Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland

Health and Social Services, Legality and Licensing

• coordination and enforcement of social welfare and health care services
• promotion of public health
• licensing, registration and enforcement of private social welfare and health care service providers
• handling of complaints
• licensing of alcohol sales on and off premises, enforcement and prevention of alcohol-related problems  
• coordination and enforcement of veterinary medical care and animal welfare
• coordination, enforcement and evaluation of food safety
• competition enforcement and consumer protection
• coordination, enforcement and evaluation of health protection and tobacco control
• promotion of the social inclusion of Roma
• enforcement and registration of estate agents and letting agents  
• appointment of annual meeting conveners and auditors, decisions on special audits, deposits and safekeeping documents

The Division of Health and Social Services, Legality and Licensing of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland has national oversight in the following areas:

• registration and enforcement relating to the fight against money laundering and terrorism
• registration and enforcement of bad debts
• pawnbroker licensing and enforcement
• licensing and enforcement of alcohol sales on board trains
• licensing of alcohol sales on and off premises by operators not established in Finland
• licensing, coordination and enforcement of animal testing  
• exemptions and enforcement relating to alien species
• consultancy, coordination and enforcement of web accessibility requirements

Education and Culture

• coordination of education and cultural services
• in-service training of teaching, early education, youth work, sports and library staff
• state aid towards youth work, sports and library initiatives
• promotion of students’ rights
• evaluation of the regional availability of health and social services

The Division of Education and Culture of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland has national oversight in the following area:

• exemptions from teachers’ and head teachers’ qualification requirements under the Basic Education Act and the Act on General Upper Secondary Education and exemptions from head teachers’ qualification requirements under the Basic Art Education Act

Emergency Services

• enforcement of the availability and standard of emergency services
• handling of complaints relating to emergency services
• enforcement of external emergency plans and exercises
• coordination of regional contingency plans and emergency preparedness partnerships
• coordination of preparedness planning
• support for local authorities’ preparedness planning
• organisation of national defence courses and exercises
• promotion of regional and local safety and security planning
• regional security of supply
• opinions on rescue departments’ proposed infrastructure and equipment investments for the Fire Protection Fund
• coordination of nominations for Life Saving Medals

The Division of Emergency Services of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland has national oversight in the following areas:

• coordination of emergency services and national tracking and reporting on operational response times
• licensing of shooting clubs
• secretarial services for the Life Saving Medal Committee

Environmental Permits

• licensing, compensations and administrative enforcement under the Water Act
• licensing, compensations and administrative enforcement under the Environmental Protection Act.

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland also has jurisdiction over environmental and water permit issues in Southwestern Finland.

Occupational Safety and Health

• enforcement and development of occupational safety and health
• enforcement of the regulatory compliance of machinery, tools and personal protective equipment intended for professional use
• investigation of serious occupational accidents and occupational diseases
• administration of work-related licences and notices
• participation in court proceedings relating to criminal labour law

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland has national oversight in the following areas:

• enforcement of the contractor’s obligation to check
• coordination of the national occupational safety and health helpline

Administration and Development

• human resources administration
• financial administration
• information management and development
• premises management and document management
• public relations
• general administration

Our Division of Administration and Development is formally part of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland, but it provides administrative services for all Regional State Administrative Agencies nationwide. There are administrative staff in all of our offices around the country.

Other duties

• general office management and secretarial services (Management Support)
• The Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland also manages several national issues. 

Southern Finland has

 

• a population of approximately 2.3 million
• an area of approximately 34,000 square kilometres
• 62 local authorities, of which 24 are classed as towns or cities
• 12 sub-regions
• 5 regional councils
• 5 police departments
• 8 rescue departments
• 1 emergency response centre
• 5 hospital districts
• 3 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment
• approximately 155,000 jobs
• approximately 43% of all businesses in the country
• approximately 1.1 million workers
• 7 universities

 

 

The regional state administrative agencies prepare an annual expert assessment of the service level and adequacy of funding for the rescue services in the wellbeing services county. We compile a national expert assessment of the regional state administrative agencies’ assessments for the Ministry of the Interior.

We are also responsible for national duties across the country. Our national duties include

• registration and enforcement relating to the fight against money laundering and terrorism
• advice, guidance and enforcement of accessibility requirements for digital services
• enforcement of emergency services and national tracking and reporting on operational response times
• coordination of the national occupational safety and health helpline.

Read more about our responsibilities in the Divisions section.

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland

• registration and enforcement relating to the fight against money laundering and terrorism
• consultancy, coordination and enforcement of web accessibility requirements
• coordination of emergency services and national tracking and reporting on operational response times
• coordination of the national occupational safety and health helpline

Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland

• licensing and enforcement relating to the Funeral Services Act and land register services
• state aid towards the maintenance of Finnish cemeteries in the ceded territory and war graves of the displaced population as well as maintenance of graves of Russian prisoners of war

Regional State Administrative Agency for Lapland

• upholding the Sámi language
• enforcement of the Reindeer Husbandry Act
• reindeer meat control and enforcement
• recovery of aid under the Act Repealing the Act on the Regeneration of Lapland’s Low-yielding Forests

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southwestern Finland

• administration of state grants for social welfare and health services development projects
• administration and supervision of state aid for rescue services
• internal audits of Regional State Administrative Agencies.

Regional State Administrative Agency for Western and Inland Finland

• lost property offices
• education in Swedish
• research and development projects in the construction of sports facilities
• joint administration of rental houses and right-of-residence housing
• confirmation of the statutes of joint property management associations.

Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland

• coordination and enforcement of health care services for prisoners and the armed forces
• aerial forest fire surveillance
• nationwide occupational safety and health communications

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland – head office

Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland (not the visiting address). Please address the letter only to the Regional State Administrative Agency (post with an official's name will cause delays in the processing of your matter).

Visiting address: Wähäjärvenkatu 6, Hämeenlinna

[email protected]
Telephone: +358 (0)29 501 6000
Fax: +358 (0)29 501 6661
Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8.00 am – 4.15 pm

• Administrative matters (e.g. enquiries, complaints, appeals): please contact our registry at [email protected] to submit official documents, have them entered into our case management system and find out about the competent authority in each case.
• Occupational Safety and Health: [email protected]
• Environmental Permits: [email protected]
• Communications: [email protected]

Please only send documents containing confidential or otherwise sensitive information via secure email. The maximum size of emails including attachments is 50 MB. Larger files should be compressed or sent in multiple emails. Please remember that any information sent to us by email is at the sender’s risk.

Send secure email

Contact information of the staff

Personnel search (in Finnish)

Helsinki office

Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland (not to the visiting address). Please address the letter only to the Regional State Administrative Agency (post with an official's name will cause delays in the processing of your matter).

Visiting address: Ratapihantie 9, Helsinki
Fax: +358 (0)29 501 6661

Kouvola office

Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland (not to the visiting address). Please address the letter only to the Regional State Administrative Agency (post with an official's name will cause delays in the processing of your matter).

Visiting address: Kauppamiehenkatu 4, Kouvola
Fax: +358 (0)29 501 6661

Please make an appointment in advance with the person you wish to see. 

Visits to the Kouvola office as of 1 January 2021

As of 1 January 2021, the customer service of the Kouvola office will be located in the service desk of the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Salpakeskus (address Salpausselänkatu 22). 
Customer meetings at the regional state administrative agency's customer premises are arranged in advance by appointment:

• by telephone 0295 016 000 (exchange)
• by e-mail with the expert responsible for the matter at hand (contact details can be obtained from the exchange, if necessary).

Environmental Permits

Hämeenlinna head office
Division of Environmental Permits

Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland (not to the visiting address). Please address the letter only to the Regional State Administrative Agency (post with an official's name will cause delays in the processing of your matter).

Visiting address: Wähäjärvenkatu 6, Hämeenlinna
Fax: +358 (0)29 501 6661

Helsinki office
Division of Environmental Permits

Postal address: P.O. Box 1, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland (not to the visiting address). Please address the letter only to the Regional State Administrative Agency (post with an official's name will cause delays in the processing of your matter).

Visiting address: Ratapihantie 9, Helsinki

Turku office
Postal address: P.O. Box 4, 13035 AVI, Finland (unofficial correspondence only)
Visiting address: Itsenäisyydenaukio 2, Turku

Occupational Safety and Health

We serve customers by phone through a national telephone service tel. 0295 016 620 and by email at [email protected].

For the full contact details of occupational safety and health authorities, visit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s website.

Our email format is [email protected]. For general enquiries, please use our generic email addresses. Your email will then be forwarded to the competent person in our organisation.

Director-General Merja Ekqvist
Management Assistant Taina Kemppi, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6051

Health and Social Services, Legality and Licensing

• Director Kristiina Poikajärvi, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6000
• Head of Alcohol Licensing Riku-Matti Lehikoinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6155
• Head of Trade Enforcement Ilkka Heikkilä, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6081
• Head of Legality Esa Tommiska, tel. +358 (0)295 016 213
• Head of Social Welfare and Health Care Complaints Meiju Heikkinen, tel. +358 (0)295 016 382
• Head of Services for Health and Social Services Providers Mikko Floréen, tel. +358 (0)295 016 484
• Head of Supervision of Social Welfare and Health Care Niina Väkeväinen, tel. +358 (0)295 016 356
• Head of Promotion of Wellbeing, Health and Safety Anne Hiiri, tel. +358 (0)295 016 067
• Head of Environmental Health Elias Dahlsten, tel. +358 (0)295 016 245
• Head of Accessibility Enforcement Juha Suomalainen, tel. +358 (0)295 016 689

Emergency Services

• Director Tommi Laurinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6144
• Deputy Director, Head of the Preparedness Unit Esa-Pentti Lukkarinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6089 
• Senior Officer, Rescue Services, Head of the Rescue Services Unit Mira Leinonen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6572
• Senior Planning Officer Veera Riikkula, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7524 

Environmental Permits

• Director Veli-Matti Uski, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6502
• Head of Environmental Protection Teemu Lehikoinen, tel. +358 (0)295 016 415
• Head of Water Management Maria Kukonlehto, tel. +358 (0)295 016 214
• Head of Support Services Malin Kuurberg, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6411
• [email protected]

Education and Culture

• Director Marja-Liisa Keski-Rauska, tel. +358 (0)29 501 8815
• Planning Officer Kirsi Pekkanen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6557
• Head of Education Satu Kilpinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6194
• Head of Culture Kristian Åbacka, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6537

Occupational Safety and Health

• Director Eerik Tarnaala, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6370
• [email protected]
• Media enquiries: tel. +358 (0)29 501 6833, email [email protected]

Administration and Development

• Director Henrika Räsänen

Communications

• Head of communications Johanna Koskela, tel. +358 (0)29 501 6131
• Head of communications (Environmental Permits) Tiina Strand, +358 (0)29 501 8837
• [email protected]

You can use the personnel search to find the contact information of our staff.
Personnel search

We process e-invoices only and prefer e-invoices that are compliant with the European norm. Please send your invoices via the central government’s e-invoicing operator OpusCapita Group Ltd. Please include the business unit ID and your contact person’s name in your invoice. You can also upload supporting documents with your invoice. Our preferred file format for attachments is PDF.

EDI ID: 00371094544636101
Business ID: 1094544-6
VAT number: FI10945446
Operator ID (OpusCapita Group Ltd): E204503

We will not accept invoices sent by post or e-mail, only e-invoices submitted using the e-invoicing system (Act 241/2019). Please ensure that your invoice meets the requirements of the VAT Act concerning the mandatory information content of an invoice. Any faulty or incomplete invoices are returned. If you do not have your own e-invoicing system, you can use the central government’s Basware Supplier Portal to draw up and send invoices. The service is currently provided free of charge.

Instructions for creating an account and using the portal on the State Treasury’s website.

Act on Electronic Invoicing for Contracting Entities and Traders (in finnish)

Tax Administration's guidance on VAT invoice requirements

The Finnish Government’s Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR (Palkeet) also answers questions relating to the use of the e-invoicing service. The telephone number is +358 (0)29 556 3700 and the email address is [email protected].

One of our most important goals is to promote regional cooperation. We have set up a number of working groups to this end. Our working groups include representatives from, for example, local authorities, the central government, non-governmental organisations and businesses.

• Working Group on Welfare
• Working Group on School Safety
• Regional Sports Council for Southern Finland
• Regional Preparedness Committee for Southern Finland
• Advisory Board on Veteran Affairs