forest Act (1093/1996) – law for the promotion of the ecologically and socially sustainable management of forests and the protection of their biological diversity.

12. Act on the Prevention of Marine Pollution (1415/1994) – a law designed to implement and promote the effects of the International Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter.

13. Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage (737/1994) (“ACED”) – law that establishes a right to receive compensation in the event of damages resulting from water, air or soil pollution or nuisances.

14. Chemicals Act (599/2013) – law which lays down provisions on the enforcement of the European Union chemicals legislation and certain national obligations regarding chemicals.

15. Aviation Emissions Trading Act (34/2010) – law that governs emissions trading.

16. Gene Technology Act (377/1995) and Decree (928/2004) – law which regulates the use, production, importation, sale, and other placing on the market of genetically modified organisms and products that contain such organisms.

17. The Act on Metsähallitus (1378/2004) - law establishing the creation of Metsähallitus, a State enterprise operating in the administrative sector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and tasked with managing, using and protecting natural resources and other property governed by it.²³

E. Is there any specific national policy addressing childhood exposure to toxic substances? If so, what is considered a safe level of exposure and what is the process for determining safe levels of exposure?

The majority of chemicals legislation consists of EU regulations which are directly applicable in Finland.²⁴ There is also national legislation including the Chemicals Act (599/2013). The highest management and control of the supervision of compliance with the Act and the provisions issued under the Act are the responsibility of: (1) the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as concerns the prevention of physical hazards and harm caused by chemicals to human health; and (2) the Ministry of the Environment as concerns the prevention of hazards and harm caused by chemicals to the environment.²⁵ There is a shared responsibility for international cooperation aimed at preventing environmental damage by chemicals.

There is an ongoing National Chemicals Programme (2022–2035), which seeks to achieve an environment in which chemicals do not endanger human health or degrade the current state of the environment by covering the following topics: (i) protection of health and the environment from harmful chemicals, (ii) safe circular economy and sustainable chemistry, (iii) knowledge-based decision-making, (iv) EU and international cooperation to improve chemical safety and (v) communication and education to promote better chemical safety.²⁶ The programme recognises the importance of a chemical-safe environment and of limiting exposure, especially to protect the health of children and young people. Further, it considers families with children and young people a target of communication by public authorities on issues relevant to chemical safety.

The Act on Young Employees,²⁷ which applies to work performed by persons under 18 years of age, provides that “[t]he employer shall see to it that the work is not hazardous to the physical or mental development of a young worker, and that it does not require more exertion or responsibility than can be considered reasonable with respect to his age and strength” and adds that, “[i]n duties which might cause a special accident risk or a health hazard, or which might be hazardous to the young worker himself or to others [...], a young worker may be used only on conditions laid down by decree”.²⁸ The conditions under which young workers may carry out particularly harmful or dangerous work are set out in the Government Decree on Work Especially Harmful and Hazardous to Young Workers.²⁹ A list of examples of work that is considered particularly harmful and dangerous for young workers is set out in the Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health as part of the ‘List of Examples of Work Dangerous to Young Employees’.³⁰ The Act on Young Employees also makes the employability of 14-year-olds conditional on the basis that the work will not jeopardise the child’s safety, nor cause harm to their physical or mental health or development, among others.³¹

Finnish legislation obliges employers to protect workers from carcinogenic and mutagenic chemical substances and agents.³² To this end, employers are required to evaluate the kind, scope, and duration of employee exposure to carcinogens as well as the hazards to their safety and health, and to put the necessary safeguards in place.³³ Wherever possible, employers are also required to replace carcinogenic or mutagenic substances with less hazardous ones.³⁴

F. Is the country equipped with pollutant release and transfer registers? If yes, do these registers take into account child specific factors regarding the substances for which data is gathered and the type of data generated?

Finland is one of the member countries covered by the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (“E-PRTR”). Information concerning child-specific risks may be submitted, but is not required by the governing regulations of the E-PRTR.³⁵

G. Does the State assert extra-territorial jurisdiction for any environmental issues?

Finland has ratified the Nordic Environmental Protection Convention (1974) (“NEPC”). The NEPC provides remedies to harmed persons in the event they suffer damages by harmful environmental activities taking place in other member states to the NEPC. The remedies granted by the NEPC are civil.

Finland is a party to the Espoo (Environmental Impact Assessment) Convention (1991)³⁶, ratified pursuant to the Finnish Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure 252/2017 (“EIA”)³⁷, which applies to projects located in other member States that are likely to have significant environmental impacts in Finland or other member States. The EIA Act aims “to promote the assessment of environmental impacts and the uniform consideration of the assessment in planning and decision-making, and at the same time to increase everyone's access to information and opportunities for participation”.³⁸ Upon the commencement of such a project, various duties are imposed on the project developers such as notification of the existence of the project to the Finnish Government and arrangement of public consultation. Such consultation is akin to domestic environmental impact assessment procedures and is governed by the provisions of the EIA Act. If the implementation of a project (as defined by section 3 of EIA) does not require a permit, and the implementation of the project is undertaken before the environmental impact assessment, the Center for Business, Transport and the Environment may, under threat of a fine, order the implementation of the project to be suspended until the environmental impact assessment procedure has been completed.³⁹ The remedies granted by the Espoo Convention and implementing legislation are civil.

Finland is also a party to the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (2003)⁴⁰, which has been transposed in Finland through two major pieces of legislation: the Act on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment (200/2005) (the SEA Act), and the Government Decree on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programmes on the Environment (347/2005) (the SEA Decree). The strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is carried out for certain plans and programmes that are likely to have significant environmental transboundary effects. The national legislation has been drafted according to the EU SEA Directive (2001/42/EC).⁴¹

Finland’s extra-territorial jurisdiction for environmental issues will also be considered in the upcoming Duarte Agostinho case.⁴² The complaint was brought by 6 children and youth from Portugal against 33 countries, including Finland as a Member State of the Council of Europe. The Applicants argue that these States exercise extra-territorial jurisdiction for causing climate impacts abroad. The Duarte Agostinho case will present an opportunity for the European Court of Human Rights to clarify the scope of extra-territorial jurisdiction for climate harm.

II. Accessing courts

A. How can environmental cases be brought before national courts?

Environmental disputes are commonly brought before administrative courts, as such courts are vested with the authority to rule on cases involving administrative decisions, which environmental disputes often entail (this is to be distinguished from Finland’s “general courts”, which handle civil and criminal cases). There are some notable exceptions, namely (1) real property and easement cases, which may be brought before specialised land courts that operate in annex to a number of the district courts; and (2) environmental tort and criminal cases, which are dealt with by the general courts.⁴³

A portion of the environmental matters within the administrative court system have been centralised in one of the regional administrative courts - the Vaasa administrative court. All matters involving the Environmental Protection Act (86/2000) (“EPA”) and the Water Act (587/2011) (which together account for around a quarter of all environmental cases heard by administrative courts in Finland) are heard by this court. The regionally competent administrative courts handle the remaining environmental matters, including those involving protecting nature, quarrying and soil extraction, agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing as well as land use planning and construction. Overall, although there may be a few borderline cases, there is no possibility of forum shopping because the law clearly defines the geographic and substantive jurisdictions of the appropriate courts in environmental concerns.⁴⁴

The main general pieces of legislation governing the procedure before national courts are:

1. Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003) - Law which comprises regulations on the fundamental principles of good administration and on the procedure applicable in administrative affairs. It typically governs procedure in administrative matters. It also includes guidelines for how to request an administrative review.

2. Administrative Judicial Procedure Act (808/2019) - Law governing access to justice generally and in environmental issues. It establishes the administrative appeal, including extraordinary ways of appeal.

3. The Climate Act (423/2022 including 108/2023 amendments) - As mentioned above in Section I.D, this law applies to the duties of State authorities in preparing climate policy plans and ensuring their implementation, as well as municipalities when they prepare municipal climate plans. Section 21b provides certain individuals, groups or bodies the right to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court against the Government’s decisions regarding climate policy plans.⁴⁵

4. Local Government Act (410/2015) - Law governing rights to appeal against a decision of a municipal authority.⁴⁶

B. What rules of standing apply in environmental cases?

The observations presented in the table above amount to a rough generalisation. Provisions on participatory rights and standing both during administrative procedure and appeal proceedings vary according to the applicable substance and/or procedural law.⁴⁷

In Finland, group litigation is possible only in matters related to consumer protection. This means that collective or group litigation is not generally possible for environmental issues unless it falls within this sphere.⁴⁸ It is possible for the courts to combine cases where several suits address the same defendants or issues.⁴⁹

C. Do these rules of standing differ when children are the complainants and if so in what way?

Children and their representatives can bring civil cases (which are heard by district courts) and administrative cases (which are heard by administrative courts). In Finland, children are not considered to have full legal capacity. In both civil and administrative procedures, the legal guardian, custodian or other legal representative of the child is entitled to represent the child and shall have the right to be heard on behalf of a child under the age of 18 years.⁵⁰ A child over 15 years of age can be appellants in their own right, and have the right to be heard independently alongside his or her legal representative.⁵¹

D. What is the burden and standard of proof for allegations of personal injury as a result of toxic exposure?

There are no specific provisions on personal injury resulting from toxic exposure, however the general position on environmental torts under Finnish law is set out below.

Environmental tort cases are not heard by the administrative courts, but by the general courts, pursuant to the Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage (ACED) as complemented by the Tort Liability Act (412/1974).⁵² The ACED is based on existing principles of tort law whilst also incorporating features of modern environmental tort law.⁵³

Under Finnish tort law, the burden of proof rests with the claimant to show causation between the activity and the harm, and concerning the link between the person accused of causing the harm and the harmful activity. The accuser must prove “a probability” of a causal link between the activity and the damage exists.⁵⁴ In practice this means that a person alleging environmental harm must prove that it is more likely than not that the accused caused the harm.

Through case law it is accepted that the claimant is required to prove that the harm was caused by the accused. If proven, the accused is presumed to have caused the harm, unless they can prove that the damage would have occurred in any event, regardless of its activity.⁵⁵

Under the ACED, compensable environmental damage is defined as damage caused by immovable sources including pollution to water, air or oil; noise vibration; light; heat; or a similar disturbance (“Environmental Damage”). The standard of liability is strict liability, subject to the limitation that the harm must “pass the point of tolerance” before a claim is recognised. Allegations of personal injury, however, are exempt from such threshold of tolerance.⁵⁶

E. What limitation periods apply in environmental cases?

For administrative decisions, an appeal must be lodged within 30 days of notice of the decision that is being challenged, though there may be exceptions. When calculating this period, the day of the notice is not included.⁵⁷

The limitation period for cases of damages for breach of contract and fault-based liability is three years from the date on which the injured party becomes, or should have become aware of the other party’s breach. This period cannot be more than 10 years from the breach.⁵⁸

With regards to a party’s right to receive damages for personal injury or environmental damage, the Limitation Act provides an exemption from the general time limit, which stipulates that liability cannot exceed ten years (unless renewed properly) from the event or act that caused the damage.⁵⁹

In criminal proceedings there is no limitation period for offences for which the most severe penalty is life imprisonment. For less severe criminal offences, limitation periods vary from 2 years to 20 years after the date on which the offence was committed.⁶⁰

F. Is legal aid available in environmental cases? If so, under what circumstances?

The State will provide legal aid to “persons”, who need expert help in a legal matter and who, due to their financial status, are unable to pay the expenses required to take care of it themselves (Section 1(1) Legal Aid Act).⁶¹

Legal aid is a state administered process and is available to individuals in environmental cases provided:

• (i) the applicant(s) are resident in Finland or another EU or EEA country; or
• (ii) the matter is to be heard by a Finnish court or when there is special cause for legal aid to be provided.⁶²

There is no special legislation about legal aid for children, and the Legal Aid Act itself does not explicitly stipulate whether legal aid can be granted to a child whose right to speak is exercised by his or her guardian.

In KHO:2017:188, the Courts considered whether a child can be considered a “person” referred to in Section 1(1) of the Legal Aid Act, or whether the “person” applying for legal aid in such a situation should be considered the guardian exercising the child’s right to speak.⁶³ The Court accepted the common practice that if the child is a party to the proceedings, then irrespective of whether the case was brought by the parents or the child’s legal guardians, the aid is for the child.⁶⁴ When a child applies for legal aid, the financial means of their guardians are not considered.⁶⁵

Legal aid is not available to companies or NGOs. It is common, therefore, for NGOs to rely on pro bono legal work offered by law firms.⁶⁶

The amount of legal aid provided at the expense of the State is determined by means-testing. The applicant’s economic situation is assessed based on (i) available funds per month, which is calculated based on their monthly income, necessary expenses and maintenance liability of the applicant and their spouse or partner (if applicable); and (ii) assets.⁶⁷ Applicants without means may be eligible to receive legal aid for free, while others may be required to contribute towards their legal expenses.⁶⁸

If an applicant qualifies to receive legal aid, the aid covers legal advice, and necessary measures and representation before a court or other authority. For court proceedings, the individual may choose between representation by a public legal aid lawyer or a private lawyer.⁶⁸

The availability of legal aid is restricted in the following circumstances:

• (i) the matter is considered legally simple or of little importance to the applicant;
• (ii) it would be disproportionate to the benefit for the applicant; or
• (iii) pleading the case would be an abuse of process.⁷⁰

Legal aid may be restricted if the applicant benefits from legal expenses insurance.⁷¹ An exception to this however, is if the matter is to be heard by the courts. If so, the court may grant legal aid insofar as the costs exceed the maximum cover stated in the insurance policy.

III. Remedies

A. What remedies are courts empowered to impose in environmental cases?

The remedies available depend on the character of the claim itself, namely whether it constitutes a civil law claim (which would be referred to regular courts), or a public law claim (which would be referred to the administrative courts). In some cases, however, there is overlap, allowing administrative or even criminal sanctions to be imposed.⁷²

The Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage (ACED)⁷³

The ACED provides for civil law claims for damages. It empowers the courts to award compensation for loss caused by environmental damage, including: (i) bodily injury and material loss pursuant to the Damages Act; (ii) financial loss which is not connected with bodily injury or material loss, provided that the loss is not minor; and (iii) every case in which the loss was inflicted criminally.⁷⁴

Courts are also empowered to order compensation for the costs of:

• (i) measures to prevent environmental damage threatening the person undertaking the measures;
• (ii) measures to reinstate damaged environment; and
• (iii) investigations that proved unavoidable in carrying out such preventive measures or reinstatement.⁷⁵

Damages, therefore, include the costs of clean-up and restoration, but punitive damages cannot be awarded.

Although compensation for purely ecological damage to the environment is not available, the administrative court may award the reasonable costs of clean-up and restoration of Environmental Damage including ecological damage.⁷⁶

Claims against Public Authorities

In the first instance, the State Treasury will process damage due to the exercise of public authority, as well as claims for compensations caused by the operations of public authorities. This is on the basis of the Tort Liability Act.⁷⁷

The State Treasury has no jurisdiction over the processing of claims for compensation based on (i) agreements, (ii) Government employment relationships, or (iii) the Act on Public Procurements (348/2007).

If the State Treasury makes a decision for compensation grounded on the Tort Liability Act, this is not subject to appeal. If necessary, the injured party can seek compensation against the State as a civil case in the Finnish administrative courts.

Injunctive Relief

In the context of appealing permit decisions, the courts are empowered to award injunctive relief, on consideration of whether there are compelling reasons to grant the injunction and the likelihood of success on the merits.⁷⁸

Criminal Courts

Chapter 48 of the Criminal Code includes offences specific to the environment, which may be remedied through fines or imprisonment as follows:⁷⁹

• (i) impairment of the environment – sentence of a fine or imprisonment of up to 2 years;⁸⁰
• (ii) aggravated impairment of the environment – sentence of imprisonment of 4 months to 6 years;
• (iii) environmental infraction;
• (iv) negligent impairment of the environment;
• (v) the nature conservation offence; and
• (vi) the building protection offence.

Corporations can also be held liable for environmental criminal offences.⁸¹ A corporation or other legal entity that commits an environmental crime may be sentenced to a corporate fine, unless the offences were committed in the exercise of public authority.⁸²

Reformatory Remedy

Administrative appeal provides a means through which an authority’s decision may be challenged by parties who are directly affected by such a decision with the regional administrative court. The administrative court is competent to:

• (i) amend the challenged decision in cases where the decision is found to be unlawful; or
• (ii) make restricted amendments to the decision.⁸³

B. What remedies have courts ordered in environmental cases to date?

There is limited case law imposing remedies for environmental cases. However, a few examples of remedies which have been imposed by the Courts, include:⁸⁴

• Compensation for damages:
  
  
  • (i) for noise caused by granite quarrying (Supreme Court, 1982 II 109);
  • (ii) as a result of damage to a stock of wood caused by soot from coal and coke (Supreme Court, 1962 II 26); and
  • (iii) as a result of the use of toxic chemicals in production which contaminated wells in the vicinity (Supreme Court, 1990 II 47).

• Clean-up costs: in the significant Supreme Court decision 1995 II 108, the costs of clean-up were awarded against the owner of an underground petroleum storage tank that had contaminated the soil, water and waste pipes as storage of petroleum was an activity held to be hazardous to the environment. This case forms the basis from which similar decisions are reached under the ACED.

C. Are there any administrative authorities empowered to act on environmental complaints and if so, how are they empowered to respond to complaints?

Environmental protection and environmental law are to a large extent based on administrative authorities being in charge of the primary application of the law, with relatively broad discretionary powers. Issues regarding evidence are usually resolved in the first instance by the administrative authority.⁸⁵

IV. Civil and political rights

Freedom of peaceful assembly

A. How is children’s right to engage in peaceful assembly, including protests, protected in national law?

Children’s right to engage in peaceful assembly is enshrined in the Constitution under Chapter 2, Section 13, which states that “[e]veryone has the right to arrange meetings and demonstrations without a permit, as well as the right to participate in them”. The right is further provided for in the Assembly Act of 1990 which seeks to “guarantee the exercise of the freedom of assembly, as provided in the Constitution of Finland” (per Chapter 1, Section 1).⁹¹

B. Are there any legal limitations on the right of children to engage in peaceful assemblies?

There are limits on people under the age of 15 acting as the primary organiser of a peaceful assembly or public meeting.⁹² The Assembly Act requires that a person of at least 15 years of age must be capable of fulfilling the legal requirements of an arranger of a public meeting but it also specifically states that persons without full legal capacity may arrange public meetings in conjunction with those with full legal capacity.⁹³ On the face of the Act, there are no restrictions against children participating in a public assembly; the legal requirement only becomes effective when one attempts to arrange the public assembly.

Legal requirements for the arranger of a public meeting include:

• When a public meeting is to be arranged outdoors in a public place, the arranger must notify the local police of the same orally or in writing at least six hours before the beginning of the meeting; a later notification may be acceptable, if the arrangement of the meeting does not cause significant disruption to public order.⁹⁴

• The arranger of a public event must obtain the consent of the owner or holder of the place of the event for it being used for this purpose.⁹⁵

• The arranger shall notify the police of the arrangement of a public event in writing at least five days before the beginning of the event; the police may also accept a notification made later in certain scenarios.⁹⁶

• In a public meeting, banners, insignia, loudspeakers and other regular meeting equipment may be used and temporary constructions erected; however, the arranger must ensure that no danger or unreasonable inconvenience or damage is thereby caused to the participants, bystanders or the environment.⁹⁷

Some Finnish towns have given recommendations for when children and teenagers of school-age should be home in the evening. Although the law makes no provision for an enforceable curfew and discrimination on the basis of age is illegal, these recommendations sought to limit times at which children are permitted in public spaces.⁹⁸

These types of restrictions on children’s and young people’s access to public spaces have been criticised by various Ombudspersons. For example, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsperson has commented on cases where children’s and young people’s access to libraries was restricted after a certain time. The Non-Discrimination Ombudsperson considered such a ban on young people’s use of the library a form of an unacceptable group sanction which would interfere with children’s fundamental rights. The Deputy Ombudsperson has also considered blanket ban restrictions on children and young people to be direct discrimination.⁹⁹

C. What penalties can be imposed on children for engaging in school strikes?

A child of compulsory school age must attend the basic education provided, in accordance with the Basic Education Act (BEA).¹⁰⁰ The BEA states that the education provider will monitor the absences of a pupil in basic education and notify the pupil's parent/custodian of unauthorised absence; the parent/custodian of a pupil in compulsory education will see to it that compulsory schooling is completed.¹⁰¹ Thus it seems as though unauthorised absences (i.e. lack of consent from the student’s parent(s)) from school may lead to certain consequences, such as the notification of one’s parents. Furthermore, if a child of compulsory school age does not participate in education provided under the Act, the local authority of the pupil's place of residence is authorised to supervise his or her progress.¹⁰²

Furthermore, the BEA states that “the pupil shall attend basic education unless they have been temporarily exempted for a special reason” and that the pupil shall “complete their assignments diligently and behave correctly”.¹⁰³ Additionally, according to the new National Core Curriculum of 2014, substantive subjects in basic education are grouped into sections and within each section the minimum number of lessons is chronologically defined in terms of annual weekly lessons; one annual weekly lesson means a total of 38 lessons during a school year and one lesson means 45 minutes of instruction.¹⁰⁴

In practice, for example, on the occasion of the strikes held as part of the Friday's For Future movement in 2019, the Director of Turku's education department declared that climate strikes were a child’s constitutional right and that, therefore, it could not be denied to them by school principals.¹⁰⁵ However, the instructions varied depending on the municipality and/or the school centre and, in some instances, for example, it was interpreted that the strike did not apply to elementary school students, who were invited to take alternative initiatives/actions.

Freedom of expression

A. How is children’s right to freedom of expression protected in national law? Are there any protections within the national constitution, legislation or developed through case law?

Finland’s Constitution sets out provisions on the right of individuals to participate in and influence the development of society and their living conditions, and contains an explicit provision on the right of children “to influence matters pertaining to themselves to a degree corresponding to their level of development”.¹⁰⁶

Finland adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 and made the Convention rights enforceable at the level of an act of Parliament.

The consultation of children and young people in Finland is common-place and is explicitly included as a guiding principle in the top-level national legislation (the Constitution).¹⁰⁷ Finland is a partner of the Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe and has piloted an EU-CoE joint project “CP4EUROPE - Strengthening National Child Participation Frameworks and Action in Europe”. Finland has monitored its progress against the Child Participation Assessment Tool¹⁰⁸ and has published a summary of findings and development needs in 2020.¹⁰⁹ The reform of the Climate Act (423/2022) included a consultation process in which children, young people and Sámi people were selected as a target group for consultation because they are the ones that will face the impacts of climate change most strongly in the long-term.¹¹⁰

A policy review of Children and Youth Participation in Finland found that child and youth participation in Finland, including direct and representative forms of involvement, mainly takes place in ‘formal’ structures (ie. local youth councils (above 12 years), school councils, national and local children’s parliaments (7 to 12 years old), children’s ombudspersons and surveys carried out with children across Finland. An analysis of the law and policies on child and youth participation showed that there is an extensive range of Finnish legislation on the subject, and the ‘formal’ participation structures are based on it. Although the legislation is the basis for child and youth participation, it has not been extensively evaluated, with the exception of parts of the Youth Act.

Under the current Youth Act (1285/2016) (“Youth Act”), which came into effect January 2017¹¹¹, registered national youth work associations and foundations pursuing the objectives of the Youth Act may be eligible for state aid.¹¹² The Youth Act made youth participation and the right of young people to be consulted in municipalities a legal obligation.¹¹³ Furthermore the Youth Act specifically states that it will aim to:

1. promote the social inclusion of young people and provide them with opportunities for exerting an influence and improve their skills and capabilities to function in society;
2. support young people’s free-time pursuits and engagement in civic society;
3. promote non-discrimination and equality among young people and the realisation of their rights; and
4. improve young people’s growth and living conditions.¹¹⁴

The Youth Act creates the legal platform for the National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2017-2019, which is the Youth Act’s implementation mechanism. The Programme states that young people’s awareness of their participatory rights and opportunities for exerting influence should be increased and the authorities’ skills in consulting young people in the decision-making process should be improved by (i) producing materials, (ii) increasing cooperation with organisations representing young people, and (iii) training public officials.¹¹⁵ The Programme encourages cooperation between the education sector and NGOs like political youth organisations, and the Finnish National Agency for Education supports schools in reaching the objectives.¹¹⁶

At a local level, “local councils must ensure that the municipality’s residents and service users have the chance to participate in and influence the activities of the municipality” by submitting initiatives on matters concerning the municipality’s activities, among others.¹¹⁷ However, Finland’s ‘National Child Strategy’ recognises that devolved municipality governments means that rights-respecting good practice is not harmonised across Finland meaning that children’s status depends on where they live.¹¹⁸

B. Are there any legal limits or restrictions on the right to freedom of expression that specifically apply to children?

The Constitution does not set a minimum age limit for ascertaining a child’s views and therefore does not create an age-conscious restriction in terms of expressing a child’s view.¹¹⁹ Provisions on children’s right to participate are laid down in general acts such as the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003) and the Local Government Act (410/2015) as well as in special acts such as those pertaining to early childhood education and care, pre-primary and other education, health care and social welfare, child welfare, child custody, adoption, law concerning persons, family law, immigration, asylum-seeking and citizenship, criminal and procedural law as well the sanctions system. However, legislation on children’s rights to participate is regarded as being “fragmented, and in some respects, inconsistent” (for example, with regards to age limits concerning the obligation to hear a child).¹²⁰ In family law contexts, the views of a 12 year old must be taken into consideration in matters pertaining to them, especially in circumstances in which adults have a responsibility to ascertain such views.¹²¹ In 'ordinary matters' a 15-year-old child may represent themselves.¹²²

Policy reviews have suggested improvements to Finland’s approach to child participation highlighting that the reliance on “formal structures” and “top-down” approaches can make participation “too selective”. The policy review stated that children themselves were often not involved in the development of participation methods, and new methods were not sufficiently tried. Finland has since evaluated its consultative and collaborative procedures for law-making¹²³ and created many programmes to encourage child and youth participation, including digital participation tools to encourage civic engagement.¹²⁴ Nevertheless, age restrictions on participating in these consultative processes often deny children the right to exercise their right to freedom of expression. For example:

1) In March 2023, under Valtioneuvoston Kanslia (the Prime Minister’s Office), the Finnish Government launched a new climate change and nature group tasked to support the ministries in the planning, implementation and impact assessment of youth participation. The aim is to ensure the fairness of different policy measures from the perspective of future generations.¹²⁵ The programme only allows applications from young people aged 18-25 years old, meaning age limits block access for children.

2) Every four years, the Climate Barometer survey measures people’s attitudes to climate policies before the general election. The most recent survey in 2023 included the participation of children aged 15-18.¹²⁶

3. The Youth Agenda 2030 Group is focused on increasing the participation of young people in the planning and implementation of Agenda 2030 at the national level. Group members are aged 15-28.¹²⁷

4. All-Youth Want to Rule Their World Research Project 2018-2023 explores the capacities of young people aged 16-25 and the obstacles that hamper engagement with society. There is a specific focus on the legal obstacles that prevent access to justice.

There do not seem to be equivalent programmes focused on younger children.

Furthermore, children are legally barred from voting in government elections until they are 18 years old.¹²⁸

Freedom of association

A. How is children’s right to freedom of association protected in national law? Are there any protections within the national constitution, legislation or developed through case law?

Certain national pieces of legislation protect the ability of children to form government youth entities or political groups so as to exercise their ability to associate. According to the proposal for the Local Government Act, the county executive must appoint a county youth council or a similar advocacy group in order to ensure that young people have opportunities to participate and exert influence; furthermore these bodies must have a say in the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the county’s activities in issues and services that are important to children and young people.¹²⁹ Therefore, the government legally mandated the creation of certain youth groups. To date, the promotion of the right to participate has focused on representational systems at the local level in the form of various associational and governmental entities (children’s parliaments, youth councils, student bodies).¹³⁰

At the national level, the Union of Local Youth Councils and national student unions are the main actors that represent young people during the consultation processes.¹³¹ The Finnish Children’s Parliament, pursuant to the National Children’s Ombudsman Act (1221/2004), has developed a national children’s parliament, with representatives from some 220 municipalities; the children, aged 7-13 years, are selected by the municipality, and each municipality has the right to select two representatives.¹³²

There are active NGOs that have specific groups and/or activities for both children and youth on environmental matters including Luontoliitto: Etusivu¹³³, Lastenhallitus - Plan¹³⁴ (which includes 20 people, aged 11-18 years old on a Children’s Board), WWF Nuoret and WWF Suomi¹³⁵, as well as Allianssi.¹³⁶ NGOs representing children and youth have been active in national consultations, including during the review of the Climate Act.¹³⁷

B. Are there any legal limits or restrictions on the right to association that specifically apply to children?

As mentioned above, the Finnish Associations Act does not specifically mention a minimum age in terms of merely joining an association. However, there appears to be set age limits when one assumes roles that require increasing responsibility and power within an association. A person must be at least 15 years old in order to serve as the association’s committee member and thus exercise his or her freedom of association.¹³⁸ Under Chapter 2 of the Associations Act, an association can be founded by a person who has turned 15.¹³⁹

The Government offers grants to NGOs which operate in the field of children’s rights and promoting and supporting children’s participation. However, there is no requirement in the grant programme for children to have planning roles or decision-making power in these NGOs so it is questionable whether this encourages genuine child-participation.¹⁴⁰

Access to information

A. How is children’s right to access information protected in national law? Are there any protections within the national constitution, legislation or developed through case law?

Generally, all Finnish human rights authorities and law enforcers accept appeals and complaints submitted by children.¹⁴¹ However, the various agencies do not specifically or affirmatively inform children about their rights; these agencies include the Equality Ombudsman, the Minorities’ Ombudsman, the Data Protection Ombudsman, and the Parliamentary Ombudsman, amongst others.¹⁴²

Despite the coordination efforts of certain youth centres and government bodies’ efforts it does not appear that there are currently blanket laws and regulations ensuring that children affirmatively receive the appropriate information to express their views, or for use in decision-making. However, the Youth Act, Administrative Procedure Act and Local Government Act (“LGA”) are used to secure a child’s right to obtain information about specific matters concerning them.¹⁴³ For example, the LGA states that a resident of a municipality at the age of 15 years old would still have a right to be notified of the action undertaken as a result of a submitted referendum initiative.¹⁴⁴ Also, under the Administrative Procedure Act (423/2003), stakeholders must be supplied with the hearing documents or otherwise be given an opportunity to examine them.¹⁴⁵ Furthermore, the Ombudsman for Children has a duty to promote children’s rights and evaluate the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (as per the Act on the Ombudsman for Children (1221/2004)). It is also the Ombudsman’s duty to advocate for taking the position and rights of children into account in legislation and social decision-making.¹⁴⁶ The Ombudsman also initiated a study on children’s rights and the environment.¹⁴⁷

The Environmental Protection Act provides that anyone has the right to request to be informed of environmental permit matters initiated in a specific area and to access information about decisions on environmental permits that have been granted by means of electronic communications “insofar as the authority’s information systems are able to receive such requests and automatically send messages.”¹⁴⁸ The announcement of the permit application by public notice foreseen in section 44 will not apply if “the matter is of minor importance or the quality of the matter is such that notification of the application can be given to the parties concerned in other ways” or “if the matter only affects the rights or interests of the applicant”.¹⁴⁹

B. Are there any legal limits or restrictions on the right to access information that apply specifically to children?

As of 2018, Finnish authorities began to introduce local rules (the Data Protection Act) to ensure compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.¹⁵⁰ For example, the applicable age of consent, in relation to society services (ie. social media services) offered directly to a child, was set to 13 years.¹⁵¹ If one cannot consent to the terms and conditions of society services, one cannot effectively create an account to view such content. The intention is to shield children from the pressure to share personal information without fully understanding the possible consequences.¹⁵² In practice, underage users might need the consent of their parent(s) and/or other guardians to sign up for social media services.¹⁵³ Should the consent of the child be obtained for any other kind of processing (other than in relation to information society services, such as use of photographs or direct marketing purposes) the general rules of the Finnish Act on Child Custody and Right of Access (361/1983) apply.¹⁵⁴ Furthermore, there is case law stating that, under certain consumer protection rules, marketing content addressed towards children needs to be more critically reviewed than marketing content addressed towards adults.¹⁵⁵

C. Does the national curriculum for schools include environmental education?

According to the Finnish constitution, every individual is responsible for nature and its biodiversity, environment and cultural heritage.¹⁵⁶ The Finnish Council of State made a Decision-in-Principle on the promotion of ecological sustainability in 1998.¹⁵⁷ Previously in 1990, the Council presented a report entitled “Sustainable Development and Finland” to the Finnish Parliament and a second report was prepared by the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development in 1995.¹⁵⁸ The latest National Core Curriculum for basic education was completed in 2014 by the Finnish National Board of Education (“BEA”) and schools started to implement the new curriculum in August 2016 for grades 1 – 6 and in 2019 for grades 7 – 9.¹⁵⁹

Substantively, in a document titled “New national core curriculum for basic education: focus on school culture and integrative approach”, the BEA mentions that pupils are guided [through the new National Core Curriculum] towards a sustainable way of life and understanding the importance of sustainable development.¹⁶⁰ The aim is for schools to take responsibility for the environment and focus on a sustainable future.¹⁶¹

The Finnish National Agency for Education launched the ‘Sustainable Future’ website in 2021.¹⁶² It provides information and support on the various dimensions of sustainability, and how to carry out their training activities for guidance and professionals in education and training, from primary schools to secondary education. The Finnish National Agency of Education also advocates for ‘Sustainability of the Learning Environment’ which includes making the practice of sustainable development a natural part of the entire educational institution and the education and learning environment.¹⁶³

The Foundation for Environmental Education Finland coordinates Vihreä lippu (Green Flag) - an eco-schools programme empowering children to drive change and improve their environmental awareness through a Seven-Step framework.¹⁶⁴ Eco-Schools seek to develop pupils’ skills, raise environmental awareness, improve the school environment and create financial savings. Partner municipalities in Finland pay the program’s participation fees in part or in full from the municipality budget.¹⁶⁵ Green Flag encourages schools to negotiate with their municipality about monetary compensation for joining the program.

The BEA regulates the subjects included in the curriculum and environmental studies is one of the listed subjects that is common to all pupils according to the syllabus of basic education.¹⁶⁶ However, it should be noted that environmental studies may not incorporate the societal and ethical aspect of environmental rights, and may serve purely as a natural sciences course. The topic of ecological sustainability may be mainly associated with the natural science syllabi as it was in the past.¹⁶⁷

The National Chemicals Programme also seeks to guarantee that primary and secondary school education promotes an understanding of chemicals issues and risk management.¹⁶⁸

End notes

¹ Constitution of Finland, Section 2. English translation available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Finland_2011.

² Constitution of Finland, Section 22. English translation available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Finland_2011.

³ Constitution of Finland, Section 20. English translation available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Finland_2011.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Publications of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment Energy, 2022:55, Carbon neutral Finland 2035 – National Climate and Energy Strategy, p102. Available at: https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164323/TEM_2022_55.pdf.

⁶ Jukka Viljanen, Heta Heiskanen, Siina Raskulla, Timo Koivurova and Leena Heinämäki, “How is the Environmental Fundamental Right Realised?”, Pohjoine’s Environment and Institute of Environmental Law (2014). Available in Finnish: https://www.edilex.fi/ministerioiden_julkaisut/14291.pdf. “The Constitutional Law Committee of the Parliament and the trauvaux prepartoires provide a basis for the definition of the scope of protection [in the fundamental environmental right]. These materials established that the right contains duties for the authorities to ensure access to information, participation rights and access to court.” p3.

⁷ Publications of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment Energy, 2022:55, “Carbon neutral Finland 2035 – National Climate and Energy Strategy”, p107. Available at: https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164323/TEM_2022_55.pdf

⁸ Available in Finnish at https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kho/vuosikirjat/2003/200303382, https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kho/vuosikirjat/2004/200401848 and https://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kho/vuosikirjat/2011/201101351, respectively.

⁹ Available: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2009/20090047

¹⁰ Available: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2009/20090047

¹¹ Available: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2009/20090047

¹² Available: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2009/20090047

¹³ Available: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2009/20090047

¹⁴ More information, available at: http://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/finnish-association-for-nature-conservation-and-greenpeace-v-finland/.

¹⁵ Finland - The Committee for the Future, European Parliamentary Technology Assessment, https://eptanetwork.org/static-html/comparative-table/countryreport/finland.html.

¹⁶ World Health Organisation (Europe), “Intergenerational Equity Briefing”, https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/369681/WHO-EURO-2015-6494-46260-66915-eng.pdf. p.14.

¹⁷ PeVM 25/1994 - HE 309/1993 Report of the Constitutional Committee No. 25 on the government's proposal to amend the fundamental rights provisions of the constitutions. Available at: https://www.edilex.fi/mt/pevm19940025. p.10

¹⁸ Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2015/en20150609.pdf. For further information, see Finland’s National Climate Policy (Ministry of Environment), available at: https://ym.fi/en/finland-s-national-climate-change-policy.

¹⁹ Available at: https://ym.fi/keskipitkan-aikavalin-ilmastopolitiikan-suunnitelma.

²⁰ Ministry of Environment, “Young people to help when you want to listen to young people”. Available at: https://ym.fi/-/nuoret-apuun-kun-halutaan-kuulla-nuoria.

²¹ Available at: https://ym.fi/en/nature-conservation-legislation.

²² Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2011/20110646.

²³ Unofficial translation available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2004/en20041378.pdf.

²⁴ Available at: https://ym.fi/en/chemicals-legislation.

²⁵ Section 7 of the Chemicals Act (599/2013). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2013/en20130599.

²⁶ Ibid. The National Chemicals Programme (2022-2035) is available (in Finnish) at: https://ym.fi/documents/1410903/42733297/Kansallinen+kemikaaliohjelma+2022-2035.pdf/c56d77c1-4f8e-fc4b-b372-3c781c65a2be/Kansallinen+kemikaaliohjelma+2022-2035.pdf?t=1650538447608.

²⁷ 998/1993. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1993/en19930998.

²⁸ Ibid., Chapter 3, Section 9.

²⁹ 475/2006. Available in Finnish at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2006/20060475.

³⁰ 188/2012. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=94472.

³¹ Supra note 5, Section 2.

³² Website of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Finland, https://www.tyosuojelu.fi/web/en/working-conditions/chemical-agents/risk-of-cancer. Legislation: Directive 2004/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ENG/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02004L0037-20140325&qid=1426161726625; Government Decree on the Prevention of Work-Related Cancer Risks (1267/2019, in Finnish), available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_isn=112221&p_lang=en..; Act on the Register of People Exposed to Carcinogenic Substances and Methods at Work (452/2020, in Finnish), available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_isn=112375&p_lang=en; Government Decree on Agents Posing a Risk to Reproductive Health and Measures to Prevent the Risk (603/2015, in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2015/20150603; Government Decision on Vessels Containing Dangerous Substances and their Markings (421/1989, in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/1989/19890421; Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Concentrations Known to be Harmful (654/2020, in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2020/20200654; Government Decree on Work Especially Harmful and Hazardous to young Workers (475/2006, in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2006/20060475.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Ibid.

³⁵ Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32006R0166&from=HR.

³⁶ Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention), available at: https://unece.org/environment-policyenvironmental-assessment/text-convention.

³⁷ Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure 252/2017 (in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2017/20170252; Decree on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure 277/2017 (in Finnish), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2017/20170277.

³⁸ Act on Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure 252/2017, § 1, available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/smur/2017/20170252.

³⁹ Ibid., Chapter 6, Section 35 on coercive measures; These fines are regulated by the Threatened Fines Act (1113/1990), which applies “when a threatened fine is imposed as an effect of an order or prohibition issued by an authority (main obligation) and when it is sentenced to be paid” (Chapter 1,§ 1), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1990/19901113.

⁴⁰ Available at: https://unece.org/DAM/env/eia/documents/legaltexts/protocolenglish.pdf.

⁴¹ Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment, available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32001L0042.

⁴² See, http://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/youth-for-climate-justice-v-austria-et-al/.

⁴³ European Justice, “Access to Justice in Environmental Matters – Finland”, https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_access_to_justice_in_environmental_matters-300-fi-en.do?member=1#I.

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Section 21b, Law on Amending the Climate Act (108/2023). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2023/20230108.

⁴⁶ Local Government Act (410/2015). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2015/en20150410.pdf.

⁴⁷ Ibid.

⁴⁸ Act of Class Actions (444/2007, as amended). English translation available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2007/en20070444.pdf.

⁴⁹ See Judicial Procedure Code, Chapter 18.

⁵⁰ Judicial Procedure Code (4/1743), Chapter 12, Section 1(1). English translation available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1734/en17340004.pdf.

⁵¹ Judicial Procedure Code (4/1734, as amended), Chapter 12, Section 1(2).

⁵² Ibid.

⁵³ Marie-Louise Larsson, The Law of Environmental Damage: Liability and Reparation (Stockholm, 1999), p. 331.

⁵⁴ Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage, Section 3.

⁵⁵ Ibid., p. 332.

⁵⁶ Ibid., p. 334.

⁵⁷ Administrative Judicial Procedure Act (586/1996 as amended), Section 22.

⁵⁸ Act on Limitations on Debts (2003/728), Sections 5 & 7.

⁵⁹ International Law Office, “General Limitation Period Shortened to Three Years”, dated 31 March 2003 (https://www.internationallawoffice.com/?l=8Y8ZNSQ).

⁶⁰ Criminal Code, Chapter 8, Section 1.

⁶¹ Legal Aid Act (257/2002), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/2002/en20020257_20110720.pdf.

⁶² Section 2(1) and (2), Legal Aid Act (257/2002; amendments up to 720/2011 included), Ministry of Justice, Finland, https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2002/en20020257_20110720.pdf.

⁶³ KHO:2017:188, 15.12.2017, available (in Finnish) at: https://www.edilex.fi/kho/vuosikirjat/201706473.

⁶⁴ Ibid.

⁶⁵ Section 3, Government Decree on Legal Aid (388/2002). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/2002/en20020388_20091008.pdf.

⁶⁶ European Justice, “Access to Justice in Environmental Matters – Finland”, https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_access_to_justice_in_environmental_matters-300-fi-en.do?member=1#I.

⁶⁷ Supra note 62, Section 1(2).

⁶⁸ Legal Aid Act, Section 3(1),

⁶⁹ Ibid, Section 8(1).

⁷⁰ Ibid, Section 7.

⁷¹ Ibid, Section 3b.

⁷² CMS, “Study of Civil Liability Systems for Remedying Environmental Damage: Final Report” (as at 31 December 1995)’, p. 86, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/liability/pdf/civiliability_finalreport.pdf.

⁷³ Act on Compensation for Environmental Damage (737/1994), https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1994/en19940737.pdf.

⁷⁴ Ibid, Sections 1 and 5.

⁷⁵ Ibid, Section 6.

⁷⁶ Supra note 72.

⁷⁷ Valtiokonttori (State Treasury), “Compensation based on state liability”. Available at: https://www.valtiokonttori.fi/en/services/services-related-to-compensation-and-accidents/compensation-based-on-state-liability/#general_when-can-compensation-be-granted.

⁷⁸ Yaffa Epstein, “Access to Justice: Remedies”, dated 9 March 2011, p. 36, https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/pp/a.to.j/AnalyticalStudies/Remedies_ReportYE_100311.pdf.

⁷⁹ Ministry of Justice Finland, The Criminal Code of Finland (39/1889, amendments up to 766.2015 included). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1889/en18890039.pdf.

⁸⁰ CMS, “Study of Civil Liability Systems for Remedying Environmental Damage: Final Report” (as at 31 December 1995)’, p. 87, https://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/liability/pdf/civiliability_finalreport.pdf.

⁸¹ Criminal Code, Chapter 48, Section 9.

⁸² The Criminal Code of Finland (39/1889, amendments up to 766.2015 included), Chapter 9, Section1. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1889/en18890039.pdf.

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ Supra note 80.

⁸⁵ Helle Tegner Anker and Annika Nilsson, “The Role of Courts in Environmental Law – Nordic Perspectives”, Journal of Court Innovation, p. 114, https://law.pace.edu/sites/default/files/IJIEA/jciAnker-Nilsson_1JB%202-16_cropped.pdf.

⁸⁶ Justice Erkki J. Hollo, Justice Pekka Vihervuori and Justice Kari Kuusiniemi, “Environmental law and Administrative Courts in Finland”, Journal of Court Innovation, pp. 52, 54, https://www.nycourts.gov/court-innovation/Winter-2010/jciHollo.pdf.

⁸⁷ European Justice, “Access to Justice in Environmental Matters – Finland”, https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_access_to_justice_in_environmental_matters-300-fi-en.do?member=1#I.

⁸⁸ Ibid.

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ Ministry of Justice Finland, Constitution of Finland, 11 June 1999 (731/1999, amendments up to 817/2018 included), available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf.

⁹¹ Ministry of Justice Finland, Assembly Act (530/1999; Amendments up to 824/2002 included). Available at:, https://www.legislationline.org/download/id/4717/file/Finland_AssemblyAct_1999am2002.pdf.

⁹² Ibid.

⁹³ Ibid.

⁹⁴ Ibid.

⁹⁵ Ibid.

⁹⁶ Ibid.

⁹⁷ Ibid.

⁹⁸ See, e.g. BBC,”Finnish town backs youth curfew”, 8 January 2019. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-46796316.

⁹⁹ Parliamentary Ombudsperson of Finland, Summary of the Annual Report (2019). Available at: https://www.oikeusasiamies.fi/documents/20184/39006/summary2019/b16cd626-e627-46fa-b5c2-5c0e4861d544, p178; Also, the Non-Discrimination Ombudsperson’s Annual Report, Finland (2019). Available at: https://syrjinta.fi/documents/25249352/54196129/The+Non-Discrimination+Ombudsman%27s+Annual+Report+2019.pdf/2dd5c818-4e39-d28f-0f2d-10b07f33aaf6.

¹⁰⁰ Ministry of Justice Finland, Basic Education Act (628/1998; amendments up to 1136/2010). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1998/en19980628.pdf.

¹⁰¹ Ibid.

¹⁰² Ibid.

¹⁰³ Ibid.

¹⁰⁴ European Commission, Single Structure Education (Integrated Primary and Lower Secondary Education). Available at: https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/finland/single-structure-primary-and-lower-secondary-education.

¹⁰⁵ Sari Miettunen, Director of Turku's education sector: "Climate strike a child's constitutional right, it cannot be denied", (Turun Sanomat 2019), https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/4513209 (in Finnish).

¹⁰⁶ Chapter 2, Section 6 Constitution. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1999/en19990731.pdf.

¹⁰⁷ European Commission, “EACEA National Policies Platform: Young people’s participation in policy-making”. Available at: https://national-policies.eacea.ec.europa.eu/youthwiki/chapters/finland/54-young-peoples-participation-in-policy-making.

¹⁰⁸ For more information about the CoE Child Participation Assessment Tool: https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/child-participation-assessment-tool.

¹⁰⁹ Government of Finland Ministry of Justice, “Children’s Participation Rights in Finland: Summary of the Current State and Key Development Needs”, 29th January 2020. Available at: https://oikeusministerio.fi/documents/1410853/4750802/OM-lasten-osallistumisoikeudet-esite-A4-EN_FINAL.pdf/45c37c85-1da6-27b0-5cbf-dddda51f0ae3.

¹¹⁰ Government of Finland, Reform of the Climate Change Act. Available at: https://ym.fi/en/the-reform-of-the-climate-change-act. Consultation summaries from stakeholder groups are available in Finnish here: https://ym.fi/documents/1410903/0/Kansalaiskuulemisten+yhteenveto+.pdf/.

¹¹¹ European Commission, EACEA National Policies Platform: National youth law, https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/en/content/youthwiki/12-national-youth-law-finland.

¹¹² Government proposal 111/2016, inclusive of amendments made by the Education and Culture Committee: Government proposal for a new Youth Act, https://minedu.fi/documents/1410845/4276311/Youth+Act+2017/c9416321-15d7-4a32-b29a-314ce961bf06/Youth+Act+2017.pdf.

¹¹³ Youth Act (72/2006), Section 8. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=73188.

¹¹⁴ Government proposal 111/2016, supra note 112.

¹¹⁵ Ministry of Education and Culture - Finland, “National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2017-2019”, (Oct. 12, 2017). Available at: https://minedu.fi/documents/1410845/4274093/VANUPO+EN+2017+final.pdf/7d135bb5-7824-422c-b51f-c9d9fa4f6877.

¹¹⁶ Ibid.

¹¹⁷ Local Government Act (365/1995), Sections 27 and 28. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1995/en19950365_20120325.pdf.

¹¹⁸ National Child Strategy, p71. Available at: https://www.lapsenoikeudet.fi/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/child-strategy-ENG.pdf.

¹¹⁹ Council of Europe, “Children and Youth Participation in Finland: A Council of Europe Policy Review”. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168046c47e.

¹²⁰ Government of Finland Ministry of Justice, “Children’s Participation Rights in Finland: Summary of the Current State and Key Development Needs”, 29th January 2020. Available at: https://oikeusministerio.fi/documents/1410853/4750802/OM-lasten-osallistumisoikeudet-esite-A4-EN_FINAL.pdf/45c37c85-1da6-27b0-5cbf-dddda51f0ae3.

¹²¹ Ibid.

¹²² Jesper Nevalainen, “Finland – National GDPR Implementation Overview”, Data Guidance, https://www.dataguidance.com/notes/finland-national-gdpr-implementation-overview.

¹²³ For example, Ministry of Justice (Demirbas, Sami; Lahdenperä, Blue; Peltonen, Lasse; Saarikoski, Heli; Jauhiainen, Jyrki; Heiskanen, Heta; Vaara, Elina; Airaksinen, Jussi), “Getting more out of the consultation process: towards collaborative procedures in law-making”, (2022). Available at: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-259-809-7.

¹²⁴ See, OECD Library, “Civic Participation in Finland”, Box 6.1. Available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/c323b805-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/c323b805-en#boxsection-d1e17845.

¹²⁵ Ministry of Environment (press release), Youth participation in decision making on Climate and Nature to be strengthened by new young people’s climate change and nature group, (20th February 2023). Available at: https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/-/1410903/youth-participation-in-decision-making-on-climate-and-nature-to-be-strengthened-by-new-young-people-s-climate-change-and-nature-group.

¹²⁶ Government of Finland (press release), “Climate Barometer 2023 - the Majority of Finns see Climate Solutions as an Opportunity to Improve Competitiveness and Wellbeing”, (27th February 2023). Available at: https://ym.fi/en/-/climate-barometer-2023-the-majority-of-finns-see-climate-solutions-as-an-opportunity-to-improve-competitiveness-and-wellbeing.

¹²⁷ For more information: https://kestavakehitys.fi/nuorten-agenda2030-ryhma.

¹²⁸ Local Government Act (410/2015), Section 20 and 21. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2015/en20150410.pdf.

¹²⁹ “National Youth Work and Youth Policy Programme 2017-2019”, supra note 115.

¹³⁰ Council of Europe, “Children and Youth Participation in Finland: A Council of Europe Policy Review”. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168046c47e.

¹³¹ “EACEA National Policies Platform: Young people’s participation in policy-making”, supra note 107.

¹³² Council of Europe, “Children and Youth Participation in Finland: A Council of Europe Policy Review”. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168046c47e.

¹³³ For more information: https://luontoliitto.fi/toimintaryhmat/.

¹³⁴ For more information: https://plan.fi/tutustu-planiin/tyomme-suomessa/nuoret/lastenhallitus/.

¹³⁵ For more information: https://wwf.fi/.

¹³⁶ For more information: https://nuorisoala.fi/.

¹³⁷ For example, during the reform of the Climate Act, 50 youth organisations made a joint statement (https://nuortenagenda2030.fi/2020/10/suomeen-maailman-vahvin-ilmastolaki/).

¹³⁸ Supra note 91.

¹³⁹ Ibid.

¹⁴⁰ Council of Europe, “Children and Youth Participation in Finland: A Council of Europe Policy Review”. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168046c47e, p117

¹⁴¹ Ibid.

¹⁴² Ibid.

¹⁴³ Ibid.

¹⁴⁴ Ministry of Finance Finland, Local Government Act (410/2015), available at: https://finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2015/en20150410.pdf.

¹⁴⁵ Supra note 142.

¹⁴⁶ The Ombudsman for Children in Finland. More information: https://lapsiasia.fi/en/front-page.

¹⁴⁷ The Ombudsman for Children in Finland, “The Future of the Planet and the Rights of the Child” (2020). Available in Finnish: https://lapsiasia.fi/documents/25250457/38754461/Maapallon+tulevaisuus+ja+lapsen+oikeudet-e.pdf/.

¹⁴⁸ Environmental Protection Act (527/2014), Sections 45 and 86. Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2014/en20140527.

¹⁴⁹ Ibid., Section 96.

¹⁵⁰ Ministry of Finance, Data Protection Act (1050/2018; amendments up to 239/2023 included). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2018/en20181050.pdf.

¹⁵¹ Nevalainen, supra note 122.

¹⁵² UUTISET, “Finland to adopt age limit for social media users from 2018”. Available at: https://yle.fi/a/3-9692538.

¹⁵³ Ibid.

¹⁵⁴ Nevalainen, supra note 122.

¹⁵⁵ Markkinaoikeus Marketing Court, MD: 1981: 9 (Fin). Available at: https://www.finlex.fi/sv/oikeus/mao/1981/19810009.

¹⁵⁶ Marja-Leena Loukola, “Education for Sustainable Development in Finland”, Ministry of Education, https://www.finna.fi/Record/luc.991068403806246.

¹⁵⁷ Ibid.

¹⁵⁸ Ibid.

¹⁵⁹ Single Structure Education (Integrated Primary and Lower Secondary Education), supra note 104.

¹⁶⁰ Finnish National Board of Education, “New national core curriculum for basic education: focus on school culture and integrative approach”, https://www.oph.fi/sites/default/files/documents/new-national-core-curriculum-for-basic-education.pdf.

¹⁶¹ Ibid.

¹⁶² Finland's Eighth National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Available at: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/fi_nc8_final.pdf. p.418

¹⁶³ Finnish National Agency for Education, “Sustainability of the Learning Environment”. Available here: https://www.oph.fi/en/sustainability-learning-environment.

¹⁶⁴ More information: https://vihrealippu.fi/vihrealippu/. See also, Finland's Eighth National Communication under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Available at: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/fi_nc8_final.pdf.

¹⁶⁵ The Green Flag Partner Municipalities include, Oulu, Espoo, Vantaa, Kouvola, Tampere. Find out more at: https://vihrealippu.fi/osallistumismaksut/.

¹⁶⁶ Single Structure Education (Integrated Primary and Lower Secondary Education), supra note 104.

¹⁶⁷ Loukola, supra note 156.

¹⁶⁸ The National Chemicals Programme (2022-2035). Available (in Finnish) at: https://ym.fi/documents/1410903/42733297/Kansallinen+kemikaaliohjelma+2022-2035.pdf/c56d77c1-4f8e-fc4b-b372-3c781c65a2be/Kansallinen+kemikaaliohjelma+2022-2035.pdf?t=1650538447608.

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