Introduction

• Author: Hiltunen, Rainer
• Pages: 13-14

13

INTRODUCTION

The national legal system

The main provisions pertaining to discrimination have been laid down in the Constitution,

the Non-Discrimination Act and the Criminal Code. A prohibition on discrimination is also

included in many statutory acts as a general clause. Section 6 of the Constitution

provides for equality and prohibits discrimination.15 The main thrust of this constitutional

guarantee of non-discrimination is to ensure formal equality, i.e. the principle that people

in similar circumstances are to be treated similarly, but it also aims to reach full,

substantive equality in practice. The constitutional prohibition of discrimination may be

directly invoked in courts, and regular laws are to be interpreted in accordance to it.

The Non-Discrimination Act entered into force on 1 February 2004. It was repealed at the

end of 2014 and a new act with the same name – the Non-Discrimination Act - entered

into force on 1 January 2015. The Non-Discrimination Act is the main instrument

transposing the EU directives on equal treatment (the Racial Equality Directive and the

Employment Equality Directive) into national law.

The scope of the Non-Discrimination Act is wide, covering both public and private

activities, but excluding private life, family life and the practice of religion. Protection is

provided on the grounds of origin, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation,

nationality, language, opinion, political activity, trade union activity, family relationships,

state of health or other personal characteristics.

The Criminal Code has two provisions on discrimination. The first covers discrimination,

inter alia, in the provision of services and in the discharge of public duties, while the

second covers discrimination in the field of employment. There is a considerable amount

of case law under the first provision, mainly regarding ethnic discrimination. Punishment

for discrimination laid down by law is in the form of fines or imprisonment for up to six

months. In practice, those convicted of discrimination have been sentence to pay fines.

Gender equality is addressed in the Constitution and in the Criminal Code, and in a

separate law of general application, the Equality between Women and Men Act.

The Åland Islands, which is an autonomous province of Finland, has exclusive legislative

competence over certain material areas covered by the two directives as concerns its

territory. The division of legislative competence between the Åland Islands and the

Finnish state is as follows: the Åland Islands have competence over matters relating to

civil servants employed by the Province of Åland or one of the municipalities in the Åland

Islands, healthcare, social welfare, education, self-employment, promotion of

employment, and some aspects of the provision of services (e.g. transport services); the

Finnish state has competence over matters such as private employment including those

employed by the authorities of the Åland Islands or one of the municipalities as

employees (i.e. not civil servants), some parts of the provision of services, such as

banking, and criminal and procedural law, including rules on burden of proof.

Therefore, some parts of the equality legislation that was adopted in Finland in order to

transpose the two directives are not applicable with respect to the Åland Islands, which is

why it was necessary for the Åland Islands to adopt its own equality legislation. The

latter piece of legislation entered into force on 1 December 2005. The two sets of

15 Constitution, Section 6 ‘(1): Everyone is equal before the law. (2): No one shall, without an acceptable

reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion,

conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.’ According to the

preparatory works of the Constitution ‘other reason that concerns his or her person’ includes reasons such

as social status, wealth, participation in NGOs, family relationships, pregnancy, sexual orientation and place

of residence.