FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jussi Laasonen and Saara Järvinen, Ruoholahti Law
1. Product Safety 1.1 Product Safety Legal Framework
internal market, and ensuring a level playing field for all economic operators. Act on the Market Surveillance of Certain Products (1137/2016) A horizontal, general piece of legislation covering the basic provisions for the market surveillance of prod - ucts falling within the scope of several different acts. The Act supplements the EU market surveillance regulatory framework at the national level. The Act on the Market Surveillance of Certain Products does not apply independently without the sector-specific regulation of the sectoral laws falling within its scope. Other Product and Sector-Specific Legislation A large number of different product and sector-spe - cific laws apply, including, for example, the Medicines Act (395/1987), the Chemicals Act (599/2013) and the Food Act (297/2021). Such sector-specific legislation contains more detailed provisions concerning the safety issues for certain products. Product-specific legislation takes precedence over general acts. 1.2 Regulatory Authorities for Product Safety In Finland, the ministries are responsible for enact - ing product safety legislation within their respective administrative sectors. In addition, product safety is supervised by several different authorities. As a general rule, supervisory responsibility is divided according to different prod - uct categories. Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) The principal authority for product safety supervision, the agency supervises the safety and compliance of a wide range of chemicals, products and services, as well as industrial operations. It is also a key market surveillance authority in the field of product safety. Tukes carries out risk-based and spot-check super - vision. Tukes may conduct inspections, investigate accidents, issue prohibitions and orders, require prod - ucts to be withdrawn from the market and recalled, and impose conditional fines.
The legal framework on product safety in Finland con - sists of both European Union legislation and national legislation. The following regulations are central to product safety in Finland. General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 (GPSR) An EU regulation directly applicable in the member states, this sets out the general safety requirements for consumer products, the obligations of economic operators and providers of online marketplaces, mar - ket surveillance of consumer products, co-operation between authorities, as well as certain consumer rights. The GPSR aims, in particular, to ensure the health and safety of consumers and the proper func - tioning of the internal market for consumer products. In Finland, the GPSR is implemented through the Con - sumer Product Safety Act and the Consumer Services Safety Act. Consumer Product Safety Act (184/2025) This Act provides for those aspects of consumer product safety which, according to the GPSR, must be enacted in national legislation, such as language requirements relating to product safety, the competent market surveillance authorities and their powers. In addition, the Act prescribes the sanctions applicable to violations of the GPSR. Consumer Services Safety Act (185/2025) This is a general act on the safety of consumer servic - es. The Act prescribes provisions on the requirements for safe consumer services and the assessment of safety, the obligations of service providers, the super - visory authorities and their enforcement measures, binding decisions of supervisory authorities and the sanctions applicable for violations of the Act. The Market Surveillance and Compliance of Products Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 An EU regulation directly applicable in the member states, this aims to reduce the number of non-com - pliant products on the internal market, strengthening market surveillance, improving the functioning of the
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