New powers for Finnish Border Guard to prevent and investigate certain offences 

The Finnish Border Guard will be given new powers concerning the prevention and investigation of human trafficking offences and money laundering offences. The Government submitted the Act on Crime Prevention by the Finnish Border Guard and certain other acts for approval on 18 June. The President of the Republic is scheduled to approve the amendments on 27 June, and they will enter into force on 1 September.

In future, the Finnish Border Guard may also prevent and investigate human trafficking offences that are not connected to the facilitation of illegal entry. Currently, the Border Guard only investigates human trafficking offences related to such facilitation. Additionally, the Border Guard will be authorised to investigate money laundering offences that are linked to other offences that it investigates.

As a result of the legislative amendments, the scope of the Finnish Border Guard’s powers regarding secret intelligence collection and coercive measures will be expanded. The Border Guard will also have entirely new methods at its disposal: undercover activities and pseudo-purchases conducted via information networks. Furthermore, the Border Guard’s powers concerning the use of covert human intelligence sources will be updated and brought in line with those of other criminal investigation authorities.

Amendments resulting from these new powers will be made to the Coercive Measures Act, the Police Act, the Act on the Administration of the Finnish Border Guard, the Act on the Processing of Personal Data by the Finnish Border Guard and the Income Tax Act.

In the first phase of the legislative project, provisions on secret intelligence collection methods were revised to comply with the amendments to the Coercive Measures Act and the Police Act. These amendments entered into force on 10 November 2023.

The legislative amendments implement the objectives of the Government Programme to step up efforts to combat crime and human trafficking.

Inquiries:
Tomi Kivenjuuri, Deputy Chief of Division, tel. +358 295 421 621, [email protected]