Special instructions for describing business permits

All permits, notifications, registrations and obligations that a company needs to carry out its business activities are considered business permits. Entrepreneurs must apply for these licences or submit the notifications on their own initiative.

Municipalities, wellbeing services counties and government agencies provide business permits.

Business permits at a point of single contact

The Suomi.fi Web Service serves as the point of single contact for entrepreneurs operating in Finland and those who are coming to Finland. At a point of single contact, a person starting a business must be able to obtain all permits and obligations required for operating a business. The permits and obligations and their service channels are imported to the Suomi.fi Web Service from the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue.

For permit applications in the Suomi.fi Web Service, it is particularly important that your organisation describes the permits and obligations for which it is responsible in the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue in Finnish, Swedish and English. In addition to the permits, the service channels (especially e-services) must also be described in three languages.

Use the Suomi.fi Web Service’s permit search to check whether a new entrepreneur can find the business permits offered by your organisation and their service channels.

The National Single Point of Contact is regulated in the Regulation on the Single Digital Gateway, i.e. the SDG Regulation and the EU’s Services Directive.

Use general descriptions

Business permits are services of the Permit and Obligation type, which are described in accordance with the instruction for service description.

Use general descriptions whenever possible when describing business permits. Detailed permit-specific industry information and the details on temporary service provision are included in the general descriptions, which are also available in Swedish and English.

State whether the permit also applies to temporary service provision

Under the SDG Regulation and the Services Directive, entrepreneurs must also be able to find in the Suomi.fi Web Service the required information when they are only providing services in Finland on a temporary basis (for example, as part of a contract).

When describing business permits in the Suomi.fi Finnish Service Catalogue, note the following concerning temporary service provision:

• Explain when an entrepreneur does not need a permit or does not need to meet an obligation.
• Explain when and how applying for a permit or meeting an obligation differs from normal. Provide concrete instructions.
• Also mention if applying for a permit or meeting an obligation does not differ from normal.

You can use the following text templates to describe temporary service provision. Remember to supplement the text with all permit-specific requirements.

• If a business operator is established in another country belonging to the European Economic Area and provides services in Finland on a temporary basis, no permit, notification or registration is required for the operations.
• If a business operator established in another country belonging to the European Economic Area provides services in Finland on a temporary basis, the operator in question must obtain the same permits and submit the same notifications and registrations as the business operators established in Finland.
• If a business operator established in another country belonging to the European Economic Area provides services in Finland on a temporary basis, the operator in question must submit an advance notification.

Translate the permit descriptions

Describe all business permits and their service channels in Finnish, Swedish and English. The translation instructions for business permits differ from the general FSC instructions in that the service channels must also be described in all three languages, even if the service is only available in Finnish and Swedish.