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THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT OF FINLAND Annual Report 2002

THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

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Page 1: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

THE SUPREMEADMINISTRATIVE

COURTOF FINLAND

Annual Report 2002

Page 2: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

The Annual Report 2002 of theSupreme Administrative Court isavailable in Finnish, Swedish,English and French.

The cover photograph shows thebuilding housing the SupremeAdministrative Court at theaddress Fabianinkatu 15.Photograph: Risto Laine.

Supreme Administrative CourtPublication No. 2/2003

Page 3: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Law, integration and globalisationMr Pekka HallbergPresident

Supreme Administrative Court as lastadministrative judicial instance

Cases in 2002

On the publicity of official documentsMr Esa AaltoJusticeMr Mikko RautamaaJudicial Secretary

On direct taxesMr Ismo TalikkaJusticeMs Paula TenkanenReferendary Counsellor

On water rightsMr Timo SilentiJusticeMs Tuulia RiikonenReferendary Counsellor

International cooperationMr Heikki KanninenJustice

Activities

Organisation and personnel

Statistics

Regional administrative courtsand other authorities applying theadministrative judicial procedure

4

31

15

12

11

10

97

6

14

18

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Law, integration and globalisation

Mr Pekka HallbergPresident of the Supreme AdministrativeCourt

Responsibilities of the state. Affected bythe increasing international cooperation, by

economic and political integration and, as a resultof technological development, by changes in thestructure of economy, the state's role and func-tions are undergoing changes, and the Finnishauthorities are also faced with new challenges ofmaintaining and increasing the competitivenessof Finland in the world market. At the same time,the changes in social structures, in particular theincreasing number of ageing persons and themore demanding working life, entail new require-ments for the use of public powers.

In the view of the Finnish Parliament's Com-mittee for the Future, the role of the state willincreasingly be to strengthen social structures andeconomy instead of merely producing services.This includes, in particular, strengthening of thebasic functions of the state, the legal system, ac-cess to legal remedies, and the principles of goodgovernance.

In recent studies, attention has been paidnot only to the impact of globalisation on theeconomy but also to its social consequences.Although the possibilities of individual statesto influence the market are reduced by glo-balisation, it has also created new kind of de-pendency. The state maintains its role but itsduties with regard to the enactment of legisla-tion and to the guarantees of access to legalremedies have become more demanding.

Rule of law as a foundation of democracy.The forespeaker of the rule of law in Finland, K.J.Ståhlberg whose death was commemorated atthe Supreme Administrative Court in the autumnof 2002, set an objective of "development ofdemocracy based on the law", thus combining

the principles of democracy and legal protectioninto a functional entity, which still works as guid-ance. Apart from the requirement of compliancewith the law, any use of power must be le-gitimate.

Apart from being understood as a principleguiding the organisation of the role and functionsof state institutions, the rule of law must also beexamined from the citizens' perspective.Thus, thisprinciple entails a requirement of clear and care-fully prepared legislation. The law is a meansto achieve justice. For the purpose of develop-ing the preparation of legislation, it is importantto clearly define the issues that need to be cov-ered by the legislation, as well as to determinewhether the laws to be enacted should be de-tailed or general in nature and whether theyshould regulate the past or the future, under whatcircumstances the laws may be applied and whatkind of effects they will have.

Development of the administrative judicialprocedure. The administrative courts and theadministrative judicial proceedings are of greatimportance in a state based on the rule of law asall of us have contacts with administrative author-ities, e.g. in issues relating to social security, taxa-tion, land use and building, nature conservation,exercise of independent professions or competi-tion.

Decisions of administrative courts often notonly affect the parties to the proceedings, butmay also have environmental or financial implica-tions and even effects on the national economy.In 2002, the Supreme Administrative Cour tdecided a total of 3,778 cases, including severalextensive cases concerning e.g. the constructionof a harbour, application of the Water Act withregard to plans to construct an artificial lake,responsibility for the provision of health care ser-vices, and taxation of imported cars.

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Risto Laine

In 2002, there were working groups set upby the Supreme Administrative Court for the pur-pose of preparing a proposal to the Governmentto amend a large number of acts of Parliament.The said proposal was submitted at the beginningof 2003. Although the proposed amendments donot entail reforms of the underlying principles ofthe system of appeal, they contribute together tothe development of the administrative judicial pro-cedure by strengthening the role of the regionaladministrative courts and by reducing delays inprocedure. This continued reform of the proce-dure was called for by Parliament already uponthe enactment of the Administrative Judicial Pro-cedure Act of 1996. It is desirable to have thereform completed without delays.

Impact of international developments. Theadministrative judicial procedure is increasinglyaffected by regional economic integration and glob-alisation. Obstacles to the free movement of per-sons, labour, services, goods and capital - the fun-damental freedoms of the European Union - areusually removed by means of administrative meas-ures. In the context of the integration process, the

Member States have paid particular attention tothe development of the administrative judicial pro-cedure.

One of the highlights in the activities ofthe Supreme Administrative Court in 2002 was acolloquium held with the supreme administrativejurisdictions of the EU Member States and theCourt of Justice of the European Communities.The colloquium provided an opportunity to shareinformation on national experiences of the sys-tem of preliminary rulings. The debate was con-tinued on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversaryof the Court of Justice of the European Commun-ities in December 2002.

Cooperation among courts has become evenmore important than before, due to the need toprepare for the enlargement of the EuropeanUnion and to revise the founding treaties. The na-tional courts and authorities play indeed a crucialrole in the application of Community law. Likewise,the principle of subsidiarity should be paid atten-tion to in the context of reforming the Union'sinstitutional structure and decision-making proce-dures. A consistent and working division of deci-

sion-making competence be-tween the Union's institu-tions and the Member Statesis the best way of achievinggeneral trust in the systemand thereby contributing tothe construction of citizens'Europe.

Development of thenational system of legal rem-edies improves at the sametime the possibilities to con-tribute to international coop-eration among judicial author-ities, both with the neighbour-ing states or other Europeanstates and worldwide. A statebased on respect for the ruleof law is a lasting strategy inthe face of globalisation.

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Under the Constitution of Finland, theSupreme Administrative Cour t is the

court of last resort in administrative cases. Incriminal and civil cases, the highest judicialpowers are vested in the Supreme Cour t.Both cour ts were established in 1918.

Apart from being the highest appellatecour t, the Supreme Administrative Cour tsupervises the administration of justice bylower administrative courts, with a view toensuring a functioning and effective systemof administrative cour ts. Fur thermore, the

Supreme Administrative Courtas last administrative judicial instance

Supreme Administrative Cour t may submitproposals to the Government for legislativemeasures.

The Constitution requires that any use ofpublic powers be based on law. Anyone whois dissatisfied with an administrative decisionper taining to his or her rights or obligationsmay challenge the lawfulness of the decisionbefore an administrative cour t. The right ofappeal in such cases is mainly covered by theprovisions of the Administrative Judicial Pro-cedure Act.

Central state agencies,regional councils and review

boards

Municipalauthorities

Tax adjustmentboards, tax authorities

ProvincialState Offices

Local Stategovernment

Environmentcentres

Environmentalpermit authorities

The Governmentand the ministries

THE SUPREMEADMINISTRATIVE

COURT

ADMINISTRATIVE COURTSThe Administrative Courts of Helsinki,Hämeenlinna, Kouvola, Kuopio, Oulu,

Rovaniemi, Turku, Vaasa, and theAdministrative Court of

the Åland Islands

Market Court

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Risto Laine

New cases. A total of 4,036 new caseswere filed with the Supreme Adminis-

trative Court in 2002. Of these, 3,724 wereappeals or requests for leave to appeal and312 were petitions, the largest group beingrequests for the annulment of judgment.

The largest category of cases of appealand of requests for leave to appeal were thetax cases, constituting 22 per cent of all thenew cases (23 per cent in 2001). Other signi-ficant groups included cases concerning plan-ning and building, 15 (13) per cent, social wel-fare, 12 (13) per cent, and aliens, 10 (7) percent.

Decided cases. In 2002, the Supreme Ad-ministrative Court issued a final decision in3,778 cases. Of these, approximately 55 percent were final decisions on the merits of thecase.

The average length of proceedings in re-spect of the decided cases was 11.2 months.

Before the oral hearing held by the third chamber,(from left to right) Notary Marjatta Räsänen,Senior Judicial Secretary Kristina Björkvall,Justice Marita Liljeström, Justice Esa Aalto,presiding Justice Ilmari Ojanen, Justice PirkkoLundell, Justice Pekka Vihervuori and JudicialSecretary Leo Kaasinen.

Cases in 2002

Pending cases. At the end of 2002, therewere 3,486 cases pending before the SupremeAdministrative Court.

No general system of leave to appeal. Themajority of the categories of cases handled bythe Supreme Administrative Court are notsubject to the requirement of leave to appeal.As a rule, therefore, the parties have a right ofappeal, and the Supreme Administrative Courtissues a decision on merits.

The most important categories of caseswhere, under the applicable law, a request forleave to appeal must be filed, concern taxa-tion, aliens and subsistence allowance. Leaveto appeal may, however, be granted on vari-

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Timo Ahvenniem

iIn February 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt held an on-site inspection in the area ofPuu-Tammela in Tampere. In the picture, JusticeErkki Onikki, who was the presiding Justice in thecase examined by the first chamber, is answeringquestions of the reporter of Tampere Radio.

ous grounds, and not exclusively because of aneed to issue a precedent. In 2002, the Su-preme Administrative Cour t decided 1,431cases of request for leave to appeal, of which22 per cent were admitted.

Oral hearings and on-site inspections. In2002, the Supreme Administrative Court heldthree oral hearings and arranged four on-siteinspections.

Publication of precedents. Since 1918, themost important cases of the Supreme Admin-istrative Cour t have been published in theCourt's yearbook. Those cases have relevancefor the application of law in similar cases orinvolve some other significant interest.

The afore-mentioned precedents, whichwill be included in the yearbook, are publishedon the Court's web site (http://www.kho.fi andhttp://www.hfd.fi) already on the date of theirissue. Furthermore, precedents issued by the

Supreme Administrative Court are available inthe Finlex database of Finnish legislation (http://www.finlex.fi), maintained by the State, of whichthe oldest ones were given as early as in 1944.

In 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt published 92 precedents in the year-book. On the Court's web site, brief sum-maries were also published of cer tain othercases.

References for a preliminary ruling to theCourt of Justice of the European Commun-ities. In 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt submitted to the Court of Justice ofthe European Communities three referencesfor a preliminary ruling, concerning public pro-curement (C-244/02), the corporation taxcredit system (C-319/02) and the liability topay car tax for an imported car in connectionwith a change of residence (C-365/02), respect-ively.

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Mr Esa AaltoJustice

Mr Mikko RautamaaJudicial Secretary

The Act on the Openness of GovernmentActivities, repealing the Publicity of Offi-

cial Documents Act, entered into force on 1December 1999. Under the new Act, the Su-preme Administrative Court decided 115 casespertaining to the publicity of official documentsby the end of 2002, most of which were re-lated to the application of the Act on theOpenness of Government Activities. The Actprovides for the publicity and confidentialityof official documents.

Most of the appeals in the afore-men-tioned cases were lodged by persons who hadfirst requested the competent authority toprovide them with the document in questionbut whose request had been refused. The ap-peal may concern one document only or re-late to even thousands of pages of document-ary evidence. In some of the cases was theappeal made by the authority that had beenordered by an administrative court to disclosethe requested document. In cases relating tothe publicity of official documents, the right ofappeal of the competent authority is mainlyjustified by a public interest to be protected.

In 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt decided 49 cases concerning the pub-licity of official documents, the average lengthof proceedings being seven months. Of thesedecisions, six were published as precedents.One of them was given in a case where theMinistry of Finance was ordered to disclose

On the publicity of official documents

information on materials containing car prices,used for the preparation of the GovernmentBill to amend the Car Tax Act, which had beencommunicated to the Ministry by an informa-tion service company. The Supreme Adminis-trative Court ruled that the information wasnot part of the confidential reference mater-ials, and nor did it constitute a business or pro-fessional secret or contain other comparableprivate business information.

In one of the published cases, a person whowas not an interested par ty was entitled toobtain a copy of a decision of the SupremeAdministrative Court containing confidential in-formation on taxation, so that the name andother personal identification data were hidden.The access to the document was granted inview of the principle of publicity of official docu-ments, and of the specific interest in allowingaccess to decisions of the Supreme Adminis-trative Court having a duty to enhance consist-ency of case law and respect for fair trial rights.

Another published case was related to aprovision on the right of appeal in the Act onthe Openness of Government Activities, whichhad raised problems of interpretation. It wasfound that in a case concerning the publicity ofa decision made by a state-owned company,appeal was to be first lodged with an adminis-trative court and not directly to the SupremeAdministrative Court. Another provision of theAct that has been difficult to interpret is a pro-vision on its application to internal documentsof authorities. However, most cases examinedunder the Act so far have concerned the ap-plication and interpretation of its provisions con-taining a 32-item list of secret documents.

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On direct taxes

The number of new cases concerning dir-ect taxes before the Supreme Adminis-

trative Court has significantly decreased in thepast ten years. Whereas there were more than1,000 of such new cases each year through-out the 1980's, the number remained below600 in 2002. Of all the new cases in the 1980's,the share of cases concerning direct taxes wasnearly 30 per cent, whereas it was only 15 percent in 2002. Until mid-1990's, it was neces-sary to assign cases concerning direct taxes totwo different chambers. In 2002, all cases con-cerning taxes, including indirect taxes, wereexamined by the second chamber where theyconstituted approximately two thirds of all thecases examined.

The decrease in the number of cases con-cerning direct taxes is partly explained by theamendments made to tax laws at the end ofthe 1980's and at the beginning of the 1990's,such as the repealing of the provisions on theassessment carried out on the basis of es-timated income. However, the reduction hasbeen more a result of the reform of the ap-peal system in cases concerning taxes whichwas introduced in mid 1990's, including the es-tablishment of tax adjustment boards and theextension of the requirement of leave to ap-peal to concern all cases of taxation. In re-spect of direct taxes, leave to appeal had beenrequired in some cases already since 1968.Appeal may still be lodged without leave to

appeal from advance rulings on taxation givenby the Central Tax Board and from cer tain de-cisions concerning tax concessions.

The purpose of the afore-mentionedamendments has been to ensure that in eachcase, a lawful decision is made at the earliestpossible stage and to guarantee the tax payeraccess to proceedings before an administrat-ive court. At the same time, the Supreme Ad-ministrative Court is provided with better pos-sibilities to concentrate on cases where it ispar ticularly important to have a precedent inview of the application of law in future cases,or where the case involves a significant inter-est. However, this does not exclude the pos-sibility of having manifest errors corrected bythe Supreme Administrative Court.

In 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt gave a decision in 531 cases concern-ing direct taxes. Of these, 451 were requestsfor leave to appeal which was granted in 70cases, thus constituting 15.5 per cent of therequests.

In the afore-mentioned cases, the leave toappeal was requested by the person liable topay taxes in 87.2 per cent of the cases, and bythe tax recipient in 12.8 per cent of the cases.Of the first-mentioned, 12.2 per cent of therequests were admitted, and of the latter, 24.5per cent of the requests.

Although the legislation of the EuropeanCommunities only includes a limited numberof provisions on direct taxes, the Supreme Ad-ministrative Court submitted a reference fora preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice tohave an opinion on the compliance of the Finn-ish corporation tax credit system with Com-munity law. In 2002, the Supreme Administrat-ive Court also gave a decision in a case con-cerning the relationship between the Act onthe Taxation of Shareholders of Controlled For-eign Companies and international tax agree-ments and Community law, which has raisedinterest in other Member States.

Mr Ismo TalikkaJustice

Ms Paula TenkanenReferendary Counsellor

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Mr Timo SilentiJustice

Ms Tuulia RiikonenReferendary Counsellor

The Supreme Administrative Court has had,since its establishment, jurisdiction over

water rights, and cases concerning them werefirst examined and decided pursuant to theprovisions on appeal in the Water Court Actand since 1 April 1962 in accordance with thecorresponding provisions in the Water Act.

In cases concerning water rights, decisionsare made in a composition of five justices andtwo exper ts on water and natural resourcesengineering, respectively, the latter of whichwere called chief engineering counsellors un-til 2000 and are currently called expert coun-sellors on the environment.

The water courts and the Water Courtof Appeal were abolished on 1 March 2000.The water cour ts were replaced by three en-vironmental permit authorities and the WaterCourt of Appeal was made par t of the Ad-ministrative Court of Vaasa. Appeal from de-cisions of the regional environment centres orlocal environmental authorities are thus cur-rently made to Vaasa Administrative Cour t, inaccordance with the provisions of the WaterAct. Decisions of the Administrative Court maybe directly appealed to the Supreme Adminis-trative Court, without leave to appeal.

Accordingly, the Supreme AdministrativeCour t has been issuing decisions on water

On water rights

rights in accordance with the provisions ofthe Water Act for 40 years. In the course ofthis rather long period of time, the nature ofwater rights cases has considerably changed.During the first twenty years after the entryinto force of the Act, the cases largely con-cerned large projects such as the construc-tion of water power stations, or log floating,the purpose of which was to reconstruct Fin-land after the war. Since the 1980's, the inter-ests of conservation of water areas have moreclearly affected the construction of waterways,the construction projects have been less ex-tensive and their technical standards havebeen constantly raised, and the conditions forthe granting of permissions have thereby beenmade stricter.

One of the most important cases exam-ined in the past few years has been the oneconcerning the construction of the ar tificiallake of Vuotos, in which a permission for aproject was for the first time refused sincethe entry into force of the Water Act withreference to the detrimental effects of theproject on the environment and natural wa-tercourses, taking account of the provisionsof Chapter 2, section 5, of the Water Act.

Another important decision given pursu-ant to the provisions of the Water Act was adecision concerning the construction of a har-bour in Vuosaari, Helsinki, where the SupremeAdministrative Court needed to take a posi-tion, among others, on the impact of theproject on the Natura network and on a birdconservation area.

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Mr Heikki KanninenJustice

In the same way as society in general, the ad-ministration of justice has become increas-

ingly international in the past few years, havingvarious transfrontier dimensions. This is reflect-ed, firstly, in an increasing number of cases con-cerning aliens or cases which otherwise involvefacts which are not merely attached to Fin-land. Secondly, rules of international law areincreasingly applied either directly or indirect-ly through the application of national law. Fur-thermore, knowledge of the administration ofjustice in other states has become importantin rather concrete contexts, par ticularly with-in the framework of the European Union.

In 2002, the Supreme AdministrativeCourt continued its cooperation with certainforeign courts and other relevant bodies, par-ticularly through visits. In addition, multilat-eral cooperation has taken place with certainstates which are geographically located closeto Finland. The Supreme Administrative Courtis a member of the International Associationof Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions (AIH-JA; Association Internationale des Hautes Ju-ridictions Administratives), as well as of theAssociation of the Councils of State and Su-preme Administrative Jurisdictions of the Euro-pean Union (Association des Conseils d'Etatet des Juridictions administratives suprêmes del'Union européenne). The members of the lat-ter association, established in 2000 and con-tinuing the traditions of cooperation datingback to 1964, include the supreme adminis-trative courts of the fifteen Member States aswell as the Court of Justice of the EuropeanCommunities.

Internationalcooperation

In 2002, the Supreme Administrative Courthad the honour of hosting the regular colloquiumof the members of the Association of the Coun-cils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdic-tions of the European Union, held every two years,which is the most important event organised bythe Association. The colloquium was attended byjudges from the cour ts which are members ofthe Association, as well as by representatives ofthe supreme jurisdictions of Cyprus, Poland, Slov-enia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia asobservers.

The afore-mentioned colloquium focused on

The participants of the colloquium of 20 and21 May 2002 in the Finlandia Hall.

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Risto Laine

'the Preliminary Reference to the Court of Just-ice of the European Communities'. The topic wasaddressed in par ticular on the basis of experi-ences gained from the system. National reportsand a repor t of the Court of Justice had beenprepared for the colloquium, constituting the ba-sis for a General repor t. The national repor ts(par tly in English and partly in French) and thegeneral report (in English and French) are avail-able on the web site of the Association (part ofthe web site of the 'Conseil d'Etat' of Belgium),at www.raadvst-consetat.be.

The European Parliament has provided theAssociation with financial support for the purposeof publications, creation of a database of court

decisions, and exchange of officials. The Associ-ation has already undertaken to publish a news-letter providing information on the activities ofthe Association and containing summaries ofnational court decisions in the field of Commun-ity law. The newsletter is available on the Asso-ciation's web site. The Association has alsoopened a database of national case law, contain-ing already more than 19,000 cases. The publichas access to the database through the Internet.

The following colloquium of the Associationwill take place at The Hague in 2004, focusing onthe quality of EU legislation and on its nationalimplementation and application by national jur-isdictions.

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Administrative Courts Day. The yearly Ad-ministrative Courts Day was arranged on

the premises of the Supreme AdministrativeCourt on 13 November. This joint meeting ofthe Supreme Administrative Court and the re-gional administrative courts focused on appealsin cases concerning building and planning, andon cases concerning social welfare and health.

Publications. In 2001, the Supreme Admin-istrative Court introduced a new series of re-

Activities

search publications, with a view to enhancingresearch in the field of administration of justice.The second publication in the series, 'Costs inadministrative judicial procedure - a study of caselaw', was issued in 2002.

Legal opinions. The Supreme AdministrativeCourt provides each year, upon request, severalopinions on questions of law, par ticularly onissues concerning administrative legislation. Theopinions are published in the Court's yearbook.

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Risto Laine

The yearly meetingof the SupremeAdministrativeCourt and theregional admi-nistrative courtswas held inNovember.Presentations onbuilding and plan-ning cases weregiven by ChiefJudge HannuRenvall from TurkuAdministrativeCourt (left above)and Justice KariKuusiniemi (right).The breaks bet-ween presentationswere used forinformal discus-sions in smallergroups (left below).

In 2002, opinions were given, amongothers, on a working group's proposal for anoverall reform of the Aliens Act, a committeereport on appeals in cases concerning basicsubsistence, a working group's proposal to re-form the organisation of the Insurance Court,amendment of the provisions on appeal ap-plied to cases concerning health care, and acommittee report on the publicity of cour tproceedings, including a draft bill on the pub-licity of court proceedings. Opinions were alsogiven on a proposal of the Sámi Parliamentfor a new Sámi Language Act, environmentalaspects relating to quarrying and cutting ofstone and asphalting, and draft bills for theenactment of a new Nationality Act and a newAliens Act.

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Risto Laine

The judges of the Supreme AdministrativeCourt include the President and twenty

Justices, as well as a few temporary Justices.The President of the Supreme AdministrativeCourt since 1993 is Mr Pekka Hallberg, Doc-tor of Laws.

The Supreme Administrative Court hasabout for ty referendaries and for ty otheremployees. They are headed by the SecretaryGeneral.

The Supreme Administrative Court hasthree chambers. The first chamber focuses,among others, on cases concerning building,local and state government, the second cham-ber on cases concerning taxation and com-petition, and the third chamber on cases con-cerning social welfare, aliens and the environ-ment. The chambers do not, however, exclus-ively handle cases concerning these subject-matters but may examine any types of casesfalling within the Court's jurisdiction. There areas many as 180 different cate-gories of cases.

The cases before the Su-preme Administrative Courtare decided by a compositionof five judges. In cases referredto in the Water Act and theEnvironmental Protection Act

The information and documen-tation services of the Supreme

Administrative Court are at theresponsibility of (from left to

right) Data Service LawyerPekka Tuominen, Departmental

Secretary Sinikka Savolainen,Project Secretary Jani-Matti Iso-

viita and Data Analyst MinnaRonkainen (seated).

Organisationand personnel

as well as in cases concerning intellectualproper ty rights such as patents and indus-trial designs, the chamber is composed of thejudges and two expert members having com-petence in the relevant field.

When refusing leave to appeal, a chambermay be composed of three judges. Cases in-volving a significant interest may be decided bya composition of all the judges of the chamber,or be subject to the Court's plenary review.

After the institution of proceedings in theSupreme Administrative Cour t, a notary and asecretary carry out an initial preparation of thecase and par ticularly obtain the parties' writ-ten submissions and observations. Before theexamination of the case by a chamber, the ref-erendary establishes the questions of law andthe facts of the case and prepares a draft deci-sion. The deliberations and the issue of the de-cision take place after the referendary has pre-sented his or her written and oral statementsin the chamber's session. In order to establishthe facts of the case, the Supreme Administrat-ive Court may arrange an on-site inspection oran oral hearing. Inspections are mainly arrangedin cases relating to the environment.

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President and othercourt members

President

Pekka Hallberg

Justices

Timo SilentiAhti RihtoErkki OnikkiIlmari OjanenOlof OlssonIsmo TalikkaEsa AaltoPirkko IgnatiusLauri TarastiPirkko LundellHannu KoskinenRaimo AnttilaTuulikki KeltanenMarita LiljeströmOlli NykänenHeikki KarapuuPekka VihervuoriMarjatta KajánHeikki Kanninen

Temporary Justices

Kari KuusiniemiNiilo JääskinenIlkka Pere

Expert Counsellors onthe Environment

Per tti VakkilainenPentti HannonenIlkka HirstoHeikki KiuruPer tti SeunaPer tti ElorantaJanne HukkinenJuha Kämäri

Chief EngineeringCounsellors

Karri Var tiainenPentti UuspääTapani JokinenAllan JohanssonMatti Kleimola

Personnel of the Supreme AdministrativeCourt on 31 December 2002

The President ischairman of the firstchamber. The secondchamber was chairedby Justice Ahti Rihtoand the third chamberby Justice Timo Silenti.

Referendaries

Secretary General

Sakari Vanhala

ReferendaryCounsellors

Ilkka Pere (on leave)Marianne BåskLiisa HyvärinenIlpo HavumäkiPaula TenkanenMarina ÄimäMatti MetsärantaTuulia RiikonenHannu Ranta

Senior JudicialSecretaries

Kai TräskelinLeena HalilaKari HonkalaMatti Halen (on leave)Eila RotherMarja-Ter ttu SavolainenAnne Niemi (on leave)

Judicial Secretaries

Marjo SnellmanAnneli TulikallioRaimo ViitasaariKari NieminenLiisa Tähtinen (on leave)Marja-Liisa JudströmIrene MäenpääArja NiemeläMarja Leena KemppainenKristina BjörkvallHannele KlemettinenKari Tornikoski (on leave)

Mikko RautamaaLeo KaasinenRiitta KreulaRiitta MutikainenMarita EevaPäivi Pietarinen

Temporary JudicialSecretaries

Satu HeikkiläPetri LeinonenPetteri LeppikorpiJaana MoilanenElisabeth Vuorenhela

Marja Ihto, Administra-tive Secretary, acted asreferendary in 2002.

Other employees

Head of theInformation Service

Timo Ahvenniemi

Data Service Lawyer

Pekka Tuominen

Information Specialist

Marja Halttunen (on leave)

Registrar

Eeva Väänänen-Silén

Notaries

Vuokko KantanenPaula KilponenCarita RostialaMarjatta RäsänenSatu-Maarit TarkkanenRitva Vähämaa

Budget Officer

Marja Klaavo

DepartmentalSecretaries

Liisa HartikainenNina JohnssonHenna MäkinenAnne Sahlman

Sinikka SavolainenKaarina TallbergSoili TolvanenElina Tukiainen

Data Analyst

Minna Ronkainen

Project Secretary

Jani-Matti Isoviita

Secretaries

Merja AhlforsPirkko HeikkinenMirja JohanssonHeli KalajainenAnneli LiukkonenLiisa Mar tikainenChristina NybergTuula PelkonenTarja PihoIrma ReunanenMaarit RomppanenAnneli RonimusPiia RonkainenMarja TiihonenEila ViitaniemiRaija VuoriMaija Ylönen

Head of theCaretaker Service

Kari Joutsenlahti

Chief OfficeCaretakers

Anssi KaikkoTimo RouskuTapani Ruostela

Of the Court'spersonnel, JusticeRitva Koljonen retiredon 1 September 2002and ReferendaryCounsellor TapioKuosma on1 July 2002.

Page 18: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Statistics

Development of the Court´s caseload 1998–2002

New cases Decided cases Pending cases

Cases 1987–2002

Newcases

Decidedcases

Pendingcases

1987 6367 6465 32691988 5739 5894 31161989 5285 5377 30241990 5219 5068 31831991 5435 5520 31081992 7118 5434 48071993 7147 6132 49031994 6523 7302 40591995 4807 5909 29481996 4377 4526 27561997 3910 3852 27721998 4904 3565 44411999 4372 4701 40942000 3691 4574 31832001 3752 3612 32812002 4036 3778 3486

Page 19: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Number of new cases by subject-matter 1999–2002

Taxation 927 921 803 819 24 28 23 22

Building and planning 380 317 457 568 9 10 13 15

Civil service 192 168 181 160 5 5 5 4

Aliens 152 148 228 391 4 4 7 10

Social welfare 419 472 460 439 10 14 13 12

Local government 196 178 131 158 5 5 4 4

Traffic and roads 90 71 108 62 2 2 3 2

Environment and water rights 244 211 228 317 6 6 7 9

Sámi Parliament elections 657 0 0 0 17 0 0 0Health care 178 162 193 158 4 5 6 4

Others 580 689 657 652 14 21 19 18

Total number of appeals 4015 3337 3446 3724 100 100 100 100

New appeals by subject-matter 2002

Others 18 % Taxation 22 %

Civil service 4 %

Aliens10 %

Local government 4 %

Traffic and roads2 %

Environment andwater rights 9 %

Health care 4 %

Social welfare 12 %

Appeals 1999 2000 2001 2002 1999 2000 2001 2002

Number Percentage share

Petitions 1999 2000 2001 2002 1999 2000 2001 2002

Annulment of judgments 284 271 216 231 79 77 71 74

Restoration of lapsed time 24 43 52 41 7 12 17 13

Others 49 40 38 40 14 11 12 13

Total number of petitions 357 354 306 312 100 100 100 100

Total number of all cases 4372 3691 3752 4036

Building and planning15 %

Page 20: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002Administrative courts 2362 2446 2605 2798 3121Government and ministries 1466 262 213 160 163Water Court of Appeal 43 51 0 1 1Central state agencies 125 129 100 105 96Provincial State Offices 26 28 26 47 40Regional environment centres 230 205 133 109 59Review boards 192 216 194Market Court and Competition Council 41 45 64Others 652 587 381 271 298 Total 4904 3708 3691 3752 4036

New cases by authority 1998–2002

Review boards 5 %

Government and ministries 4 %

Administrative courts 78 %

Provincial State Offices 1%Regional environment centres 1 %

Market Court and Competition Council 2 % Others 7 %

New cases by source authority in 2002

Central state agencies 2 %

Page 21: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Average length of proceedings in decidedcases in 2002

Months

New cases by appellant in 2002

Direct taxation

Other forms of taxation

Building and planning

Traffic and roads

Civil service

Local government

Social welfare

Environment and water rights

Health care

Aliens

All cases

Individuals Private corporations Public corporations

Direct taxation

Other forms of taxation

Building and planning

Traffic and roads

Civil service

Local government

Social welfare

Environment and water rights

Health care

Aliens

All cases

8.5

13.4

12.8

8.6

10.6

14.2

14.6

5.5

12.7

14.7

11.2

Page 22: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 20021. Challenged decision is upheld (including conclusions and statement of reasons)

44.1 26.8 29.5 26.6 27.3 33.0 27.5 27.62. Challenged decision is upheld but the statement of reasons is changed

18.5 21.0 19.3 16.0 24.3 26.4 17.0 15.53. Challenged decision is amended

10.6 9.3 9.4 8.8 8.5 4.9 8.1 7.64. Request for leave to appeal is dismissed

9.0 21.0 20.8 28.2 22.1 17.2 26.1 30.45. Appealed decision is referred back to the lower authority for reconsideration

7.5 7.9 7.6 4.8 5.5 6.0 5.6 4.76. Extraordinary appeal is admitted

1.1 0.6 1.2 0.9 1.1 0.7 0.8 0.57. Extraordinary appeal is dismissed

3.0 5.9 4.9 6.6 5.0 4.7 6.1 6.08. Case is referred to the Government

0.5 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.09. Case is referred to another authority

0.2 0.1 0.3 0.7 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.610. Case lapses

2.0 1.211. Case is declared inadmissible

5.5 7.1 6.7 7.2 5.8 6.8 6.6 6.3

Outcome of decided cases

Challenged decisionupheld 34%

Request for leave to appealdismissed 30%

Challengeddecision amended

8%

Decision referred back to the lo-wer authority 5%

Case declared inadmissible 7%

Statement of reasons changed 16%

Outcome of decided cases in 2002

Percentage share

Page 23: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Pending cases on 31 December 2002

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Pending caseson 31 Decem-ber 2002

Appeals 5 10 19 382 1778 2194Requests for leave to appeal 2 2 7 166 879 1056Annulment of judgments 0 0 5 36 150 191Restoration of lapsed time 0 0 0 7 11 18Procedural complaints 0 0 0 9 12 21Other petitions 0 0 0 2 4 6

Total 7 12 31 602 2834 3486

In respect of the oldest cases, a reference for preliminary ruling has beensubmitted to the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

Page 24: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Cases before the Supreme Administrative Court in 2002

A. By subject-matterCases under the Nationality Act 10 22 8 5 3 24Autonomy of the Åland Islands 25 11 25 12 4 4 2 3 11Citizens' rights 1 1Asylum and refugees 25 187 117 98 5 5 7 2 97Other cases under the Aliens Act 109 227 175 139 4 17 10 5 3 158Other governmental functions 1 1Exemption from charges 7 2 7 7 2Restitution and damages 5 2 7 3 4Access to documents 20 82 49 31 12 2 4 4 49Data protection 5 12 5 5 1 11Private legal persons 2 5 5 2 2 1 2Administrative complaints 3 3 3Other administrative law cases 18 16 21 17 2 2 13Discretionary state subsidies 2 5 6 4 2 1Public legal aid 7 6 9 7 2 4Employment (state officials) 28 21 32 25 3 3 1 1 16Remuneration, working hours and annualleave (state officials) 11 14 11 6 1 1 14Disciplinary measures (state officials) 4 9 5 4 1 9Other state officials cases 16 12 19 15 2 2 9Local elections 2 2 1 1Division into municipalities 3 2 3 3 2Local regulations 4 4 4Municipal council decisions 56 58 77 65 3 1 7 1 3 34Municipal board decisions 34 49 42 37 1 1 3 1 40Municipal committee decisions 35 34 42 33 3 6 27Employment (local authority officials) 83 86 98 78 14 4 2 1 70Remuneration, working hours and annualleave (local authority officials) 23 22 28 27 1 1 16Disciplinary measures(local authority officials) 14 10 19 16 1 2 5Joint arrangements of municipalities 14 9 14 10 1 2 1 9Other local government cases 7 12 6 5 1 1 12Church law 31 43 34 22 4 1 7 3 38

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Page 25: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Pensions 7 6 13 9 4Population register 1 1 1 1 1Given name and family name 2 9 4 3 1 7Other population administration cases 1 1 1 1 1Firearms 16 24 29 22 3 4 2 9Public order, public entertainment 5 8 4 4 9Regional plans and master plans 118 32 109 83 1 14 10 1 41Town plans and plot division 20 9 20 17 3 1 8Building plans 16 1 14 12 1 1 3Shore plans 19 10 15 5 14Other planning cases 3 3 3Building permits 20 13 22 16 1 4 1 11Other authorisations relating to building 12 3 10 3 2 1 4 5Exceptional permits and parcellingpermits 62 47 74 59 5 3 6 1 4 31Building inspections andunauthorised building 21 1 17 15 1 1 5Preservation of buildings 3 8 4 3 1 7Redemption under the Building Code 3 4 3 3 4Other building cases 9 2 10 6 2 1 1 3Regional plans (Land Use andBuilding Act; LBA) 7 7Local master plans (LBA) 13 58 2 2 69Local detailed plans (LBA) 31 78 20 17 1 2 89Detailed shore plans (LBA) 8 18 2 2 24Building ordinances (LBA) 5 2 2 3Plot division (LBA) 3 2 3 2 1 2Streets and other public areas (LBA) 3 8 8 6 1 1 3Expropriation of land (LBA) 1 1Preservation of buildings (LBA) 2 3 3 1 2 2Building permits (LBA) 44 99 60 43 7 3 5 2 1 82Decisions relating to areas requiringplanning (LBA) 10 44 9 4 4 1 45

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Page 26: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

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Maintenance of buildings, maintenanceof the environment (LBA) 2 2Action permits (LBA) 17 17 12 12 22Demolition permits (LBA) 1 4 4 3 1 1Permits for landscape work (LBA) 3 1 4Location of community infrastructureequipment (LBA) 2 1 1 1Joint arrangements btw. properties (LBA) 1 1Altering the natural course of water (LBA) 2 2Deviation from regulations (LBA) 61 123 37 21 4 3 4 5 4 143Building inspections (LBA) 5 21 6 4 2 20Conditional fines, threat of action (LBA) 4 3 2 1 1Other building cases (LBA) 1 2 1 1 2Planned streets and roads 4 2 4 4 2Water and sewage 2 1 2 1 1 1Wastewater charges 2 2 1 1Other local infrastructure cases 1 1 1 1 1Environmental permits 100 98 68 35 13 6 9 5 2 128Location permits 1 1Neighbouring properties 1 1Waste management 20 42 32 22 2 2 6 30Health inspections 14 12 10 6 3 1 2 14Noise abatement 2 5 5 2 3 2 2Off-road traffic and motor boat traffic 5 6 9 7 1 1 1 1Extraction of land resources 21 26 24 19 4 1 1 22Outdoor recreation and camping 2 2Nature conservation 9 5 4 2 2 10Advertising boarding 2 2 2Other environmental cases 5 8 5 4 1 8Natura 2 68 70Conservation of animal species 3 5 4 4 4Cultural heritage 5 5 3 2Fire and rescue services, civil defence 1 1Housing production and otherhousing cases 40 3 43

Page 27: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

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Expropriation/redemption 5 3 5 1 4 3Rights of pre-emptive purchase 4 2 3 3 3Other real property cases 3 3 3 3 1 2Hydraulic engineering 27 21 22 16 5 1 1 25Ground water 6 15 1 1 20Water treatment systems 1 1 1Sewage systems 13 7 11 6 4 1 9Fish farming 5 4 9Compensation 11 5 2 1 1 14Other water rights cases 39 14 29 15 11 3 24Public roads 12 10 10 10 12Other roads cases 1 1Driver's licences and permits forprofessional transport 10 20 20 17 1 1 1 1 9Driving schools 3 2 2 2 3Professional motor traffic 35 23 18 14 3 1 40Traffic fines and other charges 9 7 9 9 7Railway traffic, shipping, aviation 2 1 1 1Data communications 18 29 17 12 3 2 30Other communications cases 2 3 4 3 1 1Seafarers, pilots, etc. 3 4 4 4 1 2Speed and weight limits 2 2 3 2 1 1Other cases related to vehicles 13 6 12 9 3 7Banking and insurance 9 1 8 4 2 1 1 2Mining 6 2 8 8Real estate agencies 5 5Hotel and catering industry, liquorlicences and alcohol retailing 73 71 73 53 3 6 11 72Trades engaged in by aliens 1 1 1Other trades cases 2 2 2Competition law, consumer protection,price control 50 72 44 32 8 4 82Other control of industry and trade 4 3 4 2 1 1 3Other company law cases 7 15 13 12 1 1 8Trade register 1 1 2

Page 28: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

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Patents and utility models 35 25 32 20 10 1 1 1 27Industrial designs and trade marks 29 20 30 18 1 9 2 19Other financial management cases 1 2 2 2 1School education 13 30 26 18 5 1 1 1 17Vocational education 6 2 7 5 1 1 1Universities 3 5 7 6 1 1Other cases relating to education 3 2 1 1 1Subsistence allowances 199 243 229 214 4 2 3 1 6 207Child welfare and public care of children 93 120 100 85 1 6 8 113Guarantees of child maintenance 14 9 14 10 2 2 9Care of persons with disabilities 10 4 6 4 2 8Handicap services 98 79 98 77 9 8 4 1 78Other social assistance 2 2 1 1 3Other social welfare cases 10 28 9 6 2 1 29Public health 2 3 2 1 1 3Mental health 66 120 141 129 1 2 9 1 45Pharmacies 18 27 21 14 4 3 24Health care professionals 4 6 2 2 8Food safety 1 1 2Other health care cases 15 15 15 11 4 15State subsidies for education 1 1 1Other state subsidies 1 1Agricultural production control 1 1 2Promotion of forestry 3 2 3 3 2Reindeer herding 7 4 7 3 2 2 4Hunting and fishing 11 8 12 9 1 2 7Other agricultural and forestry cases 40 45 46 41 2 2 1 1 39Employment and unemployment 8 7 7 4 3 8Wage security 29 21 27 26 1 23Industrial safety 1 1 2Labour administration 3 8 7 7 1 3Defence administration 5 9 10 9 1 1 3Judicial administration 4 1 4 4 1Other sectors of administration 1 1 1Cost-free legal proceedings 11 24 12 8 2 2 23

Page 29: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

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B. By category of appealAppeals 1957 2306 2056 1566 168 122 164 37 22 2194Requests for leave to appeal 1070 1418 1431 1229 105 50 40 6 11 1056Partial leave to appeal 1 1 1Annulment of judgments 190 231 201 174 3 3 21 29 191Restoration of lapsed time 33 41 56 38 7 1 9 1 18Procedural complaints 19 16 14 11 2 1 21Other petitions 7 24 19 9 6 2 2 6 6

Total 3277 4036 3778 3028 289 178 238 45 68 3486

Total 3277 4036 3778 3028 289 178 238 45 68 3486

Other cases 1 1Taxes on earned income 216 381 346 316 13 7 8 7 249Taxes on corporate income 70 111 98 88 6 2 2 83Taxation of agriculture and forestry 3 7 7 6 1 3Other taxes on properties 1 1Taxes on capital 1 4 2 2 3Advance rulings of theCentral Tax Board 10 27 22 18 3 1 15Prepayment of taxes and socialsecurity payments 33 49 35 26 7 2 1 46Taxes withheld at source 1 1 2 2Other taxes on income and capital 9 19 19 16 2 1 9Inheritance and gift taxes 16 38 29 25 3 1 1 24Value added tax 105 130 141 101 31 5 4 95Customs 108 32 108 98 10 1 31Excise duties 52 17 36 27 5 4 33Car and motorcycle taxes 107 40 92 85 4 2 1 2 53Taxes on other than petrol-driven vehicles 4 2 5 5 1Taxes on insurance premiums 5 5 5Stamp duties 2 7 6 5 1 3Asset transfer tax 22 17 32 27 5 7Taxes on waste 1 1 2Other taxes and duties 5 3 5 4 1 3

Page 30: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Cases referred by the administrative courts 1999–2002

1999 2000 2001 2002

Administrative courtsHelsinki 35 1089 1014 1235Turku 29 345 452 443Hämeenlinna 6 293 343 348Vaasa 6 272 298 362Kouvola 1 112 127 169Kuopio 6 127 245 243Oulu 8 150 173 206Rovaniemi 4 90 120 87Åland Islands 6 11 18 23

Total 101 2489 2790 3116

1999 2000 2001 2002

County administrative courts

Uusimaa 902 69 6 0Turku and Pori 398 9 0 1Häme 250 10 0 0Kymi 81 3 0 0Mikkeli 66 0 0 0Kuopio 77 0 0 0Pohjois-Karjala 69 0 0 0Vaasa 142 14 2 3Keski-Suomi 84 5 0 0Oulu 186 2 0 1Lapland 90 4 0 0

Total 2345 116 8 5

Page 31: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Esa Tomm

iska

According to the Constitution of Finland,"the Supreme Administrative Court and

the regional administrative courts are the gen-eral courts of administrative law".

Millions of administrative decisions aremade each year by state and local authorities,by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church and by theOrthodox Church, against which appeal maybe lodged with an administrative court, usu-ally a regional administrative court. However,in respect of specific subject-matters, appealshall be made to a specialised cour t, such asthe Market Court in cases concerning com-petition and public procurement or the Insur-ance Cour t in cases concerning the guaran-tees of basic subsistence. Before the appeal,a request for review is often made to theauthority which made the original decision.

In 2002, a total of 21,800 new cases werelodged with the regional administrative courts,including the Administrative Court of the ÅlandIslands.

The number of appeals against decisionsof the afore-mentioned administrative courts,made to the Supreme Administrative Court,was 3,121 in 2002. The total number of newcases lodged with the Supreme Administrat-ive Court was 4,036.

In respect of decisions of certain adminis-trative authorities, including decisions of the

The new building of KouvolaAdministrative Court has beenin use since 2002.

Regional administrative courts and other authoritiesapplying the administrative judicial procedure

Government and Ministries, appeal is made dir-ectly to the Supreme Administrative Courtwithout prior appeal to a regional administrat-ive court. However, such appeal is only possi-ble against unlawful decisions. There were 163appeals made against decisions of the Gov-ernment or a Ministry to the Supreme Ad-ministrative Court in 2002.

A new Market Cour t assumed its func-tions on 1 March 2002. The new court exer-cises jurisdiction over cases concerning com-petition restrictions and public procurements,which earlier fell within the jurisdiction of theformer Competition Council. In respect ofthese cases, appeal against decisions of theMarket Court - in the same way as earlieragainst those of the Competition Council - maybe lodged with the Supreme AdministrativeCourt. There were 64 such appeals made in2002 (including both decisions of the Competi-tion Council and those of the Market Court).

Regional administrative courts. There areeight regional administrative courts in Finland,in Helsinki, Hämeenlinna, Kouvola, Kuopio,Oulu, Rovaniemi, Turku and Vaasa, and the Ad-ministrative Court of the Åland Islands.

The judicial district of a regional court mayconsist of one or more regions as defined inthe Division into Regions Act. However, in re-spect of cer tain subject-matters, the territor-

Page 32: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

ial jurisdiction of one regional court may ex-tend over the entire country. For example,Helsinki Administrative Court examines, as acourt of first instance, any cases concerningvalue added tax, customs duties and exciseduties, as well as cases concerning asylum. Ap-peals against decisions concerning permits andorders based on the Water Act or the Envi-ronmental Protection Act are to be made toVaasa Administrative Court. Furthermore, ap-peals against decisions relating to reindeerherding are only examined by the Administra-tive Courts of Oulu and Rovaniemi.

Examination of cases. Administrativecourts apply the Administrative Judicial Pro-cedure Act. The Act contains a provision plac-ing the authorities, i.e. the administrative courts,under an obligation to ensure proper exam-ination of the case. Thus, the par ties to theproceedings are usually able to pursue theircases without professional legal help, whichreduces costs and thereby enhances access tolegal remedies.

The objective of the administrative judi-cial procedure is that no case is decided onthe basis of inadequate evidence, and thatthe legal remedies are effective.

In cer tain categories of cases, includingcases concerning mental health and publiccare of children, the composition of the courtincludes, apar t from the judges, an exper thaving competence in the relevant subject-matter. Cases examined by Vaasa Administra-tive Court pursuant to the provisions ofthe Water Act or the EnvironmentalProtection Act are decided by a com-position of three judges and twoexpert members.

Judicial districts of the regional administrative courts.

Rovaniemi

Oulu

Vaasa

Hämeen-linna

Kuopio

Kouvola

TurkuHelsinki

Maarian-hamina

Page 33: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Cases before the administrative courts in 2002

Pending at thebeginning ofthe year

Newcases

Decidedcases

Removedfrom thedocket

Pending atthe end ofthe year

Newcases

Decidedcases

Pendingcases

Helsinki Hämeen-linna

Kouvola Kuopio Oulu Rova-niemi

Turku Vaasa ÅlandIslands

Figures as provided by the administrative courts.

Helsinki 5366 8040 7318 55 6033 + 667Hämeenlinna 1792 2683 2611 13 1851 + 59Kouvola 1242 1629 1353 1518 + 276Kuopio 1698 2313 2124 9 1878 + 180Oulu 777 1340 1262 2 853 + 76Rovaniemi 297 808 686 3 416 + 119Turku 1329 2864 2578 13 1602 + 273Vaasa 953 2037 1910 29 1051 + 98Åland Islands 90 86 94 0 82 – 8

Total 13544 21800 19936 124 15284 + 1740

Change+/-

Page 34: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Development of the caseload ofadministrative courts 1992–2002

New cases Decidedcases

Pendingcases

Page 35: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Editor : Timo AhvenniemiTranslation: Virpi KoivuLayout and cover : Adplus OyPrinted by F.G. Lönnberg

Page 36: THE SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT - Etusivu · nder the Constitution of Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court is the court of last resort in administrative cases. In criminal and

Unioninkatu 1600130 Helsinki

Telephone +358 9 185 31Fax +358 9 185 3382

http://www.kho.fiE-mail: [email protected]

THE SUPREMEADMINISTRATIVE

COURTOF FINLAND