Ministry for Foreign Affairs document publicity description

The purpose of the description of document publicity is to serve citizens' needs to access information and to support open government. The description explains how people can request information from the document registers and datasets of the Foreign Service (both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Diplomatic Service). The Ministry and the Diplomatic Service use the same information systems. The description of document publicity also covers information requests submitted to diplomatic missions.

Right of access

Everyone has the right of access to public documents. This principle of public access to official documents is a fundamental right that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, too, implements. Documents in the possession of the authorities are public, unless their publication has been specifically restricted by law. In the Foreign Service, the most common reasons for the non-disclosure of documents are safeguarding Finland’s international relations and conditions for international cooperation, and protecting Finland's security, security arrangements, privacy of individuals, and business secrets.

Request for information

Requests for information are processed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999).

Requests for information may be submitted in free form by email to the Registry of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at kirjaamo.um@gov.fi. The Registry will acknowledge receipt of the request for information and enter the request in the VAHVA case management system. It is advisable to describe the requested documents or information as accurately as possible. This will make it easier and faster to process the request. Where necessary, the Ministry’s information management services will assist in identifying the requested documents, for example by using the case register.

Requests for information may even be submitted by post to Registry of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, PO Box 176, FI-00023 Government, or requests for information addressed to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs may be delivered to the Government’s mail distribution centre at Ritarikatu 2 B, Helsinki (open Monday to Friday at 8.00–16.15).

If you request a public document, you do not need to disclose your identity or justify your request.

If the Ministry for Foreign Affairs receives a request for information that falls outside its mandate, the Ministry will transfer the request to the correct authority. Similarly, a request to access documents drafted by another authority may be transferred for processing by the drafting authority. Requesters are always informed of any transfer of their request for information. 

Ministry’s response to a request for information

Responding to requests for information addressed to the Foreign Service is coordinated by the Ministry’s information management services. The Registry of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs forwards all requests for information to the information management services. The information management services prepare a response to each request together with the relevant Ministry unit or diplomatic mission.

All requests for information will be answered as soon as possible, and requests for access to public documents will be answered within two weeks. The Ministry has one month to respond to requests that concern a large number of documents or documents that contain non-disclosable parts. The response will be given in the manner requested in accordance with section 16 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. Most requests for information are responded by email.

Requesters who are dissatisfied with the email response they received have the right to request a decision of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on their request for information that can be appealed against to the Helsinki Administrative Court. Under the Ministry’s Rules of Procedure, the Ministry’s Chief Information Officer decides on the publicity and non-disclosure of the Foreign Service's documents and information.

While as a rule no charge is levied for the provision of access to public documents, a charge may be levied in some cases under section 34 of Act on the Openness of Government Activities. Requesters will be informed in advance of any charge levied.

Duties of the Foreign Service

Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Under section 13 of the Government Rules of Procedure (964/2017), the mandate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs covers: 1) foreign and security policy, international issues of significance for foreign policy and international relations in general; 2) assistance in the coordination of treaties and other international obligations; 3) trade policy and commercial and economic relations; 4) development policy and development cooperation; 5) protection of the interests and rights of Finnish citizens and provision of consular services and corresponding other official services abroad; 6) international judicial and investigation bodies; 7) representation of Finland in the Court of Justice of the European Union and in monitoring procedures concerning Finland as a Member State of the European Union; 8) Finnish diplomatic and consular missions abroad; and 9) representation of foreign states and international organisations in Finland.

Finnish missions abroad: Section 12 of the Foreign Service Act (204/2000) describes the duties of Finnish missions abroad. One of their main tasks is to provide information on their host countries. The latest public reports can be found at um.fi/edustustojen-raportit

Read more about the activities and organisation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and about the Diplomatic Service on the Ministry’s website at um.fi. For the latest news, press releases, statements and speeches, go to the website's Current affairs section.

Information on the Ministry for Foreign Affairs activities is also available on the Finnish Government's websites:

Document registers

When the Ministry and the Diplomatic Service carry out duties listed above, as a rule they prepare, record and archive all official documents in two parent systems: VAHVA and AHA. Similarly, documents received by the Foreign Service, including requests for information, will be recorded and archived in these two systems. Requesters do not need to specify which case register, information system or dataset their request for information concerns.

VAHVA is the Finnish Government’s shared case management system where the Foreign Service handles matters such as reporting by missions, EU activities, matters related to employment contracts, purchases and other administrative matters, communications, and internal activities. AHA is a case management system of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It is used as a case register in areas such as consular affairs, project management in development cooperation, protocol services, export control and trade barriers.

The systems allow document and information searches by several data fields, such as document title, date, document number, author, relevant unit or diplomatic mission, keywords, task classification and free text. Only authorised users may browse the systems because the VAHVA and AHA registers contain non-disclosable information in addition to public information. Moreover, the document registers contain material outside the scope of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, such as drafts and notes. The information in the registers is not openly available through a technical interface. Anyone who wants to access information in the system must submit a request for information addressed to the Registry of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Other datasets

When dealing with administrative matters, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs uses the Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR information systems. These include Kieku for the human resources administration, Handi for the financial administration, and M2 for travel management.

The Ministry also uses operational systems, such as the visa system.

There are separate information systems for handling documents with higher security classification levels (SC II–III). Decisions on the publicity of documents processed in these information systems are made in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. For the most part, even for high-security datasets, the period of non-disclosure is 25 years, regardless of the level of classification. 

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has an extensive paper archive going back more than a hundred years to 1918, when the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was established.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs serves as the secretariat for the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy and is responsible for processing any information requests concerning the Committee's materials.