NordenBladet — The Government has completed and published its draft proposal for the family leave reform. The draft proposal will be circulated for comments between 19 February and 2 April 2021. “The family leave reform is, first and foremost, about promoting the interests of the child. The new family leave model will treat every child equally, irrespective of the type of the family. It would encourage families to share childcare responsibilities more equally, thus giving both parents a good start for building a close relationship with their child,” says Minister of Social Affairs and Health Aino-Kaisa Pekonen. 

The Government has made specifications to the model of daily allowance days, giving each parent a quota of 160 daily allowance days (There are six daily allowance days per week). In all, parental allowance would be paid for 12.8 months per child. Parents would be allowed to transfer up to 63 daily allowance days of their quota to the other parent. For the final stage of pregnancy, there would be a pregnancy allowance of 40 daily allowance days. This would mean that all in all, daily allowance days would amount to more than 14 months. Single parents would have the right to use the parental allowance quotas of both parents. Twins, triplets and other multiple-birth children would form the only exception to this model — the quota of daily allowance days for their parents would increase by 78 daily allowance days per second child and every child thereafter.

Under the new model of family leave, parents could use daily allowance days until the child reaches the age of two. Daily allowance days could be used in several periods. Only pregnancy allowance days would 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 would 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. As a result of the reform, the total number of family leave days would increase slightly from the current level. Family leaves now consist of 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).

Investment in parenthood and wellbeing of families and children
The aim of the reform is to encourage parents for a more balanced use of family leaves. This would mean above all that fathers would use their right to family leaves more than they do at present. If this objective was reached, the overall costs of family leaves to society would increase together with the total number of daily allowance days used by fathers.

“We will implement a family leave reform that supports the wellbeing of families. The reform will be an investment. It is about the income of families at an important stage of their lives, ” says Minister Pekonen.

Towards a more equal working life
The reform would implement both the objectives of the Government Programme and the changes resulting from the EU’s Work-life Balance Directive. These changes would aim to promote gender equality in working life and facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life.

“Gender equality in working life is influenced not only by laws and regulations but also by attitudes. We want to encourage fathers to take more family leave than they do at present. A more equal sharing of family leaves between both parents would benefit many families and the whole society as equality progresses,” says Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen.

The key amendments to the Employment Contracts Act are related, for example, to the names of family leaves and periods in which parental leave could be taken. As a new element, the reform would introduce the right to carers’ leave, which is based on the Work-life Balance Directive. It is intended for situations where, for example, a relative needs help suddenly. Each worker would have the right to take unpaid carers’ leave for up to five days per year.

Reform would be taken into account in early childhood education and care In future, the right to early childhood education and care would start at the beginning of the calendar month when the child turns nine months. The right to the same early childhood education and care place would be maintained when the child stays at home with the parent during the parental leave and does not attend early childhood education and care for that reason. The requirement for this would be that the period of absence lasts without interruption for a maximum of 13 weeks and the early childhood education and care place has been informed of the period of absence beforehand. By amending the Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care, it would be possible to make sure that no client fees would be charged for this period.“In future, children would maintain the right to same early childhood education and care place that they attended before, even if their parents decided to use their family leaves more flexibly.   Continuous and safe relationships are important preconditions for the development and wellbeing of children, and this will also be ensured as part of the family leave reform,” says Minister of Education Jussi Saramo.

Reform prepared through cooperation
A working group led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health prepared the family leave reform, and a working group led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment was responsible for the preparations related to the Employment Contracts Act. The working group of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health included representatives not only from the relevant ministries and agencies but also from labour market organisations. The working group carried out its work within the framework of the Government Programme. It was not, however, able to reach full consensus on all issues.

Draft government proposal (in Finnish)
Presentation material for the press conferenceAnimation about the family leave reform

NordenBladet — The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland has appointed Timo Sysiö to the post of Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Beijing. The three-year term will start on 1 August 2021.

Sysiö will move to Beijing from the Embassy of Finland in Ankara, where he is currently Second Secretary responsible for communication, country branding and Team Finland coordination. Sysiö has studied and worked in East Asia and Southeast Asia for over ten years. In 2017, he worked as Event Coordinator for the Suomi Finland 100 Singapore (SF100SG) programme and as Consular Services Coordinator at the Embassy Beijing. Sysiö has graduated with a Master of Arts degree at the University of Hong Kong.

“I’m looking forward to being able to use my professional skills in the geographical area that is close to my heart. As part of the strong Team Finland network in China, I will work to increase our visibility especially in sectors which have an influence also on Finland’s economy and society,” Sysiö says.

The Press Counsellor is responsible for communications and tasks related to country image. The Press Counsellor also takes part in Team Finland activities and works in close cooperation with the Consulates General of Finland in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

NordenBladet — The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) opens a call for proposals for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). The application round will run from 15 February to 26 March 2021.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs allocates development cooperation funds for use by INGOs. To be eligible for support, the organisations’ development cooperation activities must promote the attainment of Finland’s development policy priorities, the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the realisation of human rights. Additionally, development cooperation projects carried out by INGOs must take into account the human rights-based approach to development.

Human rights are an important part of Finland’s foreign and development policy; Finland is committed to promoting them. The call for proposals includes many themes that advance the realisation of human rights.

Applications should focus on the following themes: promoting sexual and reproductive health and rightspromoting tax justice and transparency in Sub-Saharan Africaending impunity for human rights violationssupporting human rights defendersstrengthening the implementation of economic, social and cultural rightsbusiness and human rightspromoting sexual and reproductive health and rights in Afghanistan to reduce maternal mortality.

Applications will be accepted from 15 February until 26 March 2021. Applications together with their attachments should be received by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs no later than at 16.15 (Finnish time/EET) on Friday 26 March 2021. Applications that arrive after the due date and time will not be considered.

The call for proposals, the application form, the terms and conditions of the call, and further information can be accessed at Support for International Non-governmental Organisations (in English). A joint call for applications for INGOs is announced approximately once every two years. The amount of funding available and the themes of the calls are decided separately each time. Different units at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs may additionally organise more limited application rounds for INGOs when necessary. The 2021 Call for Proposals for International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs)

NordenBladet — Finland is seeking membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) as the Nordic representative in the Group of Western European and other States in 2022–2024. The membership campaign slogan: ”A Diverse World, Universal Human Rights”, underscores the universal nature of human rights. The election will take place at the UN General Assembly in October 2021.Finland has been dedicated to promoting human rights for decades. By standing for candidacy in the HRC, Finland is demonstrating its continuing commitment to human rights-based foreign and security policy.  The candidacy for membership of the HRC is mentioned in the Government Programme of Prime Minister Marin’s Government, too.The themes of the Finnish campaign are the rights of women and girls, new technologies and the digital transformation, climate change, and education as a human right. In its campaign, Finland also emphasises efforts to defend multilateralism from increasing attempts to undermine it and the need to promote civil societies’ engagement and participation in the UN’s activities. ”As a member of the Human Rights Council, Finland wants to stand in a common front with countries defending human rights, aiming to find sustainable solutions for global challenges. Climate change and pandemics are further increasing inequality and global interdependency. The importance of defending human rights will grow in global contexts,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto.The HRC, established in 2006, is the most central UN body that promotes human rights. The Council is made up of 47 Member States elected for three years at a time, based on an equitable geographical distribution of seats. Finland served as a member of the HRC in 2006–2007. At present, Finland has an observer status in the HRC.  More information:Paula Parviainen, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 350 425. The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format [email protected]Campaign video (Youtube)Campaign website (um.fi)Follow on Twitter #FIforHRC

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — On 11 February 2021, the European Commission requested that Finnish authorities provide further information on the regulation of retail sales of beverages containing up to 5.5% alcohol by volume. The request is related to the so-called EU Pilot mechanism between the Commission and a Member State.

The request for information is based on complaints received by the Commission. In particular, these complaints concern the principle of free movement of goods in connection with distance selling of alcohol online.

Finnish authorities will respond to the Commission’s request by 14 April 2021.Among other things, the Commission has requested Finland to explain whether retail sale licenses are available to retailers in other Member States wishing to conduct distance sales of alcoholic beverages containing up to 5.5% alcohol by volume. In addition, the Commission has asked Finland to provide clarification on the Finnish system of retail sales of alcohol. The Commission also requests information about Finland’s plans to implement the proposals made by a working group of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in April 2018 to develop the regulation of cross-border sales of alcoholic beverages. According to the working group’s proposal, both domestic and foreign operators could sell alcoholic beverages online as long as the alcohol content by volume did not exceed 5.5%. Such alcoholic beverages would be distributed from retail premises in Finland, not by post or a transport operator.

The Commission also requests further information on the processing of tenders submitted to Alko. EU Pilot is a dialogue mechanism for the Commission and Member States

The European Commission monitors the Member States’ compliance with EU law. The request for information received by Finland is part of the informal EU Pilot mechanism between the Commission and a Member State. The mechanism enables the Commission to obtain information from a Member State on, for example, national provisions and their practical application. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health publishes the Commission’s request, because misleading information concerning the issues in the Pilot mechanism has been presented in public. The Commission has agreed to make the request public.

NordenBladet — The Ministry of the Interior has prepared legislative amendments to implement the EU directive on access to financial information at national level. The directive contains rules to facilitate the use of information held in bank account registries by the authorities for the purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting certain offences.

Work on the legislative project has progressed and a consultation on the national implementation of the directive will now be launched. Powers will be granted to authorities responsible for detecting and investigating serious offences According to the directive, each Member State must designate the competent authorities empowered to access and search its national centralised bank account registry. Under the directive, access to bank and payment account registries may be granted to authorities competent for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of serious offences.

The government proposal not only designates the authorities that would have direct access to the bank and payment accounts control system as set out in the directive, but it also proposes that the current number of authorities authorised to use the bank and payment accounts control system should be extended. Within the meaning of the directive, access would be granted to the police, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Customs, the Border Guard and prosecutors. In addition, provisions are now proposed in national legislation under which the number of authorities accessing the system be extended to those authorities that already have the right to access information held in the system on the basis of the existing regulation, but which still partly obtain the information even manually. At present, only the competent authorities under the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing are allowed to access the bank and payment accounts control system when they perform tasks related to money laundering.

Centralised bank account registries mean the centralised automated mechanisms, such as central registries or central electronic data retrieval systems. They allow competent authorities to search electronically information on bank and payment accounts as well as on their holders and beneficial owners.

In addition to extending the number of competent authorities, the government proposal suggests adding technical solutions, such as the development of an application that would facilitate the implementation of the extension to be integrated in the bank and payment accounts control system.

The directive also lays down provisions on the exchange of information between Financial Intelligence Units and with Europol. As required by the implementation of the directive, it is also proposed that the powers of the Financial Intelligence Unit be extended to cover offences under the Europol Regulation. In Finland, the Financial Intelligence Unit operates under the National Bureau of Investigation.In the work, particular attention has been paid to the right to privacy and the protection of personal data guaranteed by the Constitution and the requirements of data protection provisions.

The directive must be implemented into national law by August 2021The directive relates to the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which requires Member States to put in place centralised bank account registries or data retrieval systems allowing the timely identification of the persons holding bank and payment accounts and safe-deposit boxes. In Finland, the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive was implemented, among other things, by means of the Act on the Bank and Payment Accounts Control System, which entered into force on 1 May 2019. Its provisions on the bank and payment account data retrieval system and on the bank and payment account registry have been applied since 1 September 2020.

The directive was adopted on 20 June 2019 and Member States must bring into force the acts, decrees and administrative regulations necessary for ensuring compliance with the directive no later than 1 August 2021. The proposed acts are intended to enter into force as soon as possible, with the exception of the provisions necessary for the technical development of the system proposed for the Act on the Bank and Payment Accounts Control System, which are intended to enter into force on 1 March 2022.