Finland: Fees charged by the police to change in 2021

NordenBladet — The Ministry of the Interior has issued a decree on fees charged by the police. For example, the prices of passports and identity cards will rise. The decree will enter into force on 1 January 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic, which began in 2020, and the related restrictive measures have had a negative impact on the number of licences granted by the police and the revenues derived from them. The number of passports issued has decreased most significantly. Due to this decrease and rising printing costs, the fee charged for a passport will increase next year. Last year, the prices of passports and identity cards were lowered.

The fee for a passport applied in person will rise from EUR 51 to EUR 58. The price difference to a passport applied electronically will remain the same and therefore the fee for a passport applied electronically will rise to EUR 52. According to law, licensing activity based on fees must correspond to the costs of the activity.The prices of passports for veterans of Finnish wars and participants in mine clearance will remain unchanged.

Due to the increase in printing costs, the fee for identity cards will increase by 1 EUR, with one exception. The price of an identity card applied in person will rise from EUR 54 to EUR 55. The price of an identity card applied electronically will rise from EUR 48 to EUR 49. If the applications for an identity card and passport are submitted together, the identity card will be 8 EUR cheaper.

New fee for business licences in firearms trade
The Police Board will introduce a new processing fee for the amendment notification of the holder of the firearms trade permit. The processing fee is EUR 70, which corresponds to the processing fee for the amendment notification in the security sector. The fee is a result of an amendment to the Firearms Act. The amendment to the Firearms Act, which entered into force in 2019, introduced additional reporting obligations for business licence holders. The processing fee corresponds to the processing fee for the amendment notification in the security sector.

According to the Act, the holder of a firearms trade permit must submit an amendment notification to the Police Board in case of:change in name or business name or legal form of company, opening and closure of a business establishment, change in the conditions or location of storage facilities, opening of a new storage facility, closure of a storage facility, or change in the address of the business establishment;changes concerning persons in the company’s administrative bodies, managing director, partners in a general partnership and general partners in a limited partnership;discontinuation or suspension of operations for a period longer than one month;continuing the operations after the suspension referred to in item 3. The processing fee would not apply to a notification on discontinuation or suspension of operations referred to in item 3. Provision of executive assistance to child welfare and emergency social services for free to be investigated

An evaluation of whether executive assistance provided by the police to child welfare authorities and emergency social services should be free of charge is currently ongoing by various bodies. The evaluation has shown so far that the matter involves various far-reaching issues related to laws and principles that are connected to the operations of public authorities in general. Authorities cooperating with each other, for example in a multi-professional setting, or the police performing its statutory duties, such as preventing crime, is not considered executive assistance.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi