Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland

We cover the regions of North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu.

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland also has jurisdiction over occupational safety and health and environmental permits in Lapland. Our head office is in Oulu, and we also employ staff in Rovaniemi, Kemi, Kajaani, Jyväskylä and Tampere.

The Director-General of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland is Ms Kaisa Ainasoja. We employ 145 people in five different divisions and management support roles.

Services

Information on our services can be found here:

Topical issues

About as

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

  • coordination and enforcement of health care services for prisoners and the armed forces

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

  • aerial forest fire surveillance

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

  • nationwide occupational safety and health communications

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland also has jurisdiction over occupational safety and health in Lapland.

Environmental permits. The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland also has jurisdiction over environmental permits in Lapland.

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland also has jurisdiction over     nationwide analysis of health and social services.

Northern Finland (North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu) has

  • a population consisting of
    • 18.4% of children up to the age of 14 years
    • 60.6% of people aged between 15 and 64 years
    • 21% of people aged over 65 years
  • approximately 187,765 jobs

 

We have jurisdiction over occupational safety and environmental permits also in the area of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Lapland.

Our national duties include

  • coordination and enforcement of healthcare services for prisoners and the armed forces
  • aerial forest wildfire surveillance 
  • nationwide occupational safety and health communications
  • national coordination of the evaluation of basic services.

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

Contact us

Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland – head office

Postal address: P.O. Box 6, 13035 AVI, Finland

Please send your letter to the P.O. Box of the Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern 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: Linnankatu 3, Oulu

[email protected]
Telephone: +358 (0)295 016 000

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]
  • Communications: [email protected]

Please only send documents containing confidential or otherwise sensitive information via secure email. The maximum size of email 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.

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

Contact information of the staff

Personnel search (in Finnish)

Occupational Safety and Health

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 Kaisa Ainasoja, tel. +358 (0)295 017 345

Management Support

  • Management Adviser Tommi Lantto, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7701
  • Development Manager Siiri Oinas-Panuma, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7535

Health and Social Services, Legality and Licensing

  • Director Pari Hirvikoski, Maria Siurua, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7546
  • Planning Office Riitta Kinnunen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7516
  • Head of Trade Enforcement and Environmental Health, Legal Counsel Sinikka Siniluoto-Heikkinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7591
  • Head of Trade Supervision Unit, Legal Counsel Matti Pihlajamaa, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7584
  • Head of Social Welfare Unit, Senior Officer for Social Services Mirka Mäkipää, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7021
  • Head of Health Care Unit, Senior Medical Officer of Regional Administration Pasi Hirvikoski tel. +358 (0)295 017 598
  • Head of Environmental Health Unit, Legal Counsel Sinikka Siniluoto-Heikkinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7591

Education and Culture

  • Director Veijo Kosola, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7570

Emergency Services

  • Director Petteri Koskinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7544
  • Department Secretary Tiina Ulvinen, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7079
  • Department Secretary Sirpa Hassila, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7553

Occupational Safety and Health

  • Director Hanna-Kaisa Rajala, tel. +358 (0) 44 7159 516

Environmental Permits

  • Director (fixed term) Sami Koivula, tel. +358 (0)29 501 7651

Communications

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: 00370245422536501
Operator ID (OpusCapita Solutions Oy): E204503
Business ID: 0245422-5
VAT number: FI02454225

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].

What we do

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland engages in interregional cooperation with, for example, the Republic of Karelia, the German state of Baden-Württemberg and the Chinese province of Hainan. These partnerships have helped to increase cooperation between educational institutions, broaden students’ understanding of the world through foreign exchange programmes and promote local government joint ventures. Our other partners include the northernmost counties of Sweden and Norway.

The Regional State Administrative Agency for Northern Finland is also an active member of the European Association of State Territorial Representatives.

Erasmus+ (2020–2023): Out in the World Together  
Senior Education Officer Sirpa Kova