The Finnish Supervisory Agency started - Regional State Administrative Agencies, Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment and the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health no longer exist

The new multi-sectoral Finnish Supervisory Agency has started its operations. The National Su-pervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira), Regional State Administrative Agencies and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) have all ceased their operations.

The Finnish Supervisory Agency will carry out the following tasks, among others:

• permits and supervision of environmental matters, evaluation of environmental impacts, tasks related to land use and the protection of nature and the environment, tasks related to management of water resources and the marine environment and to the water economy
• tasks related to healthcare and social welfare, health protection, alcohol and tobacco administration, and adoption matters
• permits, supervision and guidance tasks in occupational safety and health administration
• tasks concerning early childhood education and care, education and training, and municipal education, youth and sports administration, and tasks related to the Funeral Services Act.
• supervision and assessment of rescue services, organisation of regional cooperation in pre-paredness, promotion of security planning in regional and local government
• registration and supervision of real estate agents and debt collection agencies, supervision of municipal employment services, and guidance, registration and supervision tasks under the Act on Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

The agency will have national competence.
 
"The Agency has been established with the aim of streamlining the services and ensuring uniform permit and supervision practices across Finland. Harmonisation of decision-making practices increases predictability and customer equality," says Marko Pukkinen, Director General of the Finnish Supervisory Agency.
 
Now, the permit and supervision tasks in the healthcare and social services sector will be handled by one agency instead of the previous six Regional State Administrative Agencies and one national agency, Valvira. One environmental authority will carry out environmental permit and supervision tasks instead of the previous four Regional State Administrative Agencies and thirteen ELY Centres.
 
“It is now easier for the customer to find the right authority, as the tasks of several former agencies have been gathered under one authority,” Pukkinen says.
 
Approximately 2,000 employees were transferred to the Finnish Supervisory Agency from the discontinued agencies. The agency has offices in 18 locations around Finland. The head office is in Tampere.