General right of access to information from the national judicial administration information system
Documents prepared or held by authorities are in the public domain unless provisions concerning their non-disclosure have been laid down in an Act. Public access to documents is regulated by the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. Everyone may request information about any official document in the public domain, regardless of whether he or she is a party to the matter. At its discretion, an authority may also disclose information about a document that has not been made public yet.
Processing times and applicable fees
The Act on the Openness of Government Activities sets maximum time limits by which a request for a document must be processed. As the general rule, the matter must be considered without delay. The matter must be decided and access to the document granted within two weeks from the date on which the request was received or, in the most complicated cases, within one month of the request.
Information regarding an official document is free of charge if the information is provided verbally, the document is available to view at the office of the authority or the document is sent by email. However, a fee may apply if the retrieval of the document involves special costs. A fee corresponding to the cost of copying or printing the document may also be charged.
Right of access to information from the national judicial administration information system
Under section 24, subsection 1, paragraph 28 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, information held in the national judicial administration information system is non-disclosable. Notwithstanding the provisions on the non-disclosure of information, the Legal Register Centre may disclose basic information regarding court proceedings or other court records data held in the national record and case management system, provided that
- the information to be disclosed and held by a court is public under the provisions of the Act on the Publicity of Court Proceedings in General Courts;
- the court has not restricted access to the information held in the national system; and
- the search criteria do not include a person’s name or other identifying data.
Information about the court considering the matter, the nature of the matter, the processing stages, the time and place of the oral hearing and information necessary to identify the parties are in the public domain. If no place for the oral hearing has been specified, information about how the oral hearing can be followed is in the public domain. However, in the situations referred to in section 6 of the Act on the Publicity of Court Proceedings in General Courts (370/2007), the court may order that information about the identity of an injured party/asylum seeker be kept secret.
The Legal Register Centre must delete the personal data ten years after the resolution of the matter under section 18 of the Act on the National Judicial Administration Information System (Laki oikeushallinnon valtakunnallisesta tietovarannosta 955/2020). Information older than this is not available.
Send a request for basic information regarding court proceedings or other court records to tietopalvelu.ork(at)om.fi. If you have any other questions, you can add in the email a request for the Legal Register Centre’s specialists to get back to you by phone.
Additional information
Brochure of the Ministry of Justice on the Act on the Openness of Government Activities