Oikeuslaitos - Special courts

Special courts have been established for certain types of matter. The objective is to provide expertise in the consideration of the matter at hand beyond that available in a general court. There are in Finland four special courts: The Market Court, the Labour Court, the Insurance Court and the High Court of Impeachment.

Market Court

The Market Court may issue injunctions against illegal restrictions of competition and order monetary penalties. It has duties also in the supervision of mergers and acquisitions. In addition, the Market Court may overturn public procurement decisions, adjust the procurement process and order compensatory payments. The new Market Court has jurisdiction in disputes between the Consumer Ombudsman and businesses as to whether goods or services have been marketed in an unfair manner.

The Market Court is a new institution, superseding the Competition Council and the old Market Court as of 1 March 2002.

Labour Court

The Labour Court has jurisdiction in disputes on collective agreements and collective civil service agreements. In contrast, disputes on individual employment relationships are heard by the general courts and disputes on individual civil service relationships by the administrative courts.

Insurance Court

The Insurance Court has jurisdiction in certain matters of social insurance, such as accident insurance, employment pensions, civil service pensions and national pensions. Before the Insurance Court is seised, an appeal against an insurance decision must normally be lodged with a revision board; the decisions of the boards are actionable in the Insurance Court. With the exception of certain accident insurance cases, the Insurance Court is the final instance, whose decisions cannot be appealed against.

High Court of Impeachment

The High Court of Impeachment, which has convened only a few times, is the forum for criminal charges against a Minister, the Chancellor of Justice or a member of the Supreme Court or Supreme Administrative Court for an offence in office. In this event, the prosecution is seen to by the Prosecutor-General, the Chancellor of Justice or the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Separate tenancy courts have been discontinued as of 1 January 2003. From now on, disputes on residential tenancies are dealt with by the district courts in the same way as other civil matters.

The land courts, as separate special courts, were abolished as of 1 March 2001; their duties were assigned to eight district courts.

Water rights courts have been discontinued as of 1 March 2000. They were superseded by Environmental Permit Authorities and from 1.1.2010 by four of the AVI regional state administrative agencies.