Ministerial working group prioritises digital transactions

Digital transactions increase public services that are independent of time and place, and boost the efficiency and sustainability of administration. The ministerial working group on reforming society has determined the principles for promoting official digital transactions over the present government term.

At a meeting on 3 October the working group also decided on the roadmap that Finland will submit to the European Commission under the EU Digital Decade 2030 programme. Other working group discussions focused on reforming the government service and office network.

Digital services streamline transactions and boost administrative efficiency

The ministerial working group announced at its meeting that Finland will begin preparing a transition to primarily digital official communications. This means, for example, that public authorities will in future send client letters solely in electronic form to recipients who are generally capable of transacting business digitally. Statutory amendments will make this an obligation for such recipients, with a facility for requesting exemption from digital official communication on legitimate grounds.

Public authorities currently send their decisions to clients by post unless the client has explicitly consented to digital official communication. Statistics indicate that while at least 4.2 million people in Finland are able to transact business electronically, only about one million have switched to digital official communication through the Suomi.fi service. Digital communication would enable savings of some EUR 58–95 million as of 2026.

“Digitalisation will enable us to improve public services and streamline official transactions significantly. A shift to digital official communication will be one component in this streamlining process. We should also not lose sight of the need to ensure the official communications of people who cannot use digital transaction channels,” explains Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen.

Roadmap for the European Commission under the EU Digital Decade 2030 programme

The ministerial working group meeting supported moves to submit a national roadmap to the European Commission under the EU Digital Decade 2030 programme.

This policy programme sets common goals for digitalisation and the data economy to the year 2030, obliging Member States to prepare their own national roadmaps for realising these goals.

The Finnish roadmap will be based on the 2022 Digital Compass Government report, on work to prepare the associated implementation plan, and on entries in the Government Programme and budget decisions. The roadmap has been drafted at the DigiOffice, where all of the ministries are represented.

Most of the objectives that Finland will submit to the European Commission have already been set in the Digital Compass report. The roadmap solidifies these objectives extending to the year 2030 in the form of measures to be implemented over the next few years. These measures primarily respond to the entirety of common EU goals for the digital decade.

The first EU report on the State of the Digital Decade and the national report of Finland were published on 27 September 2023. The Finnish roadmap also accommodates the findings of the national report and its recommendations for required development measures. The European Commission will publish a report at annual intervals. The roadmap would be updated for the first time in 2024, and every two years thereafter.

In addition to the roadmap, the DigiOffice is preparing a broader implementation plan for the national digital compass that will also cover objectives other than those to be reported to the European Commission. The aim is for the ministerial working group to set out a broader implementation plan in December 2023.

“The goals of the EU Digital Decade have been designed to ensure that countries no longer compete against one another, but instead work together to develop Europe as a whole. This will give us global influence and the ability to secure the efficiency benefits of digitalisation in the internal market for use by society as a whole. The roadmap that the ministerial working group approved today will also correspondingly strengthen cooperation within government, boosting the influence of Finland and encouraging the entire European Union to implement an efficient digital transition. I also consider it crucial for us to continue developing the information base as a monitoring tool both nationally, and at EU level,” says Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne.

Inquiries:

Marjo Lindgren, Special Adviser to Minister Ranne, tel. +358 29 534 2119, [email protected]
Minna Kurki, Special Adviser to Minister Ikonen, tel. +358 50 437 2718, [email protected]
Laura Eiro, Director General, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Secretary-General to the ministerial working group, tel. +358 29 534 2166, [email protected]
Jarkko Levasma, Director General, Public Sector ICT, Ministry of Finance, Secretary-General to the ministerial working group, tel. +358 29 553 0117, [email protected]