Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 1 - Offence committed in Finland

(1) Finnish law applies to an offence committed in Finland.

(2) Application of Finnish law to an offence committed in Finland's economic zone is subject to the Act on the Economic Zone of Finland (1058/2004) and the Act on the Environmental Protection in Navigation (300/1979). (1680/2009)

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 3 - Offence directed at Finland

(1) Finnish law applies to an offence committed outside of Finland that has been directed at Finland.

(2) An offence is deemed to have been directed at Finland

(1) if it is an offence of treason or high treason,
(2) if the act has otherwise seriously violated or endangered the national, military or economic rights or interests of Finland, or
(3) if it has been directed at a Finnish authority.

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 5 - Offence directed at a Finn

Finnish law applies to an offence committed outside of Finland that has been directed at a Finnish citizen, a Finnish corporation, foundation or other legal entity, or a foreigner permanently resident in Finland if, under Finnish law, the act may be punishable by imprisonment for more than six months.

Section 6 - Offence committed by a Finn

(1) Finnish law applies to an offence committed outside of Finland by a Finnish citizen. If the offence was committed in territory not belonging to any State, a precondition for the imposition of punishment is that, under Finnish law, the act is punishable by imprisonment for more than six months.

(2) A person who was a Finnish citizen at the time of the offence or is a Finnish citizen at the beginning of the court proceedings is deemed to be a Finnish citizen.

(3) The following are deemed equivalent to a Finnish citizen :

(1) a person who was permanently resident in Finland at the time of the offence or is permanently resident in Finland at the beginning of the court proceedings, and
(2) a person who was apprehended in Finland and who at the beginning of the court proceedings is a citizen of Denmark, Iceland, Norway or Sweden or at that time is permanently resident in one of those
countries.

Section 7 - International offence

(1) Finnish law applies to an offence committed outside of Finland where the punishability of the act, regardless of the law of the place of commission, is based on an international agreement binding on Finland or on another statute or regulation internationally binding on Finland (international offence). Further provisions on the application of this section shall be issued by Decree.

(2) Regardless of the law of the place of commission, Finnish law applies also to a nuclear explosive offence or the preparation of an endangerment offence that is to be deemed an offence referred to in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Treaties of Finland 15/2001) (841/2003).

(3) Regardless of the law of the place of commission, Finnish law applies also to trafficking in persons, aggravated trafficking in persons and an offence referred to in chapter 34a committed outside of Finland. (650/2004)

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 8 - Other offence committed outside of Finland

Finnish law applies to an offence committed outside of Finland which, under Finnish law, may be punishable by imprisonment for more than six months, if the State in whose territory the offence was committed has requested that charges be brought in a Finnish court or that the offender be extradited because of the offence, but the extradition request has not been granted.

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 10 - Place of commission

(1) An offence is deemed to have been committed both where the criminal act was committed and where the consequence contained in the statutory definition of the offence became apparent. An offence of omission is deemed to have been committed both where the perpetrator should have acted and where the consequence contained in the statutory definition of the offence became apparent.

(2) If the offence remains an attempt, it is deemed to have been committed also where, had the offence been completed, the consequence contained in the statutory definition of the offence either would probably have become apparent or would in the opinion of the perpetrator have become apparent.

(3) An offence by an inciter and abettor is deemed to have been committed both where the act of complicity was committed and where the offence by the offender is deemed to have been committed.

(4) If there is no certainty as to the place of commission, but there is justified reason to believe that the offence was committed in the territory of Finland, said offence is deemed to have been committed in Finland.

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 11 - Requirement of dual criminality

(2) Even if the offence is not punishable under the law of the place of commission, Finnish law applies to it if it has been committed by a Finnish citizen or a person referred to in section 6, subsection 3(1), and the penalty for it has been laid down in

(1) sections 5 or 6 of chapter 11, if the act is a war crime or aggravated war crime referred to in article 15 of the second protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict or an act of participation into said acts,
(2) sections 1 – 9 of chapter 15 pursuant to section 12a of said chapter,
(3) sections 1 - 3 of chapter 16 and even if the object of the offence is a person referred to in chapter 40, section 11, paragraph (2), (3) or (5) or a foreign public official who is in the service of the International Criminal Court,
(4) sections 13, 14, 14a and 14b of chapter 16 and even if the provisions are applied pursuant to section 20 of the same chapter,
(5) sections 18, 18a or 19 of chapter 17,
(6) sections 6, 7 or 8a-8c of chapter 20,
(7) sections 1-5, 9 or 9a of chapter 20, if the act is directed at a person below the age of eighteen years,
(8) sections 7, 7a, 8 or 8a of chapter 30 and even if these provisions are applied on the basis of section 14 of said chapter, or
(9) sections 1 - 4 of chapter 40 or 4a, if the offender is a member of Parliament, a foreign public official or a member of a foreign parliament. (637/2011)

Chapter 1 - Scope of application of the criminal law of Finland

Section 13 - Foreign judgment

(2) The provisions of subsection 1 notwithstanding, the Prosecutor-General may order that the charge be brought in Finland if the judgment passed abroad was not based on a request of a Finnish authority for a judgment or on a request for extradition granted by the Finnish authorities and

(1) under section 3, the offence is deemed to be directed at Finland,
(2) the offence is an offence in public office or a military offence referred to in section 4,
(3) the offence is an international offence referred to in section 7, or
(4) pursuant to section 10, the offence is deemed to have been committed also in Finland. However, the Prosecutor-General shall not order charges to be brought for an offence that has been partially committed in the territory of that member state of the European Union where the judgment was passed. (814/1998)