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(2) However, the order by the Chancellor of Justice is not required
  • (1) if the offence has been committed by a Finnish citizen or a person who, under section 6, is comparable to a Finnish citizen and it has been directed against Finland, a citizen of Finland, a foreigner permanently resident in Finland, or a Finnish association, foundation or other legal entity,
    (2) if the offence has been committed in Iceland, Norway, Sweden or Denmark and the competent public prosecutor of the place of commission has requested that the offence be tried before a Finnish court,
    (3) if the offence has been committed aboard a Finnish vessel while on the high seas or in territory not belonging to any State or aboard a Finnish aircraft while it was in or over such territory,
    (4) if the offence has been committed aboard a vessel or aircraft while it was in regular traffic between points in Finland or between points in Finland and in Iceland, Norway, Sweden or Denmark,
    (5) if the offence is to be tried as a criminal case in accordance with the Military Court Proceedings Act (326/1983) or
    (6) if there is a statutory provision to the effect that the President of the Republic or Parliament is to order any charges to be brought.

Section 13 Foreign judgment


(1) No charges must be brought in Finland for an act committed abroad if a final judgment has already been passed in the State where the act had been committed and
  • (1) the charges have been dismissed,
    (2) the defendant has been found guilty but punishment has been waived,
    (3) the sentence has been enforced or its enforcement is still in progress or
    (4) according to the law of the State where the judgment was passed, the sentence has lapsed.
(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) notwithstanding, the Chancellor of Justice may order that charges be brought in Finland if the judgment passed abroad was not based on a request of Finnish authority and
  • (1) under section 3, the offence is deemed to be directed against Finland,
    (2) the offence is an offence in office or a military offence referred to in section 4,
    (3) the offence is an international offence referred to in section 6, or
    (4) under section 10, the offence is deemed to have been committed also in Finland.
(3) If a person is sentenced in Finland for an offence for which he or she has already served in full or in part a sanction imposed abroad, a reasonable amount shall be deducted from the sentence. If the sanction that has been imposed has been a custodial sentence, the court shall deduct from the sentence the time corresponding to the loss of liberty. The court may also note that the sanction that has been served is to be deemed a sufficient sanction for the offence.
Section 14 Reference provision


Separate provisions apply to extradition because of an offence and to other international legal assistance and to the immunity in certain cases of persons participating in a trial or a criminal investigation. Section 15 Treaties and international practice binding on Finland


If an international treaty binding on Finland or another statute or regulation that is internationally binding on Finland in some event restricts the scope of application of the criminal law of Finland, such a restriction shall apply as agreed. Notwithstanding the provisions in this chapter, the restrictions on the scope of application of Finnish law that result from generally recognised rules of international law shall also apply. Chapter 2 Punishments

Section 1


(1) The general punishments shall be imprisonment, fine and summary penal fee. (67/1983)
(2) The special punishments for public officials shall be dismissal and warning. (792/1989)
(3) The disciplinary punishments for a soldier and another person subject to chapter 45 shall be detention, confinement to barracks, disciplinary fine and warning. Separate provisions apply to the same. Where provisions with disciplinary punishment as their sanction apply to a person not subject to chapter 45, that person shall instead be sentenced to a fine. (651/1991) Section 2 (697/1991)


(1) A sentence of imprisonment shall be passed either for a fixed period or for life. A sentence of imprisonment for a fixed period shall be at least fourteen days and at most twelve years or, when sentencing to a joint punishment in accordance with chapter 7, at most fifteen years.
(2) A sentence of imprisonment shorter that three months shall be passed by the day. Other sentences of imprisonment for a fixed period shall be passed by the month and day, by the month, by the year or by the year and month and, when sentencing to a joint punishment, also by the year, month and day. Section 3 (613/1974)


(1) Where an offence is by law punishable by hard labour, a sentence of imprisonment shall be passed instead of the hard labour.
(2) A sentence of life imprisonment shall be passed instead of hard labour for life. A sentence of imprisonment for a fixed period shall be passed instead of hard labour for a fixed period; the sentence scale provided for the hard labour shall be used. If no specific minimum and maximum periods have been provided, a sentence of imprisonment for at least six months and at most twelve years shall be passed instead of the hard labour.
(3) Unless otherwise provided, the maximum period of imprisonment on the basis of a penal provision enacted before 1 July 1975 shall be four years.
(4) The provisions on hard labour for life apply also to life imprisonment. Section 4 (650/1976)


(1) A sentence of a fine shall be passed in day-fines. The smallest fine shall be one day-fine and the largest one hundred and twenty day-fines. The maximum and minimum for a joint punishment to a fine are provided in chapter 7. (697/1991)
(2) A specific minimum or maximum fine may, for a special reason, be provided by an Act. A specific minimum or maximum provided by an Act enacted before 1 June 1969 does not apply.
(3) Separate provisions apply to a summary penal fee, which is of a fixed amount in FIM. (67/1983) Section 4a (650/1976)


(1) A day-fine shall be set in full FIM at an amount that is to be deemed reasonable, at the time of sentencing, with regard to the solvency of the person fined.
(2) One third of the average gross daily income of the person fined is deemed to be a reasonable day-fine, unless the day-fine is to be set at a larger or smaller amount due to the wealth or maintenance liability of the person fined, or to other circumstances affecting his/her solvency. However, the day-fine shall not be set at an amount larger than what is left to the person fined after payment of state and local income taxes. Provisions are issued by Decree on the minimum amount of the day-fine and on the guidelines for taking the maintenance liability into consideration.
(3) Gross income means the sum total of all wages and salaries, professional income, capital income and other income of the person fined, subtracted by the expenditure incurred by the acquisition or maintenance of income, where such expenditure has an essential effect on his/her solvency. Section 4b (650/1976)


(1) The provisions in section 4 and section 4a apply to a threat of a fine, where enforced as a punishment.
(2) Where imposed as a coercive measure, the threat of a fine shall be imposed as a lump sum, taking into consideration also the solvency of the person in question. For special reasons, such a threat of a fine may be enforced at an amount smaller than the one set. Section 4c (1082/1989)


A minimum for the sum total in FIM of day-fines may be fixed by Decree for situations where the sum total of day-fines set according to section 4a would be less than the summary penal fee set for a similar but less serious offence. Section 5 (650/1986)


(1) A person who has been sentenced to a fine and from whom the collection of the fine has failed, shall be sentenced to imprisonment in lieu of the fine (conversion sentence). A day-fine that is only partially paid, shall, when passing a conversion sentence, be considered unpaid. When passing a conversion sentence, every full FIM 50 of a threat of a fine, imposed as a lump sum, shall correspond to one day-fine.
(2) When passing a conversion sentence, two unpaid day-fines shall correspond to one day’s imprisonment. However, a conversion sentence shall be passed for at least four days and at most ninety days. If there is an odd number of day-fines to be converted, one day-fine shall be left unconverted.
(3) If two or more fines are to be converted at the same time, only one conversion sentence shall be passed, by converting the total number of unpaid day-fines as provided in paragraph (2).
(4) If, with regard to the reasons for the failure to pay the fine, or for another special reason, it is deemed reasonable, a shorter conversion sentence than what is provided in paragraph (2) may be passed; however, it shall not be shorter than four days. The court may waive a conversion sentence for special reasons concerning the personal circumstances of the person fined, unless it is necessary to pass it in order to uphold the general obedience to the law. Section 6


If a punishment is to be set on the basis of the value of given property, the value of the property at the time of the commission of the offence shall be decisive. Section 7 (792/1989)


(1) Dismissal shall comprise the loss of the public office or function in which the offence was committed. If a public official who is in the service of, or in a comparable employment relationship with, a public corporation or an independent public institution has transferred from the office in which the offence was committed to another corresponding office, the dismissal shall comprise the loss of the said latter office.
(2) In cases referred to in section 10 the dismissal shall comprise the loss of the public office function or the public offices and functions that the offender has at the time when the sentence is passed. Sections 8 —9 (repealed)

Section 10

(1) A public official sentenced to life imprisonment shall also be sentenced to be dismissed. The same applies when the public official is sentenced to imprisonment for a fixed period of at least two years, except if the court deems that the offence does not indicate that the offender is unsuitable for public office.
(2) If a public official is sentenced to imprisonment for an offence not resulting from negligence for less than two years, he/she may at the same time be sentenced to dismissal, if the offence indicates that he/she is manifestly unsuitable for public office. (792/1989)
(3) However, a member of a representative of a public corporation, elected in a general election, shall not be sentenced to dismissal from the said office by virtue of this section. (792/1989)
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