Rule of law

Participants explained that Finland, which topped global rule of law indicators, had a strong and independent judicial power, and that the vast majority of the public, including business, had confidence in the judiciary.

Participants agreed that the main challenge concerned the length of judicial proceedings, especially in civil cases. A National Court Administration had been put in place in 2020 to work on this and other related challenges, which were further exasperated by the backlog created by COVID-19. It called for a response in terms of human resources, based on data proving that the majority of judges experienced 
strong work overloads. The Finnish authorities acknowledged the need to provide more funding towardsjudiciary human resources, and indicated that in a constrained budgetary environment with a multiplication of new challenges, such an objective could only be approached one step at a time.

Participants believed that the cost of judicial proceedings was another challenge, and somehow related to the length of the proceedings. According to those participants, many people were hesitant to go to court because of the cost. The middle class, for example, was not wealthy enough to afford expensive proceedings, yet was above the revenue threshold to benefit from legal aid. The high costs of judicial proceeding particularly affected victims of discrimination who could not seek financial compensation before the Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman or the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal. The time that it took for a decision to be made in these instances often brought them past the two-year deadline to file a case for compensation in the civil judicial system.

Some participants explained that the Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament was a very important body for ensuring checks and balances, and that it was fully independent despite being composed of members of Parliament. For example, it played an important role in ensuring that the rare decisions that did not meet all required procedures and standards during the COVID-19 crisis 
were reviewed. A side effect of the COVID-19 crisis was that the general population had started to debate human rights and the rule of law. However this did not mean that further efforts were not needed for better general awareness raising on these topics. Despite an overall very satisfactory situation in the area of the rule of law, both the Finnish authorities and its civil society reflected on the risks of a potential overtake of power by anti-democratic forces. The authorities were considering a stress test of its institutions to identify concrete ways to safeguard not only the rule of law in such a scenario, but also media freedom and the civic space.

Despite already ranking at top of the anti-corruption indexes, the Finish authorities adopted a new anti-corruption strategy in 2021 to maintain its efforts in that area. Some participants welcomed this vigilance and believed that all actors should be involved in order to properly implement and monitor the strategy. There were calls for improvements concerning the need to investigate all corruption cases, even those considered minor. Vigilance was also needed against risks of corruption concerning companies in the export sector. One participant explained that lobbying was still unregulated in the country but that legislation was in preparation, including the establishment of a transparency registry. Regulations concerning traffic of influence were also in preparation.