Working group appointed to prepare legislative amendments on real estate transactions important to comprehensive security

The Prime Minister’s Office will appoint a cross-administrative working group with a mandate to prepare legislative amendments that ensure comprehensive security in connection with transfers of real estate properties while giving due consideration to the views of all administrative sectors. A report released today by the Ministry of Defence underlines that legislative amendments are needed to improve comprehensive state security in connection with transfers of immovable property.

The working group will be chaired by State Under-Secretary Timo Lankinen of the Prime Minister’s Office. The working group will include representatives from the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Finance and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Due consideration in the course of law drafting will be given to fundamental and human rights. The plan is that the government proposals are ready for presentation to Parliament in spring 2018 and that the amendments enter into force on 1 January 2019 with due regard to any transitional provisions.

One of the goals in Prime Minister Sipilä’s Government Programme is to draft more detailed legislation on the acquisition of land areas and properties significant from the point of view of comprehensive security. The purpose of the study released today is to identify concrete ways of ensuring that properties adjacent to the vital functions of society do not end up in wrong hands in terms of comprehensive security. Strategic sites where the surrounding area may have security dimensions include military areas; strategic road, railway, bridge and dam structures; shipping lanes and harbour structures; as well as sites associated with telecommunications and electricity transmission. The working group now appointed will be tasked to evaluate the suitability and appropriateness of the proposed measures.

Report on improving comprehensive state security in transfers of immovable property  

Inquiries: Director of Government Communications Markku Mantila, tel. +358 50 462 6435; State Under-Secretary Timo Lankinen, tel. +358 295 160 300; and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Riina Nevamäki, tel. +358 9 1602 2009