FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Jussi Laasonen and Saara Järvinen, Ruoholahti Law
framework do not extend to the prevention or mitiga - tion of property damage. Consumer safety legislation functions as subsidiary and supplementary general legislation, which means that, in addition to comply - ing with the general safety requirements of consum - er safety legislation, products must also satisfy the requirements imposed by product-specific sectoral legislation. The GPSR applies to nearly all new, repaired and refurbished physical and digital consumer products, including software and applications. The Regula - tion also introduces concepts of digital safety, such as risks arising from connected devices or software updates, which were not addressed under previous legislation. The GPSR imposes obligations on all economic oper - ators throughout the consumer product supply chain, including manufacturers, EU importers, distributors, and fulfilment service providers. In addition, the Regu - lation separately imposes obligations on providers of online marketplaces. The Regulation contains a gen - eral safety requirement under which economic opera - tors may only place, or make available, safe products on the market. In November 2025, the European Commission pub - lished new GPSR Guidelines (C/2025/6233), which, together with the Safety Business Gateway portal, assist businesses in understanding and fulfilling their obligations under the GPSR. Artificial Intelligence In addition to product safety and product liability regulation, the regulatory environment has also been expanded to include entirely new legislation concern - ing AI. On 13 June 2024, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, which came into force on 1 August 2024.
The aim of this Regulation is to establish harmonised internal markets for AI within the EU and ensure that AI systems placed on the market or put into service do not endanger human safety, health, or fundamen - tal rights. The regulatory framework focuses particu - larly on the harmful uses of AI, with the result that the most harmful AI practices are prohibited entirely, while so-called high-risk AI systems are subject to stricter requirements. Although the EU Regulation is directly applicable law in Finland, as an EU member state, it nevertheless requires supplementary national legislation. In Fin - land, national legislative preparations began in 2024, and the national implementation of the “AI Act” was divided into two phases. In the first phase, national provisions were enacted concerning those provisions of the AI Act that applied from 2 August 2025 onwards. The first phase legisla - tion concerns, among other things, the responsibili - ties of national authorities and sanctions for breaches of the Regulation. As a result of this first phase, Fin - land enacted the Act on the Supervision of Certain AI Systems (1377/2025), which entered into force on 1 January 2026. In the second phase, national provisions will be enact - ed concerning the implementation of those provisions of the Regulation that apply from 2 August 2026 onwards. EU member states are required, among other things, to establish at least one AI regulatory sandbox and a national register relating to high-risk AI systems connected to safety components of criti - cal infrastructure. Finland is currently engaged in a legislative project concerning amendments to the Act on the Supervision of Certain AI Systems, with the amendments intended to enter into force no later than 2 August 2026.
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