Industries Requiring a License Or Notification

In Finland there are many professions and services which are subject to license or you are obligated to give a notice to an authority before starting your business.

There are three different kind of licensed industries:

• when starting a business in a premises or in a factory you might need for example a health inspector's approval or an environmental permit
• a license required for the actual business trading
• a license required for the professional skills

Industries Requiring a License Or Notification

Industries Requiring a Notification

Some industries requires trader to register or make an official notification before starting business. List of industries requiring a notification:

• Grocery stores (municipal food control authority)
• Restaurants, cafeterias, billiard halls, hotels, inns, hostels, boarding houses and holiday resorts and suchs (local police and health inspector)
• Real estate agents and rental property agents (local Regional State Administrative Agency)
• Children's day care, kindergarten, family day care, group family day care, play activities (person in charge of the day care services in the municipality and health inspector)
• Social welfare (municipality's social welfare office and health inspector). More information Valvira.
  • Home care services
  • Day activities and sheltered work services
  • Housing services
  • Other social work services without accommodation
• Masseurs, physiotherapists, foot and beauty parlors, tattoo shops and gyms
  • Physiotherapy and gratuated massage therapist services when practised as a self-employed person (local Regional State Administrative Agency and health inspector)
  • Foot and beauty parlours and tattoo shops (health inspector).
  • Gym or other sports facility which access is not resticted (health inspector)
• Garage (car repair shop) (Finnish Transport Safety Agency Trafi and health inspector)
  • Exhaust measurement of diesel driven cars
  • Exhaust measurement of gasoline driven cars
  • Speed limiter inspecting for commercial vehicles
  • Towing hook inspecting
  • Alcohol interlocks repair shops
• Refrigeration and fire extinguisher operators (Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency TUKES)
• Opinion polls and market surveys (Data Protection Ombudsman)
• Undertakings engaged in web server renting (Data Protection Ombudsman)

The Safety Document

The safety document includes a plan to recognise dangers and to manage risks with a plan to inform everyone involved providing the service. The plan must consider the character of the service and the scope of the service provided. If it is required under legislation that a rescue, preparedness or other corresponding plan must be drawn up for the same service, the safety plan in accordance with the Consumer Safety Act can be incorporated into that document. Service providers that maintain or are responsible for several very similar sites can produce one common safety document for such sites, with each individual site's special safety aspects also covered in the document if necessary. The safety document must be kept constantly up-to-date. A service provider must make sure that everyone involved with providing the service are familiar with the content of the safety document. If necessary the service provider must arrange education to everyone involved providing the service. The safety document must be shown and delivered to an authority when asked. Consuer safety is supervised by Turvallisuus- ja kemikaalivirasto (TUKES).

The safety document is required for the following services:

• events involving a significant risk that could, should it materialise, endanger someone’s safety due to the large number of persons participating in the service or for some other specific reason
• amusement parks, family parks, zoos, domestic animal zoos, funfairs and circuses
• gym
• climbing centres
• karting tracks
• downhill skiing centres and other ski slope centres
• playgrounds and comparable indoor playgrounds
• skateboarding venues and comparable cycling venues
• indoor and outdoor swimming pools, spas and entertainment spas,beaches intended for swimming, and winter bathing and swimming sites
• horse riding stables and other horse riding services
• adventure, experience and nature services and other programme services comparable to them, unless the risk involved can be considered insignificant
• tattoo parlours, piercing studios and other body modification or alteration services
• safety phone services and other similar services

Environmental permit

Environmental permit is needed for all activities which can harm the soil, water and air. Not an any activity can't be started before the permit decision is legally valid meaning that appealing time for possible complaints against the permit is closed. The permit prodecure takes time and the permit application with good documents make the procedure easier.
Environmental permit is needed for example:

• forest industry
• metal industry
• chemical industry
• power production
• storage, use and handling of chemicals and fuels
• ore exploration and mineral mining, manufacturing of mineral products, peat production
• food and feed production
• waste water management
• sewage management and utilisation
• animal shelters and fur production
• fish farming
• harbours and airports

Land extraction reporting and permits

The Land Extraction Act requires the holder of the land extraction permit to notify the permit authority of the quantity and type of material extracted annually. The extractor must also report the location and an estimate of the amount of resources extracted for ordinary household needs, if the amount exceeds or is likely to exceed 500 solid cubic metres. The permit authority reports the extraction data to the centre for economic development, transport and the environment.

More information Centre for Economic Deveplopment, Transport and Environment