Presentation of the Finnish Transparency Register

The aim of the Finnish Transparency Register is to make the decision-making in Parliament and the ministries more transparent. The Transparency Register increases the transparency of such unofficial activities to influence decision-making that are carried out outside official working groups and hearings, such as consultation rounds and committee hearings. The Register also aims to combat inappropriate lobbying of central-government-level actors.

The Transparency Register increases the transparency of public administration in several ways:

• It makes informal, network-based and PR-related communications, which are not necessarily documented, more public.

• It makes it easier to submit requests for information on the public authorities’ PR activities because, based on the information in the Transparency Register, it is easier to target information requests at the correct documents.

• It makes the activities of political decision-makers and their assistants more public, which in turn makes it easier for the citizens to follow the dialogue around political decision-making.

Any long-term and systematic lobbying or lobbying consultancy that targets Parliament or the ministries is to be disclosed to the Transparency Register. Lobbying and lobbying consultancy refer to communications that aim to influence a matter or decision-making by promoting a certain interest or objective.

The Finnish Transparency Register is governed by the Transparency Register Act, which was adopted in Finland in spring 2023. The online service of the Transparency Register can be found at the address avoimuusrekisteri.fi. Information in the Register can be browsed by, for example, citizens, researchers and journalists.