NordenBladet — The Government has completed its proposal for the family leave reform, and the proposal will now proceed to Parliament for consideration as decided by the Government on 16 September. The reform is scheduled to enter into force on 1 August 2022.

“The family leave reform is a significant step in developing the family leave system and improving gender equality. It is an investment in families with children, taking account of different types of families. It is also an important factor in achieving the Government’s population policy objectives. This proposal will help us move towards a more socially sustainable society,” says Hanna Sarkkinen, Minister of Social Affairs and Health.

“We will move to a family leave model that meets the needs of modern society. The number of daily allowance days will increase from the present level. The reform will also give parents considerably more flexibility as they will be able to take leave in several parts or on a part-time basis. In families with two parents, both parents will have an equal quota of daily allowance days. More and more social parents will be able to take family leave when it becomes possible for parents to transfer some of their daily allowance days to their spouse, the spouse of the child’s other parent or other custodian of the child. The reform also takes into account single parents, multiple-birth families and cases where the child dies,” says Minister Sarkkinen.

Family leave reform promotes equality in working life
The family leave reform aims to increase gender equality both in the daily lives of families and in working life. The position of women in the labour market will improve when family leave is divided more equally between the two parents. This will affect attitudes, which in turn can reduce discrimination against women in working life.

“The message of the reform is not only for parents but also for employers that both the mother and the father can take parental leave. Workplaces play a key role in what the general attitude is towards parents, and particularly men, taking family leave. I hope that the reform will encourage fathers to take family leave and employers to support men in doing so. The reform will also help reduce the gender pay gap,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen. It also seeks to improve the balance between work and family life. It will be possible to split the family leave into more parts than before or to take family leave on a part-time basis.

Equal and flexible family leave model
Watch the animation to learn more about the basic model of the family leave reform (link).  When implemented, the family leave reform will give both parents a quota of 160 daily allowance days. Parents will be allowed to transfer up to 63 daily allowance days of their own quota to the other parent, other custodian, their spouse or the spouse of the other parent. For the final stage of pregnancy, there will be a pregnancy allowance period of 40 daily allowance days. There will be six daily allowance days per week. All in all, daily allowance days will amount to more than 14 months. Single parents will have the right to use the quotas of both parents. Twins, triplets and other multiple-birth children will form an exception to this model — the quota of daily allowance days for their parents will increase by 84 daily allowance days per second child and every child thereafter.

Under the new model, parents can use daily allowance days until the child reaches the age of two. Daily allowance days can be used in several parts. Parents in employment relationships will be entitled to split the leave up to four parts. Only pregnancy allowance days will have to be used in a single continuous period and started 14–30 days before the estimated due date. All parents who have custody of their child will have an equal right to daily allowance regardless of whether they are biological or adoptive, custodial or non-custodial and regardless of the gender of the parent.

At present, the types of family leaves available to parents are the mother’s maternal allowance period (105 working days or approximately 4.2 months) which starts before the estimated due date, the father’s paternal allowance period (54 working days or approximately 9 weeks) and the parental allowance period which may be taken by one of the parents or shared between the parents (158 working days or approximately 6.3 months).

NordenBladet — The regional ministers of the Nordic Council of Ministers discussed multilocality and green recovery at the hybrid meeting held in Helsinki on 16 September 2021. The ministers decided to launch a research project to examine the economic, social and environmental impacts of multilocality in different regions.

The meeting was chaired by Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the significance of the place has been seen and discussed in a new way, both in terms of people’s daily lives and politics. The ministers see that multilocality means many opportunities that increase the economic and social vitality in the regions.

– Multilocality creates new opportunities for regional economies, business activities and for the availability of skilled workforce. Digitalisation and high-speed communications connections are key investments in the future of multilocality. At the same time, we need flexible, regionally differentiated ways of organising services that support the smooth running of people’s everyday lives, Minister Lintilä says.

Multilocation involves various societal and cultural challenges as well as economic and ecological sustainability challenges. Rolf Elmèr, Director of Nordregio, presented a new multilocation project, the launch of which the ministers decided to support.

Green recovery brings new business opportunities
The regional ministers also discussed the opportunities for green recovery in different regions and how to accelerate the green transition. In addition to achieving the climate targets, green recovery also means new livelihood opportunities. Professor of Economics Jens Suedekum at the University of Düsseldorf and Juha-Matti Saksa, Rector of the Lappeenranta University of Technology gave introductory speeches on sustainable growth.

– Green recovery offers new opportunities for environmental business, for instance, which has become a more important competitive factor in the global economy. One of the areas of Nordic cooperation could also be bio-based economy in sparsely populated areas. The bioeconomy plays an important role when we pursue the low-carbon targets and a resource-efficient society, Minister Lintilä says.

NordenBladet — The European Commission issued a proposal to update the General Product Safety Directive on 30 June 2021. The reform’s key objective is to update the 20-year-old regulation to better suit the digital operating environment.

Legislation on consumer safety for consumer goods is based on the EU’s General Product Safety Directive. The current Directive (2001/95/EC) dates back to 2001. Digitalisation, e-commerce and new technologies have changed the operating environment related to product safety significantly in the past 20 years, making the amendments to legislation necessary. The proposal is part of the implementation of the EU’s New Consumer Agenda and aims to improve the functioning of the internal market.

The proposed new product safety regulation would apply to the regulation of consumer products that are not subject to more specific safety requirements under EU law. The general objective is to ensure a high and consistent level of consumer safety for products both in traditional and online commerce. In addition to the safety requirement, the proposal contains provisions on the obligations of economic operators, the responsibilities of online marketplaces, market surveillance, traceability of products and harmonisation of return procedures. The proposal requires Member States to lay down provisions on penalties for non-compliance with the obligations. In addition to provisions on non-compliance, the EU Regulation will result in amendments to national legislation, in particular the Consumer Safety Act (920/2011).On 16 September 2021, the Government submitted a Union communication to Parliament concerning the Commission’s proposal. The Government supports the proposal in general and emphasises that the reform must not cause unnecessary burden on the operators and that the obligations should be placed on appropriate operators. Taking the safety challenges posed by new technologies into account in product safety regulation is welcomed, and in this context, attention should also be paid to the technology neutrality of regulation. The Government supports clear regulation on official procedures and cooperation while unnecessary administrative burden is to be avoided.

NordenBladet — The meeting of ministers of economic affairs of the Nordic Council of Ministers was held in Helsinki on Thursday 16 September 2021. The ministers decided, among other things, to increase cooperation in sustainable mineral production and to promote sustainable tourism. The meeting was chaired by Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

During the meeting, a report on critical raw materials in the Nordic countries was released, presented by Kimmo Tiilikainen, Director General of the Geological Survey of Finland. Lintilä welcomes the increased links between Nordic researchers and companies. According to him, Nordic cooperation promotes sustainable raw material supply and mineral production both from mines and the flows of circular economy.

-Access to raw materials plays a key role in meeting climate and environmental objectives and it is an important competitive factor for Nordic business and industry. Standardising and certifying mineral production is an international matter that the Nordic countries can promote together, Mika Lintilä said.

Funding for tourism cooperation
The ministers decided to allocate DKK 20 million (approximately EUR 2.7 million) for measures supporting sustainable tourism and the travel sector’s recovery in 2021–2024. The initiative will produce information to support decision-making on sustainable development goals, develop statistics on the impact of tourism and seek tourism innovations. “It is important to increase Nordic discussion on the significance of the tourism industry and the opportunities for cooperation. The capacity and willingness to promote sustainable development in the Nordic countries offers a good basis for strengthening the sustainability of tourism in cooperation,” Lintilä added.

NordenBladet — Restrictions on entry will be reinstated for residents of Singapore in traffic arriving in Finland from Singapore. The Government adopted a decision on the matter on 16 September and the decision will enter into force on 20 September. No other changes will be introduced to the restrictions. The existing restrictions on entry at external borders will be extended until 10 October. However, people may still enter Finland from all countries upon presenting an approved certificate of a full course of vaccination.External border traffic refers to traffic between Finland and non-Schengen third countries. If a person arriving from a country subject to the restrictions is not fully vaccinated, the accepted reasons for entry are return travel to Finland, return travel to other EU or Schengen countries, transit on regular, scheduled flights at an airport or other essential travel.
See the websites below for more information on the entry restrictions and health security requirements in place.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The government proposal on the introduction of a long-term national D visa in Finland promotes labour migration and includes the preparation of a fast track pledge. According to the proposal, the national D visa would first cover specialists, growth or start-up entrepreneurs and their family members.The Government submitted the proposal to Parliament on 16 September 2021.“The proposal is important because, for its part, it will facilitate labour migration. After necessary assessments, it will also create a foundation for extending the national D visa to cover researchers and students,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto. “Finland needs more experts with diverse talent profiles to keep the wheels turning in society. The migration authorities must respond to this need by providing efficient services. In other Schengen countries, a national D visa is already in use for varying target groups,” says Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo.The national D visa is based on the Schengen Convention. Provisions on the conditions for issuing it and on its validity can be laid down nationally within the limits set by the Schengen Convention. A national D visa allows people to stay in the territory of the issuing country for up to one year. It enables longer stays in the country than the standard short-term Schengen visa.  D visa enables implementing the fast track planThe Government proposal on the introduction of a national D visa is related to the entry made in the government budget session in September 2020, according to which the preconditions for an accelerated residence permit process, the so-called fast track service for specialists, growth entrepreneurs and their family members, should be examined. The fast track will be ready in June 2022.The D visa proposed by the Government supports the implementation of the 14-day fast track service pledge in such a way that senior specialists or start-up entrepreneurs and their family members can travel to Finland immediately after they have been issued a residence permit, which means that they do not need to wait for a residence permit card abroad.  “The fast track is one way to make it easier for experts to move to Finland. A number of other measures are also under preparation to speed up and streamline residence permit processes. The new roadmap for education-based and work-based immigration includes a wide range of measures that will make the service paths easy and straightforward,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.The Government submitted its proposal on the amendment of the Aliens Act and sections 3 and 5 of the Act on the Processing of Personal Data by Migration Authorities to Parliament on 16 September 2021. The Act is scheduled to enter into force in spring 2022.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi