Privacy statement for the Finnish Trade Register

Controller

Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH)
Mailing address: Finnish Patent and Registration Office, FI-00091 PRH, Finland
Street address: Sörnäisten rantatie 13 C, Helsinki, Finland
Tel. +358 29 509 5000

Representative of controller

Mr Lalli Knuutila
Head of Registration
lalli.knuutila(at)prh.fi
Tel. +358 29 509 5018

Data protection officer

tietosuojavastaava(at)prh.fi
Tel. +358 50 413 6500

Purpose of and legal basis for processing personal data

The processing is necessary to comply with the controller’s legal obligation.

Under the Finnish Trade Register Act (kaupparekisterilaki 129/1979), the Trade Register is maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH). The Trade Register contains information on traders, i.e. companies and businesses.

The Trade Register serves and supervises Finnish businesses and companies, and maintains and improves legal security in the Finnish business life. In addition to the effect of publicity, some of the entries in the Trade Register have a constitutive effect.

Personal data and categories of data subjects in the register

The Trade Register Act sets out, for each company type, the details that businesses and companies must submit for entry into the Trade Register.

Besides the Finnish Trade Register Act and Trade Register Decree (kaupparekisteriasetus 208/1979), the details to be entered in the Trade Register are defined in Finnish legislation concerning various company types, such as the Limited Liability Companies Act (osakeyhtiölaki 624/2006) and the Co-operatives Act (osuuskuntalaki 1488/2001), and in business legislation in general, such as the Restructuring of Enterprises Act (laki yrityksen saneerauksesta 47/1993). Details of persons and their positions submitted to the Trade Register are entered in the register for the company.

Positions to be registered include private trader; partners; chairperson, members and deputy members of the board of directors; managing director; auditors; holders of procuration; and persons entitled to represent the company.

Notifications and enclosures filed with the Trade Register are also recorded in the register.

Under section 3a of the Trade Register Act, the following personal details of persons are entered in the Trade Register:

1. full name,
2. personal identity code (date of birth if the person does not have a Finnish personal identity code),
3. citizenship and
4. municipality of residence (home address if the person lives outside Finland).

Sources of information

Normally, the details are entered in the Trade Register based on notifications submitted by businesses or companies. At present, most businesses and companies have to be registered in the Trade Register. The basic details of new businesses and companies, and of their activities, have to be submitted to the register. When the registered details change, businesses and companies must submit the new details to the register.

Under section 21a of the Trade Register Act, the PRH can update its records and check the personal details given in notifications and enclosures by using the Finnish Population Information System.
Under section 21 of the Finnish Business Prohibition Act (Laki liiketoimintakiellosta 1059/1985), the Legal Register Centre of Finland provides the Trade Register with details of business prohibitions in effect and when they begin and end. These details are then updated in the Trade Register System.

Under section 19 of the Trade Register Act and section 5 of the Finnish Decree on Restructuring of Enterprises (Asetus yrityksen saneerauksesta 55/1993), courts of law have to notify the PRH

• when a public summons has been issued to the creditors of a company registered in the Trade Register;
• when a company is declared bankrupt;
• when bankruptcy proceedings have been dismissed or when the decision to declare the company bankrupt has been cancelled;
• when a temporary prohibition in accordance with the Restructuring of Enterprises Act has been issued; and
• when restructuring proceedings have begun or have been terminated.
  

Disclosure of personal data to third parties

Under section 1a of the Trade Register Act, anyone is entitled to obtain information about the entries made in the Trade Register.

Trade Register information, including notifications and enclosures filed with the Trade Register, can be obtained online from the Virre Information Service, by ordering extracts, certificates and documents, and by telephone enquiry. Contract customers can have Trade Register information directly delivered to their application through a technical interface. Notifications and enclosures submitted by companies and businesses can also be studied at the PRH in Helsinki.

The last four digits of personal identity codes, or the home addresses of persons living outside Finland, are only disclosed by the Trade Register in cases defined in section 29 of the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018). In other cases, the person’s country of residence is disclosed instead of the home address for persons living outside Finland. This is based on section 1a of the Trade Register Act and section 16(3) of the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities (Laki viranomaisten toiminnan julkisuudesta 621/1999).

In the case of notifications submitted to the Trade Register before 1 January 2014, the last four digits of personal identity codes, or the home addresses of persons living outside Finland, are disclosed without having to provide an account of their use to the register. The last four digits of personal identity codes, or the home addresses of persons living outside Finland, are however only disclosed from the Trade Register’s electronic data in cases defined in section 29 of the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018).

Details contained in the Trade Register are regularly disclosed through machine-readable selections or message-based data transmission to credit reference companies, the Finnish Tax Administration, insurance companies, information service companies, and the information service of the European Business Register (EBR).

Transfer of personal data to countries outside the EU or the EEA or to international organisations

No data is transferred to countries outside the EEA.

Storage periods of personal data

The storage periods of the registered personal data are based on a filing plan which allows the data to be stored permanently.

Profiling and automated decision-making

The registered data are not used for profiling.

Financial statements submitted with tax returns to the Finnish Tax Administration are forwarded to the Trade Register for automatic registration.

Right of access to personal data

The data subject has the right to check what personal data about them have been entered into the register, or to find out that there are no such register entries. The data subject can ask the controller for access to their personal data. Read our instructions on how to request access to data.

Right to rectification of data

The data subject has the right to demand that the controller rectify without undue delay any inaccurate or incorrect personal data concerning them. Read our instructions on rectification of data.

Right to restriction of processing

The data subject has the right to demand that the controller restrict the processing of data, if the data subject contests the accuracy of the personal data. The idea is to restrict the processing for a period during which the controller can verify the accuracy of the personal data.

Right to deletion of data

The right to deletion, i.e. the ‘right to be forgotten’, does not apply to the Trade Register, which is regulated by law.

Right to lodge complaint with supervisory authority

The data subject has the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (the Data Protection Ombudsman).