FINLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Tarja Pirinen, Marius af Schultén, Fiiu Linninen and Noora Ahonen, Castrén & Snellman
Under the new law, the right of initiative would only apply to the landowner or a body authorised by the landowner. Therefore, the applicability of the provision specifically to mining projects is uncertain, given that the mining company does not usually own the land at the planning stage and that landowners’ mandates are not necessarily obtained. However, the Municipalities Act contains a provision on the general right of initia - tive, which allows other parties to take the initiative in matters concerning the municipality, such as land- use planning. Although the envisaged four-month time limit does not directly apply to matters initiated under the general right of initiative, it is foreseeable that all planning initiatives will be dealt with in a uniform man - ner by the municipalities for reasons of equality and for practical considerations, and thus within the same time limit. Mining Tax Reform The positive development of the mining sector and its profitability as a taxable entity, as well as efforts to ensure a fair remuneration for the minerals extracted from the Finnish bedrock, have led to significant tax increases, with the tax burden on the mining sector expected to increase dramatically from 2026 onwards. The Mining Minerals Tax Act (314/2023) was amend - ed by Act 1361/2025 which entered into force on 1 January 2026. Under the amendment, the so-called ad valorem rate for metallic ores rose from 0.6% to 2.5% of the taxable value of the metal contained in the ore delivered for beneficiation, and the so-called specific rate for industrial minerals rose from EUR0.20 to EUR0.60 per tonne of ore or payload extracted. Finland’s mining mineral tax is based on a simple roy - alty model, with two taxation methods: • an ad valorem royalty is paid on metallic ores based on the total metal content of the ore deliv - ered for beneficiation; and • for industrial minerals, a royalty is paid on the quantity of ore extracted. Under the previous model, metallic ores were taxed on full metal content, regardless of how efficiently the ore content could be recovered. The tax model has thus obliged mining companies not only to analyse
and report, but also to pay tax on material that they may not have been able to economically exploit. In addition, virtually all ore mined in Finland also contains industrial minerals, although these remain in tailings. Since the tax on metallic ores was levied at the time the mined mineral was first delivered for beneficia - tion, metallic ore mines have also paid a royalty on industrial minerals. The legislative amendment to the law has, to some extent, addressed the problems identified in the previ - ous tax model by shifting the time of chargeability for industrial minerals from the time of extraction to the time when the mineral is extracted and by excluding, under certain conditions, the so-called side streams of mines from the mining mineral tax. In practice, how - ever, the changes are quite formal and mainly affect the redistribution of the tax burden between mines, as, for example, the exclusion of side streams from the tax base is taken into account in the amount of the tax rate increase. The changes that entered into force on 1 January 2026 are as follows: • the secondary taxpayer for mining minerals is now the person who supplies the mining mineral for beneficiation or produces the mining mineral if the holder of the mining permit no longer exists; • for industrial minerals, the time of the chargeability to tax has shifted to the moment of the extraction of the mineral from the surface; • the taxation of by-products has changed – mining minerals contained in extracted ore that are not recovered or produced are, as a rule, no longer taxed immediately, but only at the time of possible re-supply for re-enrichment or at the time of the production of mining minerals from them; • the distribution of tax revenue will has changed – the State’s share has risen from 60% to 70% and the municipalities’ share has fallen from 40% to 30%; and • iron and rhodium have been added to taxable min- ing minerals. Higher Excise Duty on Electricity Due in 2026 In addition to the significant increase in the mining mineral tax, from 2026 there has also been a substan -
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