Applying for, changing, and discontinuing a licence for serving alcoholic beverages
Serving of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of over 2.8% requires a licence. Apply for and wait for a decision on an alcohol serving licence from the Finnish Supervisory Agency before you begin to serve alcohol. Each trader and each location must have its own licence..
The serving of alcoholic beverages refers to selling of alcoholic beverages to customers for a fee. The serving of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of more than 2.8% requires a licence from the Finnish Supervisory Agency. An alcohol serving licence may be granted to an adult natural or legal person who meets the requirements laid down in the Alcohol Act for obtaining the licence. For example, the applicant must not be bankrupt and must be able to fulfil their financial obligations. For example, tax debts without a valid payment plan may prevent the granting of a licence. The Finnish Supervisory Agency grants the licence on the basis of the overall consideration required by the Alcohol Act.
Application for an alcohol serving licence
Apply for an alcohol serving licence in the Alcohol Trade Register e-service.
Use of the e-service will require a business ID. If you are acting on behalf of a company, you must have the right to sign for the company or an authorisation to act on behalf of the company granted by a person with the right to sign. Mandates can be granted on in the Suomi.fi service.
When you are applying for a licence to serve alcoholic beverages at a permanent establishment, please do not separately fill in the application for the approval of licensed premises. You can enter the details for the licensed premises in the separately reserved sections of the licence application.
An application for an alcohol serving licence should be submitted well in advance– no later than one month before a restaurant opens or a change of ownership, as serving alcohol without a licence or with the licence granted to a previous entrepreneur is illegal. An alcohol serving licence is only granted when the applicant and the licensed premises have been found to meet the requirements for obtaining the licence.
If necessary, the Finnish Supervisory Agency may request statements on an application from other authorities, such as the Police and the Tax Administration. On a case-by-case basis, the Finnish Supervisory Agency may also reserve an opportunity for the immediate vicinity of the serving premises to comment on the pending application.
Notification of changes
If any substantial changes occur in operations, the Finnish Supervisory Agency must be notified of these well in advance before changes enter force.
For example, if you organise an event once every year in the same licensed area, you save time and effort by looking through the licence register for the licence number from the previous year and submitting a change of licence application. Update the application with any changed information and remember to also attach an up-to-date self-monitoring plan for serving alcohol.
Applications and notifications of changes to the licence are submitted in the Alcohol Trade Register’s e-service. Look for the licence number to which you want to make a change and submit a change application.
The change may not be implemented until it has been approved by the Finnish Supervisory Agency.
If there are changes in the ownership of the licence-holder company or changes in its administration, the Finnish Supervisory Agency will automatically be informed of this by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.
A fee is charged for the changes in accordance with the agency’s price list. The fees can be found further down the page.
Changes that the Finnish Supervisory Agency must be notified of
A notification on an indoors licenced area’s extension of licensing hours a past 01:30 must be submitted to the Finnish Supervisory Agency no later than three weeks before the planned introduction of the change.
The extension of an outdoors licensed area’s licensing hours past 01:30 is processed as an application, and at least one month should be reserved for its processing.
The changes may be permanent or fixed-term. Submit a notification of a change to an indoors licensed area to the Finnish Supervisory Agency no later than three weeks before the planned introduction of the change. Changes to outdoors licensed areas concerning are processed as applications.
The data is stored in the alcohol licence register, and it is particularly important that the information is correct, as this can affect such things as deliveries of goods and for receiving information from the licensing authority. Please remember that if you move your licensed premises to a location other than the one for which the licence has been granted, you must apply for a new licence to serve alcohol.
If you want to start the retail sale of fermented alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content of at most 8% and other alcohol products with an alcohol content of at most 5.5%, submit a change application to your alcohol serving license.
You must also submit a notification if you transfer your business to another company or a private trader. In this case, your successor must apply for a new alcohol serving licence. A new entrepreneur may not sell alcoholic beverages until a new licence has been granted.
Termination of serving of alcohol
You must notify the Finnish Supervisory Agency of the termination of the serving of alcoholic beverages within two weeks of the termination of the activities. The notification can be submitted in the e-service of the Alcohol Trade Register by applying for a change to the licence and by adding the end date of the licence. Alternatively, you can notify the Finnish Supervisory Agency of the termination by sending a free-form e-mail.
The licence holder must also ensure that purchase and sales data on serving alcoholic beverages are reported to the Licence and Supervisory Authority until the end of the operations.
Please remember to notify the agency of the termination of the serving of alcohol in order to avoid unnecessary enforcement fees. Please note that a licence cannot be terminated retroactively. We invoice alcohol serving enforcement fees based on the period of validity of a licence.
Processing and enforcement fees related to the serving of alcohol
A processing fee in accordance with the agency’s price list will be charged for alcohol serving licences, alcohol serving notifications and changes to these. If you cancel your application or notification before its processing has been completed, the processing fee will be half of the fee that would otherwise have been charged.
The Finnish Supervisory Agency charges an annual enforcement fee from each person holding an alcohol serving licence for an indefinite period. The fee is location-specific. We invoice the enforcement fees every calendar year by 30 April at the latest for licences that have been valid on 1 April. No fee is charged for the first calendar year.
Processing and enforcement fees are enforceable without a separate decision or judgement. The payments will be invoiced by the Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR.
If you initiate a permit application by means other than our electronic service system, the fee will be increased by 20 percent. The increased fee will not be charged if it is not possible to initiate the application electronically.
An indefinite or fixed-term alcohol serving licence costs EUR 1,230 if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
Please note: For events, apply for a fixed-term alcohol serving licence in the same way as for a permanent establishment. The Alcohol Trade Register Allu will ask for more information on the nature of the event, and if necessary, the client may attach documents providing information on the event. Some of the events are organised at pre-approved licensed premises, in which case a notification of serving alcohol is sufficient.
An alcohol serving licence that is valid until further notice or for a fixed period costs EUR 855 if the application has been initiated in the online service and if
- a licence applicant does not have a licensed premises
- the licence applicant has been granted a valid serving, retail trade, producting or wholesale licence within the past year
- the licence applicant is applying for several alcohol serving licences at the same time. In that case, a fee according to the previous section will be charged for one alcohol serving licence and the fee referred to in this section for the other alcohol servicing licences.
A fixed-term licence for serving alcoholic beverages costs EUR 755 if the application has been initiated in the e-service and if the duration of the fixed period is no more than 30 days and the licensed area has no more than 200 customer seats.
A fixed-term licence for serving alcoholic beverages costs EUR 650 if the duration of the fixed period is no more than 30 days and the licensed area has no more than 200 customer seats and if the licence applicant has been granted a valid serving, retail trade, producting or wholesale licence within the past year.
The notification of serving alcohol at an approved licensed area costs EUR 185 per event or function if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
A licence for changes to a licenced area costs EUR 430 if the application has been initiated in the e-service. Apply for this, for example, for changes to outdoor areas. For example, a change to an alcohol serving licence is applied for when a terrace is added.
The notification fee for changes licenced areas costs EUR 185 if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
The notification fee for replacing the person(s) in charge costs EUR 430, if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
Another licence concerning serving of alcohol costs EUR 430, if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
A decision on a change to an alcohol serving licence or retail trade licence costs EUR 305, if the application has been initiated in the e-service.
A retail trade licence for selling alcoholic beverages costs EUR 430 if the application has been initiated in the e-service and if
- the licence applicant has been granted a valid serving, retail trade, producting or wholesale licence within the past year
- the licence applicant applies for both an alcohol serving licence and a retail trade licence for alcoholic beverages at the same time
The enforcement fee for serving alcoholic beverages is determined on the basis of the purchases made the previous calendar year calculated as 100% alcohol as follows:
Amount of alcohol served per year
- less than 100 litres: EUR 105
- at least 100 litres but less than 2,000 litres: EUR 210 euros
- at least 2,000 litres but less than 10,000 litres: EUR 420
- 10,000 litres or more: EUR 790.
FAQ on alcohol serving licences
An alcohol serving licence can be granted to for example
- a restaurant
- a café
- a concert venue
- a passenger boat operating a particular route.
The Finnish Supervisory Agency approves licensed premises and areas. It must be possible for both the licence holder and the authorities to supervise the licensed areas. A licensed area must be delimited and marked if its boundaries cannot be clearly identified otherwise. An alcohol serving licence is granted either indefinitely or for a fixed period of one year at the most.
The licence holder must also draw up a self-monitoring plan for the serving of alcohol at their licensed premises.
If you do not have premises for serving alcohol, you may still be granted an alcohol serving licence. You can serve alcohol with a so-called catering licence at various events organised in pre-approved licensed premises. You can find pre-approved licensed premises on the avoindata.fi website. A catering licence is also suitable for situations where you serve alcoholic beverages for groups participating in excursions organised by your tourism sector service.
Apply for a catering alcohol serving licence in the Alcohol Trade Register e-service.
Please note that if you have a valid alcohol serving licence for a fixed establishment, you do not need a separate catering licence. You can serve alcoholic beverages at pre-approved licensed premises using the licence number for your licensed premises by submitting an alcohol serving notification to the Finnish Supervisory Agency no later than three days (72 hours) before the start of serving.
Contact information
Customer service for health and social affairs
Service form
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +358 295 256 930 (Monday–Friday 9:00–15:00)