FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Petteri Rapo, Markku Renko, Henri Becker and Jaakko Niskala, Svalner Atlas Finland
8.3 Mandatory Binding Arbitration Mandatory binding arbitration is generally available in Finland in EU disputes within the scope of the EU dispute resolution framework. Finland has implement - ed the EU dispute resolution mechanism through the Act on International Dispute Resolution Procedure (530/2019), transposing Directive (EU) 2017/1852, which is designed to ensure effective resolution of dis - putes (including those leading to double taxation) and provides for dispute resolution mechanisms where the competent authorities do not reach agreement within the prescribed timeframes.
9.2 Other Mechanisms There are several tools available in Finland for obtain - ing tax certainty: pre-emptive discussion ( ennakol- linen keskustelu ) as an early-stage dialogue resulting typically in a memo that supports reliance but is not appealable, advance rulings ( ennakkoratkaisu ) as a written binding decision on the applicant’s own taxa - tion (subject to conditions and potential appeal), and cross-border dialogue as a multi-country advance process aimed at aligned national outcomes rather than a single inter-state agreement. Furthermore, an enhanced customer co-operation programme ( syvennetty asiakasyhteistyö ), launched in Finland in 2016, is aimed at multinational enterprises and focused on reviewing tax strategy and risks with a more real-time, open dialogue to increase predict - ability and reduce disputes.
9. Dispute Prevention 9.1 Advance Pricing Agreements
Finland recognises advance pricing agreements (APAs) as a dispute prevention tool in transfer pricing. There is no separate APA legislation; instead, Finland can conclude APAs with treaty partners and the APA process is based on the MAP in Finland’s tax treaties, which in turn is grounded in Article 25 of the OECD Model Tax Convention.
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