Proposal to amend the Act on Fairway Dues sent out for comments

The Ministry of Transport and Communications requests comments on the Government’s draft proposal to Parliament for an act amending the Act on Fairway Dues. 

The unit price of fairway dues would be increased from 1 January 2025 without changing the basis of the dues in other ways. The guidance supporting the functioning of the year-round transport included in the fairway due would remain unchanged. 

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo outlined in the session on spending limits on 16 April 2024 that the temporary halving of fairway dues will end on 31 December 2024 and that the dues will be collected in full from 1 January 2025. The measure is related to the balancing of general government finances.

Fairway dues collected from merchant ships entering Finnish territorial waters have been temporarily halved since 2015 under the Act on Fairway Dues. 

Fairway dues are collected by Customs.

Next steps

The deadline for comments on the draft act is 31 July 2024. Organisations and private individuals are invited to comment online at www.lausuntopalvelu.fi or by email to [email protected]. Following the consultation round, the law-drafting work will continue at the Ministry.

The draft proposal will be presented to the Government in autumn 2024 in connection with the budget proposal for 2025.

Inquiries:

Juha Tervonen, Chief Specialist, tel.  +358 295 342 070 [email protected] (13 June-3 July 2024)
Johanna Särkijärvi, Director of Unit, tel. +358 295 342 024 [email protected] (4-5 July 2024)
Tuire Valkonen, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 342 010 [email protected] (8-12 July 2024)
Konsta Luukka, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 342 084 [email protected] (15-31 July 2024)