NordenBladet — In future, remotely read water meters for both warm and cold water will be installed in each apartment in new buildings with multiple apartments and water bills will be based on actual measured consumption. The Government proposes that related legislative amendments will be submitted to the President of the Republic for approval on 13 November 2020.

After the entry into force of the legislation on 23 November 2020, the requirements will apply to new buildings for which a building permit is applied. Existing housing companies will switch to billing based on actual consumption gradually, with the installation of remotely read water meters in connection with the water and sewage system renovations.

The legislation will implement the amendments required by the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive by amending  the Energy Efficiency Act, the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act, the Act on Residential Leases, the Act on Interest Subsidy for Rental Housing Loans and Right of Occupancy Housing Loans, the Act on the Use, Assignment and Redemption of State-Subsidised (ARAVA) Rental Dwellings and Buildings and the Right-of-Occupancy Housing Act.

The reform will encourage people to save energy by adopting more energy-efficient household water and heating energy consumption patterns. The reform will also involve a billing system based on actual consumption, and ensuring access to information on energy consumption.Currently, a significant proportion of housing companies still base their water bills on other metrics, such as the number of residents in an apartment, or water unit cost per square metre. Tenants are often charged a fixed amount for water consumption.

The installation of apartment-specific water meters became a statutory requirement in new buildings in 2011, and in connection with water and sewage system renovations in 2013. However, the use of water meters for measuring consumption and for billing based on consumption has not previously been required by law.

The proposed act requires that information  be provided to shareholders in housing companies, tenants and holders of right of occupancy on their measured water consumption and other billing criteria. A Government decree is to be issued specifying in more detail the information to be provided.

Measurement and billing of heating and cooling to change
District heating and cooling supplied to new buildings are to be measured with remotely read meters. Any district heating and cooling meters already installed must be upgraded to or replaced by remotely read meters by 31 December 2026.

More extensive obligations will be imposed on district heating suppliers to provide information on consumption and fuels to their customers. Customers should have access, either in their heating bill or via the Internet, to information on their energy consumption, the climate impacts of their consumption, fuels used for energy production, and a comparison of energy use by other similar consumers.Further provisions on the allocation of costs of heating, cooling and water consumption will be laid down in a Government decree.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — In the future, an employer would be obligated to pay compensation to an employee for all non-competition agreements. At present, the obligation to pay compensation only applies to agreements longer than six months. The proposal aims to reduce the number of groundless non-competition agreements that cause inflexibility in the labour market.

“Currently, non-competition agreements are widely used in Finland. Contrary to the provisions of the Employment Contracts Act, such agreements are routinely used for almost all groups of employees, regardless of whether they are key employees of the company or not,” Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen says.

“I am pleased that this solution will help target the non-competition agreements properly. The compensation model ensures that non-competition clauses are only imposed on people whose work genuinely requires such,” Haatainen adds.A non-competition agreement restricts the employee’s right to enter into employment with an employer engaged in competing activities and the right to engage in competing activities on his or her own account after the termination of the employment relationship. The Government proposes that the Act lay down the broader compensation obligation, the date of payment of the compensation and the employer’s right to terminate the non-competition agreement.

The amendments would be made to the Employment Contracts Act and the Seafarers’ Employment Contracts Act effective as of 1 January 2022. The new regulation would also apply to non-competition agreements concluded before the entry into force of the Act after a transitional period of one year, with certain exceptions. The Government submitted the proposal to Parliament on 12 November 2020.

Length of non-competition agreement to affect compensation amount
The amount of compensation paid for the non-competition agreement would be tied to the employee’s salary and the agreed duration of the non-competition period. For a non-competition period of up to six months, compensation would be equal to 40% of the salary during that period. For a non-competition period longer than six months, compensation would be equal to 60% of the salary for the entire non-competition period. A non-competition agreement could be concluded for a maximum of one year, as is the case currently too.

The Act does not currently provide for the date of payment of the compensation. According to the proposal, the compensation should, as a rule, be paid during the non-competition period. The payment date would be the same as the employee’s pay day during their employment relationship.

A new provision would allow the employer to terminate the non-competition agreement during the employment relationship if circumstances change. In such cases, a notice period of one third of the non-competition period agreed in the non-competition agreement, or a minimum of two months, should be observed. However, the employer could not terminate the non-competition agreement after the employee has resigned from employment.

Non-competition agreements more common today
Concluding a non-competition agreement requires a particularly important reason related to the employer’s activities or employment relationship. Non-competition agreements are commonly used. The Government aims to reduce non-competition agreements that violate the conditions laid down in the Act. Legislative amendments are estimated to prevent groundless agreements.A tripartite working group prepared the legislative amendments. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment organised a consultation round on the amendments in April-May 2020.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The current epidemiological situation is characterised by rapid regional developments. Finland still has good opportunities to keep the situation relatively stable by international comparison. This requires that people continue to stay alert and patiently follow the guidelines and recommendations issued by the authorities. We should not be lulled into thinking that the epidemic will end quickly.

To prevent the spread of the epidemic, it is necessary to continue to take timely and sufficiently extensive regional measures, provide rapid testing and trace infections effectively. Currently, the estimated basic reproduction number is 1.15–1.2, with a 90 per cent probability.

During the period of  2–8 November, the majority of the new cases were of domestic origin. Cases where the virus was contracted abroad accounted for about eight per cent of all new cases, leading to only a small number of further infections. During the latest period (2–8 November), a total of 1,397 new cases were reported to the communicable diseases register, while in the previous week the number of reported cases was 1,452. The incidence of new cases was 25 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the previous week it was 26.The total number of new cases in the last two-week period (26 October – 8 November) was 2,849, while in the preceding two-week period (12–25 October) it was 2,499. The incidence of new cases was 51 per 100,000 inhabitants and in the preceding two-week period it was 45.

Case numbers increasing in biggest cities
On 11 November 2020, seven regions reported having entered the acceleration phase. These regions are the Hospital Districts of Helsinki and Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme, Länsi-Pohja, Pirkanmaa, Vaasa and Southwest Finland and the Åland Islands. The remaining 14 hospital districts are at a stable level, but there are individual cities and towns situated in some of these hospital districts that have entered the acceleration phase. These cities and towns are Kouvola, Kuopio, Siilinjärvi and Rovaniemi.In the biggest cities in Finland (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere and Turku), the number of cases has increased. In many regions, however, the epidemic has been brought well under control, and as a result, the epidemiological situation has calmed down in these regions. This is the case in Vaasa, for example.

Most of the new cases are still reported among young adults, but the number of cases has increased slightly among older age groups, too. It is important to protect people, especially those in risk groups.

Efforts are always made to identify sources of infection
The source of infection was identified in about 55 per cent of all new cases. This is slightly less than during the previous week. In the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, the source of infection was known in about 40 per cent of the cases during the period of 2–8 November. As for the rest of the country, the source of infection was known in about 80 per cent of the cases.

Similarly to the previous weeks, about one third of all new cases in Finland were reported among people already in quarantine. Currently, more than half of the infections that are traced (56 per cent) have been contracted from people living in the same household. Cases where the virus had been contracted in various social situations (private gatherings or gatherings among friends and family) accounted for 15 per cent of the cases. In about 10 per cent of the cases, the virus had spread at workplaces, and in about seven per cent of the cases, it had spread through recreational activities. Most hospital districts reported cases of students with COVID-19, but the virus had, as a rule, been contracted somewhere else than in the school environment. These cases did, however, led to the quarantine of students and teachers, although further infections were rare. Only isolated cases of COVID-19 were reported in early childhood education and care. In less than four per cent of the cases, the virus had spread at food and beverage service establishments. This suggests that the restrictive measures have been effective.

Slight increase in the number of people requiring hospital care
The number of patients requiring hospital and intensive care is still relatively low, although the number of patients has grown in recent weeks. On 11 November 2020, a total of 73 patients were receiving hospital care due to the COVID-19 disease, and 14 of them were in intensive care. It is estimated that about 14,000 people, which is nearly 75 per cent of all confirmed cases, have recovered from the disease. The total number of confirmed cases in Finland now stands at 18,345. There have been 365 deaths related to the disease.

The monitoring report on the epidemic published today and the previous reports are available on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare:Monitoring coronavirus (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Finnish)COVID-19 epidemic: situation in regions, recommendations and restrictions (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)Action plan for implementing recommendations and restrictive measures under the hybrid strategy following the first phase of the COVID-19 epidemic (Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2020:26), only description sheet available in English)

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — In future, it will be possible to pass the initial qualification requirements for lorry, bus and coach drivers by completing a qualification examination only. Further provisions on the completion of the examination will be laid down in a decree that will enter into force on 16 November 2020. The decree also lays down further provisions on, for example, the organisers and evaluators of the examination as well as on the requirements for simulators to be used in the examination.

The purpose of the model is to offer a more flexible alternative for completing the driver qualifications. The model will, among other things, speed up and facilitate access to the profession for those who already have expertise in the field.The Government issued a decree on the matter on 12 November 2020.The examination model measures the same skills as the current training alternative, but the evaluation is based on the test only. The test in the examination model differs from the one included in the training model.

The initial qualification test consists of a theoretical examination and a practical test. The theoretical examination must consist of at least two parts, one of which may include multiple choice questions and questions to which written answers are required, or a combination of these. The second part of the theoretical examination must consist of situation review tasks, which may include questions based on a written event description, images and videos.A maximum of 30 minutes of the practical part of the initial qualification test may be carried out on a simulator or a driver training track. The simulator used in the test must be of a high quality and have a wide view. The control devices in the simulator must correspond to the ones used in vehicles of the driving licence category in question. The test performance must not be guided by the software used in the simulator.

Stricter qualification requirements for evaluators
There must be at least two evaluators of an initial qualification examination. At least one of the evaluators must be qualified to act as the party responsible for the examination. In order to ensure the high quality of the examination, the party responsible for the examination is subject to higher qualification requirements than the party responsible for the training.

The party responsible for the examination must meet the professional qualifications of a lorry, bus or coach driver and have a driving instructor licence. They must have completed the pedagogical studies for a teacher and passed the part of the examination for a specialist vocational qualification as a transport instructor concerning qualification trainers.

In addition to these, they must have at least one year’s experience of full-time driving of heavy vehicles, or alternatively a vocational qualification in the passenger or goods transport sector or a vocational qualification in logistics.Separate provisions will be laid down on the qualification requirements for the evaluators and the evaluator responsible for the examination.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — The European Union has appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Anne Meskanen to serve as Deputy Head of Mission for the European Union Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq).

Anne MeskanenFounded in 2017, the European Union Advisory Mission Mission in support of Security Sector Reform in Iraq supports security sector reform in Iraq. The mission is mandated to provide advice and expertise to Iraqi authorities in the Security Sector Reform (SSR) to ensure a coherent implementation of the civilian related aspects of the reform.EUAM Iraq provides advice and expertise to Iraqi authorities in matters related to diverse elements of the reform, including how to fight terrorism, organised crime, money laundering and corruption and to develop border security, as well as on human rights, security legislation and human resources management. The aim is to establish an efficient civilian security sector, which complies with the principles of good governance and respects human rights, and which enjoys popular confidence.

The mission employs 60 international experts and 25 locally employed staff. Ten Finnish experts are posted to serve in the mission. The mission is based in Baghdad. The candidacy and appointment of Anne Meskanen continues to reflect Finland’s consistent policy aiming at the stabilisation of the situation in Iraq. Meskanen has extensive experience of international positions. She has served as Finnish Ambassador to Afghanistan, Head of Mission at the Finnish Embassy in Kosovo, and Deputy Head of Mission at the Finnish Embassy in Damascus. In addition, Meskanen has worked at the Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN and at the Finnish Embassy in Romania.

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi

NordenBladet — Microloans that increase women’s income and strengthen their financial independence. Better food security through financing targeted at smallholder farmers. Companies where half of the management are women. Finnfund, a government-owned development financier, has invested recently in companies of this kind in developing countries. The key aim is not only profitability, but to also promote equality.

E-commerce platform Kasha makes reliable contraceptives, menstrual care products and self-care products better available in East Africa. Photo: FinnfundImpact investment has become an increasingly important form of investment in the world and is growing at a quick pace. Finnfund’s impact investments are one channel for Finland’s development cooperation appropriations.Improving the position of girls and women is a priority in Finland’s development policy and also one of the key goals of Finnfund’s investments.

In 2019, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs granted Finnfund a EUR 105 million loan as a development policy investment to be invested in projects that promote equality in 2019–2021. During one and a half years, Finnfund has already tied more than EUR 120 million to targets that strengthen the financial independence of women in developing countries or provide important services for girls and women. The goal set for the government loan was achieved ahead of time.

Ville Skinnari, for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, considers investment in equality and companies in the developing countries important.”Investing in girls and women is always wise and useful because gender equality is the precondition for sustainable development in society. It is especially important now as the coronavirus pandemic especially hits women-dominated sectors in the developing countries. Promoting gender equality through business investments is also an internationally growing phenomenon, and Finland is strongly involved in it,” Skinnari says.Women in the management and as customers

Source: Valtioneuvosto.fi