Amendments to the Act on the Transport System and Highways

The Government proposes amendments to the Act on the Transport System and Highways and to certain other related acts. This is a so-called corrective package. The amendments would mainly be technical in nature and concern references to the amended acts.

The Government submitted its legislative proposal to Parliament on 21 November 2019.

Statutes are to be specified and updated

Public notices on railway and highway plans would be made electronic. Instead of a municipal notice, the primary means of communications would be the information provided on the transport authorities' own websites. The contents of the public notice should also be communicated directly to the owners and holders of properties that are affected by the direct impacts specified in the Act.

The Act on Transport Services would restore jurisdiction to the Government of Åland and the State Department of Åland. The Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, would be given the authority to issue international transport licences to those states that have not concluded a treaty with Finland concerning the matter.

In future, the responsibility for the national coordination and cooperation of matters relating to private roads would lie with Traficom. It would also allocate road maintenance grants according to the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

The Act on the Transfer of Vehicles would be entirely resubmitted. The contents of the Act and the responsibilities of the authorities would mainly remain unchanged, but they would be formulated more explicitly than at present. At the same time, the Act would be clarified. It would also be  amended as a result of the repeal (from 1 January 2020) of the old Act on Public Notifications.

The basis for the proposal is the expiry of the regional government reform, in which some of the technical changes were included. The proposed Acts would enter into force on 1 January 2020. The Acts amending the Act on the Transport System and Highways and the Rail Act would not enter into force until 1 February 2020.

What next?

A referral debate on the government proposal submitted to Parliament will be conducted in a Parliament plenary session. Information on the date of the session will be available on the Parliament website.

After the referral debate, the proposal will be sent to a committee. Once the committee's report is ready, the matter will be again discussed in a plenary session.

Inquiries:

Eeva Ovaska, Senior Officer, tel. +358 295 34 2354

Silja Ruokola, Director of Legal Affairs, tel. +358 295 34 2367