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 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.

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)