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Service description
An error or an omission by a state employee or official may cause damage, which shall be compensated by the state in accordance with the Tort Liability Act (412/1974) or another special act.
THE STATE TREASURY WILL MAINLY PROCESS THE FOLLOWING KINDS OF DAMAGE
* Damage caused by factual administrative measures
* Damage due to the exercise of public authority
* Compensation matters based on strict liability independent from negligenceTHE STATE TREASURY WILL NOT PROCESS THE FOLLOWING KINDS OF DAMAGE
A claim for compensation for material or property damage is handled by the authority responsible for causing the damage when the claim concerns:
* Property damage caused by operations by the Finnish Defence Forces
* Damage caused by military crisis management
* Damage caused by police operations
* Damage caused by Finnish Border Guard operations
* Damage caused by seizure of property
* Damage caused by land surveying measures or an error or an omission in registers maintained by the National Land Survey of Finland
* Damage caused by taxation
* Damage caused by orders on custom duties, taxes and tolls collected by Finnish Customs
* Damage caused by the maintenance of traffic routes.Other claims for compensation (including those regarding personal damage and suffering) caused by the operations of said authorities are also processed by the State Treasury.
The State Treasury has NO jurisdiction over matters involving damage caused by the Office of the Chancellor of Justice or the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Claims for compensation regarding these authorities must be submitted to them.
The State Treasury also has NO jurisdiction over the processing of claims for compensation based on
* agreements,
* Government employment relationships, or
* the Act on Public Procurements (348/2007).A decision on compensations by the State Treasury grounded on the Tort Liability Act is not subject to appeal. If necessary, any party who has suffered damage may bring an action for compensation against the state in the Finnish courts of law in the order stipulated on civil disputes.
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When can compensation be granted
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Frequently asked questions
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What are the prerequisites for receiving compensation?
The prerequisite for receiving compensation is that there is liability to compensate. The liability to compensate may be based on negligence or strict liability. Negligence means that the authority has been negligent or made a mistake in a reprehensible manner and caused harm. Strict liability means a liability to compensate that is independent of negligence, in which event the only prerequisite is that the authority has acted in a manner that has caused damage. The prerequisite for strict liability is that it has been specifically decreed for some action or that it has been approved in legal practice. For example, the responsibility a controller has for personal data, or environmental damage in general, are types of damage based on strict liability.
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Is there a deadline for claiming compensation?
There is no definitive deadline for claiming compensation. However, issues regarding claims for compensation are subject to the legislation on expiry of debt. According to legislation, the right to compensation expires three years after the afflicted party found out or should have found out about the damage and the responsible party, unless the expiry has been interrupted. Interrupting the expiry refers to situations where a claim for compensation has been presented to the government, the government has been reminded of the liability for compensation, or a complaint has been filed against the government.
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What is the relationship between the government’s liability to compensate for damage and other systems of compensation?
Primarily, the government’s general liability for damages is the last resort in compensating damage to the afflicted party. Compensation should be claimed primarily through systems of compensation or insurance that are intended for the damage in question (e.g. occupational accident insurance, compensation paid to the wrongfully imprisoned, other types of compensation managed by the State Treasury, private insurance). This does not remove the right to claim compensation for the same accident or damage insofar as they are not compensated through these primary systems. Please note, however, that the prerequisites for compensation vary between systems: even if you were entitled to compensation in the primary system, you are not automatically eligible for compensation, but instead the prerequisites are always investigated separately.
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Which reports do I need to provide to the State Treasury?
The processing of compensation for damage always starts with determining the grounds for compensation. That is why you should provide the State Treasury with a report on the grounds upon which you think that the government should pay compensation for the damage to you. If it looks like there are sufficient grounds for compensation, the State Treasury may ask you to provide further accounts of the amount of compensation later on. That is why you should keep any receipts for expenses incurred from the damage.
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Damage caused by which parties fall under the purview of the State Treasury?
The State Treasury only processes claims concerned with damage caused by government authorities and it has no authority to investigate damage caused by private parties or municipal authorities. In addition to these, the State Treasury does not process claims for damage caused by the Office of the Chancellor of Justice or the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Some authorities have the mandate on compensation for material and financial damage themselves (damage to real estate caused by operations of the Defence Forces and military crisis management tasks, the police, the Boarder Guard, tax authorities, road maintenance authorities, distraint authorities, and any damage caused by maintaining the registers of the National Land Survey of Finland and land surveying measures). However, the State Treasury has the mandate to process claims arising from personal injuries on behalf of these authorities.
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Pilvi Palvelubotti