Register of debt collection agencies

Purpose of processing your personal is the registration and supervision of debt collection agencies. In addition, the register is utilised for communications and development of operations by the Regional State Administrative Agency's related to debt collection activities and for carrying out the Agency’s supervisory task required by the Act on the Positive Credit Register.

The processing of your personal data is based on Article 6 (1)(c) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679), i.e. processing required compliance with the Regional State Administrative Agency’s statutory obligation. 

Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors  (411/2018) (in Finnish)  

According to section 3 of the Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors, debts may only be collected by a private trader or legal person that has been registered as a debt collector in accordance with this Act. 

According to section 5, subsection 1 of the Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors, the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland, hereinafter the Regional State Administrative Agency, will keep a register of debt collectors. 

Under section 7, subsection 1 of the Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors, a party intending to carry out debt collection activities must submit a notification to the Regional State Administrative Agency for entry in the register (the party submitting the notification). The registration notification must include the information referred to in the Act.

1. a private entrepreneur’s full name and personal identity code or, if the person does not have a personal identity code, their date of birth, business name, auxiliary business name (if any), business ID or another corresponding identifier and the street addresses of the offices where debt collection takes place; 
2. a legal person’s business name, auxiliary business name (if any), business ID or another corresponding identifier and the street addresses of the offices where debt collection takes place; 
3. the full name and personal identity code of the person responsible for debt collection operations or, in the absence of a personal identity code their date of birth; 
4. date of registration; 
5. warnings issued to parties practicing debt collection any notices and bans that have been accompanied by the threat of a fine;
6. reason and time it was removed from the register.

Rekisteriin merkitään myös tiedot niistä, joille on määrätty 16 §:n 1 momentissa tarkoitettu kielto harjoittaa perintätoimintaa ilman rekisteröintiä. Tällainen tieto sekä tieto 2 momentin 5 kohdassa tarkoitetuista sanktioista on poistettava rekisteristä viiden vuoden kuluttua sen vuoden päättymisestä, jona kielto tai muu sanktio on määrätty.

Rekisteröityjen ryhmät ovat perintätoiminnan harjoittajien rekisteriin hakijat, perintätoiminnan harjoittajien rekisteriin merkityt ja rekisteristä poistetut sekä ne toimijat, joille on määrätty perintärekisterilain 16 §:n 1 momentissa tarkoitettu kielto harjoittaa perintätoimintaa ilman rekisteröintiä.

A notification by the data subject
Authorities

Under section 6 of the Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors, notwithstanding the provisions of section 16, subsection 3 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, personal data may be disclosed from the Debt collection agency register as a printout or made publicly available via an electronic information network or otherwise in electronic format. Data on a natural person in accordance with section 5, subsection 2(5), may only be searched for through the public information network as individual searches using the name of the person as the search criterion.

A personal identity code may only be disclosed under the  Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors if the information is provided as a printout or technical recording and if the recipient has the right to process personal identity codes under section 29 of the Data Protection Act (1050/2018) or another Act. 

Under section 13, subsection 2 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), when requesting access to a secret document, a personal data filing system 
controlled by an authority or any other document, access to which can be granted only subject to certain conditions, the person requesting access shall, unless specifically otherwise provided, declare the use to which the information is to be put, as well as give the other details necessary for determining whether the conditions have been met and, where necessary, explain what arrangements have been made for the protection of the data.

Under section 28, subsection 1 of the Act on the Positive Credit Register (739/2022),  the disclosure obligation and registration obligation is supervised by the Regional 
State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland with respect to debt collectors referred to in section 3 of Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors. Under section 29, subsection 2 of the Act on the Positive Credit Register, the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland is one of the parties that has the right, notwithstanding confidentiality provisions, on their own initiative or upon request, to disclose to the Incomes Register Unit the information that is necessary to examine a supervisory matter relating to compliance with the disclosure obligation laid down in sections 16, 19 and 20 and the registration obligation laid down in section 18

The controller may request feedback from the data subjects in order to develop their activities. Data protection and publicity legislation applies to the implementation of the survey, the analysis and publication of responses and the processing of personal data.

Data is not disclosed on a regular basis.

Personal data are not transferred outside the EU or the EEA.

Information on actors is kept in the register for 5 years after the a decision to remove the actor from the register has been made. Information on those for who are prohibited from debt collection activities without registration as referred to in section 16, subsection 1 of the  Act on the Registration of Debt Collectors is also entered in the register. Such information and information on the sanctions referred to in subsection 2(5) must result in the actor’s removal from the register with five years from the end of the year during which the prohibition or other sanction was imposed.

Processed data in the register has been protected from inappropriate viewing, modification and destruction. The protection is based on user authorisation management, the technical protection of databases and servers, the physical protection of facilities, access control, the protection of data communication and the backup of data. The right to access and process data is granted based on tasks. Access to the systems is based on personal usernames. We use administrative controls to monitor the appropriateness of our activities.

The processing of your personal data also does not involve automatic decision-making or profiling.

The tasks of the Regional State Administrative Agencies referred to in this notification have been centralised nationally to one Regional State Administrative Agency, which is responsible for the processing of your personal data as the controller. 

The controller in accordance with this notification is: 

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland
Area of jurisdiction: all of Finland
Visiting address: Wähäjärvenkatu 6, Hämeenlinna
Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI
Switchboard: +358 295 016 000
Registry office: kirjaamo.etela(at)avi.fi

Keha, Alfame and those who are granted the right to process personal data on the basis of their duties.

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland
Visiting address: Wähäjärvenkatu 6, Hämeenlinna
Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI
Switchboard: +358 295 016 000
Registry office: kirjaamo.etela(at)avi.fi

Right to be informed of the processing of personal data 

You have the right to know what we use your information for and how. 

The aim of this notification is to give you an overall idea of the processing of personal data that is the subject of this notification at the Regional State Administrative Agency. If you feel that this notification does not give you the overall idea we are aiming to provide, we have failed in our goal. In this case and whenever you have questions about the processing of personal data by Regional State Administrative Agencies, you can contact the Data Protection Officer for the Regional State Administrative Agencies (see contact details below).

Right to access to your personal data 

You can request and receive a copy to your personal data that we have in our register by sending a signed information request form by letter or email to the Regional State Administrative Agency's registry. We will implement your request unless we have a legitimate reason to refuse realising your rights.

You have the right to receive information about whether we process your personal data in our activities. If we do not process your personal data, you have the right to be informed about this as well.

Form: Request to access personal data (in Finnish)

Send a written request to the Regional State Administrative Agency’s registry.

Right to request that inaccuracies be corrected and missing information be added 

If you notice any omissions or inaccuracies in your personal data, you have the right to request that we update these. In such a case, we ask that you indicate which information is incorrect and how the information should be changed or which information should be supplemented and how. 

Form: Request for the correction of inaccurate personal data and to restrict the use of personal data (in Finnish)

Send a written request to the Regional State Administrative Agency’s registry.

Restricting the use of your information 

If you believe that the information we are processing that concerns you is incorrect, that it is being processed unlawfully, or you oppose the processing of your information, you may ask us to restrict the processing of your information.  

Form: Request for the correction of inaccurate personal data and to restrict the use of personal data (in Finnish)

In that case, we can only process your data 

• with your consent 
• if we need the data for the purpose of establishing, submitting or defending a legal claim 
• in the public interest 
• to protect the rights of another person. 

If we limit the processing of your data on the basis of your request, we are obligated, as far as possible, to notify all those to whom the data was previously disclosed. 

Send a written data restriction request to the Regional State Administrative Agency’s registry. 

Right to object to the processing of personal data 

You have the right to object to us processing your personal data. You can do so at any time giving reasons related to your specific personal situation.

In that case, we will no longer be allowed to process your personal data unless there is a significant and substantiated reason that supersedes your interests, rights and freedoms, or if the processing of the data is necessary to establish, present or defend a legal claim. 

Send your written and justified request to the Regional State Administrative Agency's registry. 

If you believe that your personal data has been processed in a manner that is violated to the law, you can file a complaint or complain to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman about the processing of your data. However, we recommend that you first contact the Regional State Administrative Agencies' Data Protection Officer (see contact details below).

Contact information for the Data Protection Officer and further information on data protection
Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman