Privacy statement for the Finnish Register of Foundations

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

Under the Finnish Foundations Act (Säätiölaki 487/2015), the Register of Foundations is maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH). A foundation is an independent legal person established to manage property donated for a specific purpose. A foundation has legal capacity as soon as it is registered in the Register of Foundations.

The PRH supervises that the administration of the foundation complies with the law and the by-laws of the foundation.

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

Personal data and categories of data subjects in the register

The Foundations Act sets out the details that foundations must submit for entry into the Register of Foundations.

Under Chapter 13, Section 4 of the Foundations Act, the following details are entered into the Register of Foundations:

• the name of the foundation;
• the date of the charter;
• the purpose of the foundation;
• the activities of the foundation;
• the provision of the by-laws either adding extra restrictions to the foundation’s investment and business activity on top of what is laid down by law, or allowing other kind of business activity in order to finance the activities of the foundation;
• the place of the foundation’s registered office;
• the address of the foundation;
• the personal details of the chairperson and each member and deputy member of the board of trustees;
• if the foundation has a managing director or a substitute for the managing director, their personal details;
• if the foundation has an administrative board, the personal details of its chairperson and each of its members and deputy members;
• the personal details of the auditor, the auditor with principal responsibility and the deputy auditor;
• the provision of the foundation’s by-laws setting out the manner of representing the foundation and - if anyone has been given the right to represent the foundation alone or together with someone else - their personal details;
• the financial period of the foundation; and
• a notification from the board of trustees and the managing director stating that the property laid down in the charter in accordance with the basic capital commitment has been donated to the foundation, and their affirmation that the provisions of the Foundations Act have been complied with when establishing the foundation.

Under Chapter 13, Section 4 of the Foundations Act, the Register of Foundations shall contain the following personal details of persons to be registered in the register:

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

Sources of information

Normally, the details are entered into the Register of Foundations based on notifications submitted by foundations. When a new foundation is established, the name, purpose and activities of the foundation must be submitted for registration. If the details entered into the Register of Foundations change, the foundation must report the new details to the register.

Under section 21 of the Finnish Business Prohibition Act (Laki liiketoimintakiellosta 1059/1985), the Legal Register Centre of Finland provides the Register of Foundations with details of business prohibitions in effect and when they begin and end. These details are then updated in the Register of Foundations.

Under chapter 13, section 14(2) of the Foundations Act, the contact details of foundations are updated from the Business Information System.

Under chapter 13, section 11 of the Foundations Act, courts of law must notify the PRH

• when a foundation has been terminated;
• when a liquidator, a trustee, a member of the administrative board or the board of trustees or a representative has been appointed;
• when a public summons has been issued to the creditors of a foundation;
• when a foundation is declared bankrupt;
• when bankruptcy proceedings have been cancelled or dismissed or when the decision to declare the foundation bankrupt has been cancelled;
• when a temporary prohibition of activities in accordance with the Finnish Restructuring of Enterprises Act (Laki yrityksen saneerauksesta 47/1993) has been issued; or
• when restructuring proceedings have begun and have been terminated.

Disclosure of personal data to third parties

Under chapter 13, section 1 of the Foundations Act, anyone is entitled to obtain information about the entries made in the Register of Foundations. Details from the Register of Foundations can be obtained online from the Virre Information Service, by ordering extracts, certificates and documents, and by telephone inquiry.

Contract customers can have information contained in the Register of Foundations directly delivered to their own application through a technical interface.

Notifications and enclosures submitted by foundations to the Register of Foundations can be studied at the PRH in Helsinki, as long as the documents are public.

Confidential information and documents are listed in chapter 5, section 5 of the Foundations Act.

The last four digits of personal identity codes, and the home addresses of persons living outside Finland, are only disclosed by the Register of Foundations in cases defined in section 29 of the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018). In other cases, the person’s date of birth is disclosed instead of the personal identity code, and for a person living outside Finland, the person’s country of residence is disclosed instead of the home address. This is based on chapter 13, section 1 of the Foundations 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 Register of Foundations before 1 December 2015, the last four digits of personal identity codes, and 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, and the home addresses of persons living outside Finland, are however only disclosed from the electronic data of the Register of Foundations in cases defined in section 29 of the Finnish Data Protection Act (Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018).

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

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

No data is transferred to countries outside the EU or the EEA or to international organisations.

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, and no automated decision-making is performed on the data.

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 Register of Foundations, 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).