Requests for information
Under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), everyone has the right of access to the public documents of the Ministry.
Please make your request as detailed as possible, as this will help us find the document more easily. You should provide any details of the document you may have, e.g. the date or title. The Ministry’s registry can help you specify the document if necessary.
Some of our records are kept at the Ministry, while others are stored elsewhere. Please read about where the records of the Ministry are stored as this will help you direct your request to the appropriate authority.
- Ministry of the Interior's datasets
The Ministry stores documents relating to matters which have been initiated since 2 August 2010. Older records have been transferred to the National Archives of Finland. Documents concerning border areas and the displacement of people can be found at the National Archives.
- Government archives
You can request the current Government’s documents from the registry of the Ministry of the Interior by submitting an information request. Documents of previous governments have been archived in the archive of each Government, which are maintained by the Prime Minister's Office. The Prime Minister's Office may grant access to documents stored in these archives for the purpose of scientific research, after the President of the Republic has accepted the resignation of the Government to which the documents relate. If you wish to access materials in the government archives for research purposes, please submit this permit form.
- Information on government projects
Information on government projects, bodies and working groups is available in the Gateway to Information on Government Projects.
We aim to respond to requests for documents within two weeks. For extensive data searches, we may need more time to respond (up to four weeks).
Submission of documents and retrieval of information may be subject to a charge as provided in section 34 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.
Submission of a request for information
If you cannot find the information you need on the website or in other sources, you can request it from the Ministry of the Interior by submitting a request for information to the Ministry's registry. The registry registers the request and forwards it to the appropriate party for processing without delay. If necessary, we will assist in identifying the document on which the information is needed. If the Ministry of the Interior receives a request for information that falls within the mandate of another authority, the request is transferred to the competent authority under section 21 of the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).
Contact details of the registry
Email: kirjaamo.sm(at)gov.fi
Postal address: Ministry of the Interior, PO Box 26, FI-00023 Government, Finland
Requests for information addressed to the Ministry of the Interior may also be delivered to the Government Distribution Centre at Ritarikatu 2 B, Helsinki (open 8.00–16.15 on weekdays).
If necessary, use secure email service
We recommend that you send any non-disclosable and sensitive documents to the Ministry of the Interior using the secure email service. Using the service is free of charge. When sending a secure email message to our official email address, please include the necessary identifying information in the subject, content and attachments of the message so that the registry knows what matter the message relates to, who the message is from and can forward the message to the party responsible for the matter.