Enforcement of alcohol serving and sales

Our licensing and enforcement work is coordinated by Finland’s National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health. Our aim is to apply the same procedures all across the country. We are developing the enforcement activities with a national control programme.

Information on the enforcement

After the licence has been granted, the authors will carry out on-site controls, among other things, to monitor your activities. 

For the purposes of enforcement, the Regional State Administrative Agencies and the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health have the right to inspect: 

  • the premises and activities of your point of sale
  • the documents needed for control
  • the notifications, information and documents necessary for control. 

As a licence holder, you must arrange the accounting and cash functions so that the information is available to the authorities, if necessary. 

Based on violations of alcohol regulations, we can issue a warning or a financial sanction of EUR 300–1,000 to the licence holder. We can either suspend the licence for a fixed period or revoke it permanently, if

  • the violations are serious or recurrent
  • the licence holder is considered to no longer meet the preconditions for receiving a licence and the situation has not been corrected by the set deadline.  

The police can prohibit retail sales for the duration of the time of sale in progress, if 

  • the personnel cannot maintain order at the point of retail sale
  • ensuring public order and safety in the area requires it. 

The licencing authority must be notified about the prohibition.

Links to legal texts