FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Marja Norrena, Maija Ahtiainen and Valmari Keskimäki, Lieke Attorneys Ltd
Lieke Attorneys Ltd Aleksanterinkatu 11 00100 Helsinki Finland Tel: +358 9 6844 410 Fax: +358 9 6844 4141 Email: attorneys@lieke.com Web: www.lieke.com
1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System The Finnish legal system is based on civil law tradi- tion. The primary sources of law are statutes, includ- ing the Constitution and other legislation (statutes and decrees). As Finland is an EU member state, EU regu- lations also play an important role in the Finnish legal system. In addition to statutes, preparatory works of statues, case law and jurisprudence may be used as legal sources. Although Finland is a civil law country, case law from the Supreme Court is highly significant as a legal source, despite the fact that case law in general is less significant compared to its role in many common law jurisdictions. The Finnish civil procedure can mostly be described adversarial as the courts are generally non-interven- tionist in most civil matters (see 7.7 Level of Interven- tion by a Judge ). Civil procedures are usually con- ducted through both written submissions and oral argument presented in hearings (see 7.1 Trial Pro- ceedings ). 1.2 Court System The Finnish court system consists of general courts, administrative courts, and a few specialised courts. General courts handle civil and criminal matters, as well as petitionary matters. The administrative courts handle matters relating to the administrative decisions of public authorities. The general court system has three instances. District Courts are the courts of first instance. Their decisions may be appealed to the Courts of Appeal, provided
that leave for continued consideration is granted by the Court of Appeal. In turn, the decisions of the Courts of Appeal may be appealed to the Supreme Court, provided leave to appeal is granted by the Supreme Court. There are a total of 20 District Courts and five Courts of Appeal in Finland. Certain legal matters are assigned to specific District Courts. For example, the Helsinki District Court is the exclusive forum for class actions. Similarly, the Helsinki Court of Appeal has certain spe- cial responsibilities not assigned to the other Courts of Appeal, such as handling specific international family law cases and appeals in disciplinary matters of the Finnish Bar Association. The administrative court system consists of Admin- istrative Courts at first instance and the Supreme Administrative Court at final instance. Decisions of the Administrative Courts may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, provided leave to appeal is granted. There are six regional Administra- tive Courts in Finland. As with general courts, cer- tain matters are assigned to specific Administrative Courts. For example, the Helsinki Administrative Court has exclusive jurisdiction over matters relating to val- ue-added tax and customs duties. In addition to general and administrative courts, the Finnish court system includes specialised courts that handle certain matters falling within their specific juris- dictions. These include the Market Court, the Labour Court and the Insurance Court. The Market Court handles procurement, competition and supervision, market law (including certain consumer and marketing matters) and intellectual property rights matters. The
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