Granting mandates as an organisation

You will need your personal identification tokens to identify yourself in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. Authorising is therefore possible only if the person representing the organisation has

• a Finnish personal identity code and uses online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.
• a valid foreigner’s identifier (UID) and the person uses the Finnish Authenticator application. In addition, they must have a valid right to create a mandate or a representative’s right to grant a mandate.

How to identify yourself in a service.

See the instructions for the Finnish Authenticator identification service.

A procuration is a personal right to represent a company. A procuration holder may not transfer procuration to another person. For this reason, procuration holders can only grant mandates if they have been given a mandate to grant a mandate in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. Also, several procuration holders cannot grant mandates together in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations or with an application, and they always need a mandate granted to them.

Persons prohibited from running a business cannot grant mandates in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. If the business prohibition is partial, mandate can be granted through the mandate service provided by officials. Follow the instructions to submit a mandate application. You must also attach to the application the court decision stating how extensively the business prohibition has been lifted. Go to authorisation with an application

If the Finnish organisation does not have a business ID or it is not yet registered, authorisation is not possible.

When you have logged into Suomi.fi e-Authorizations you must first select "Act on behalf of a company or organisation" as your role.

You will then see a list of companies, associations or other organisations whose mandates you are authorised to access. If you do not see your companies or organisations on the list, check the Acting on behalf of an organisation page to make sure that the prerequisites for acting on behalf of the company or organisation are met.

If you have been assigned a business ID for a trader, you can see it in the e-services under Acting on behalf of a company even if you have terminated the business. This is because the business ID of a trader is permanently linked to a person.

Once an organisation has ceased its activities, granting mandates is only possible by means of a mandate application.

Please note that

• an organisation that has ceased its activities can only grant mandates for transactions
• representation roles and previously granted mandates to represent cease to be effective
• a mandate application may be signed by the persons who were authorised to represent the organisation at the time of the cessation of activities
• mandates remain valid until the end of their period of validity, even if the company has ceased its activities.

E-services may restrict whether you can act on behalf of an organisation that has ceased its activities.

Even if the mandates are still valid, you may also be prevented from acting on behalf of an organisation if the organisation

• is bankrupt
• undergoing reorganisation
• in liquidation.

When a private entrepreneur dies, the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations granted and received by them as a private individual will stop working, but the mandates granted on behalf of their business, i.e. business ID, will remain valid. 

The shareholders of the estate of a private entrepreneur must jointly decide what happens to the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations granted on behalf of the business ID.  

What should be done about the granted mandates depends, among other things, on whether the estate will continue or cease the business activities. The estate may still have to act on behalf of the business in connection with business activities, such as paying VAT. In order to manage these matters, the estate may need to grant Suomi.fi e-Authorizations under the business ID to a party that will act on behalf of the business ID. 

Mandate application for viewing mandates 

After the estate inventory, the shareholders of the estate should apply for a mandate for all shareholders or one of them to view the mandates granted by the business ID. The shareholders can do this by submitting a mandate application to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. Before submitting an application, you must read the instructions for submitting an application. 

The applicant must enter the following information in the application: 

• the private entrepreneur's business and its business ID as the assignor 
• one or more shareholders of the estate or a person selected by them as assignees 
• mandate for transactions as the mandate type 
• “Seeing information in the authorisation register” as the mandate theme. 

All shareholders must sign the application. A copy of the list of shareholders in the estate inventory deed and any other documents affecting shareholder status, such as wills, must be attached to the application.  

Invalidation of granted mandates 

Once the shareholders have been able to view the mandates granted by the business ID, they should decide whether to allow some mandates to remain valid and whether to invalidate others. It may not be advisable to invalidate all mandates immediately. Instead, decisions should be made based on what is appropriate in the circumstances.  

If the shareholders decide to invalidate mandates, one of them must submit an application for the invalidation of a mandateOpens in a new window. to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. 

Granting new mandates 

If the estate continues to carry out business activities or, for example, changes accounting firms, it may grant new mandates by submitting a mandate application to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. 

Status of received mandates 

A private entrepreneur may also have received mandates when, for example, providing accounting services or other services that require the use of Suomi.fi e-Authorizations to business and private customers. The mandates granted by the private entrepreneur’s customers to the business ID will remain valid even if the holder of the business ID dies. In practice, however, such mandates will no longer be used if the estate does not continue the business activities.  

If the estate so wishes, it may inform the assignors that they can invalidate the mandates they have granted to the business ID in Suomi.fi. Otherwise, the mandates will be visible to the assignors in Suomi.fi until their validity expires.