Many authorities and other organisations use Suomi.fi e-Authorizations for acting on behalf of another person. Each organisation independently determines whether they will allow people or companies to act on behalf of another person in their service. For more information on acting on behalf of another person, see the instructions provided by, or contact the customer service of, the e-service you need (e.g. Kela’s My Kanta or the Tax Administration’s MyTax).
When you log into e-services and you want to act on behalf of another person, your right to do so is verified using Suomi.fi e-Authorizations from the Population Information System and the authorisation register.
There are cases when you do not have the right to act on behalf of another person or the matter cannot be reliably checked from register data. For reasons related to data protection, only information on whether transactions are possible or not is given to the e-service. The e-service may also have imposed different conditions that may restrict acting on behalf of another person.
A person acting on behalf of another person must log in to the e-service using personal Finnish identification tokens.
A person who does not have a guardian decides for themselves if they want another person to act on their behalf. For this reason, another person, company or other entity can only act on behalf of an adult by using a mandate for transactions granted in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. For instructions on granting mandates, see the
A person aged over 18 who does not have a guardian can decide for themselves if they want another person to act on their behalf. If the service has allowed acting on behalf of another party with a mandate, you can grant the required mandates in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. For instructions, go to Grant a mandate for transactions as a person page.
Please note that you cannot use services that use Suomi.fi e-Authorizations on behalf of another person in the following situations:
A guardian is appointed to a person, who has granted the mandate. In such a case the mandates that the person has previously granted will be invalidated, and they can no longer grant mandates to other people.
A guardian is appointed to the assignee. In such a case the mandates granted to them will be invalidated, and they can no longer act as an assignee.
The guardians of a minor can usually act on behalf of the child in all matters without a specific mandate. The guardians must be registered in the Population Information System.
If a valid joint custody agreement or order is in place regarding custody of the child, the content of the agreement or order will determine whether the guardian can act on behalf of the child.
The guardian always has the right to see the information on the child regardless of the restrictions of the joint custody agreement if the e-service has not prevented the seeing of the information on such grounds as a non-disclosure order.
In some e-services, it is not possible to act on behalf of the child if a joint custody agreement or order is in place regarding custody or it also applies to other matters in addition to the living arrangements.
When a joint custody agreement or order has been issued using the classifications for the division of the responsibilities introduced in autumn 2020, acting on behalf of the child may be possible according to the division also when the division concerns the following matters: social services, health services, early childhood education and care, education and training, or membership in a religious community. The right of access to information entered into the joint custody agreement or order may also enable people other than the guardian to view the child’s information.
Check from the e-service in question how the joint custody agreement or order affects acting on behalf of the child or viewing the information.
The e-service may also have imposed the following conditions for acting on behalf of a minor:
For example, acting on behalf of a child aged over 10 is not possible. The e-service provider (such as Kela) always decides on the age limit for their e-services.
A child’s parent does not have the right to act on behalf of a child who has been taken into care.
If a child has been issued a non-disclosure order, none of the child’s guardians can act on behalf of the child. This condition will protect the information within the scope of the child's non-disclosure order.
If all of the child’s guardians have a non-disclosure order, none of the guardians can act on behalf of the child. If only one of the guardians has been issued with a non-disclosure order, the guardian issued with the order can act on behalf of the child. The purpose of these conditions is to protect the information in the guardian's non-disclosure order.
Acting on behalf of an underage child is only possible with a mandate granted in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations which all guardians have validated.
Information on whether a child has been taken into care or on non-disclosure orders applying to the child or the child’s other guardians is not disclosed to the e-service because this is classified as sensitive.
If the guardian cannot act on behalf of the child, it is advisable to first check from the organisation responsible for the e-service whether one guardian can act on behalf of the child and whether acting on behalf of the child has been restricted in some way.
If acting on behalf of the child is possible but you cannot see the child’s information:
First, check the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s Personal Data service to verify whether you have been registered as the child's guardian.
Ask the Digital and Population Data Services Agency whether a joint custody agreement or order has been issued on the child's custody, when it has been issued and what kind of division of responsibilities has been recorded in it, or whether some other guardian has been appointed to the child. Customer service for private customers - dvv.fiOpens in a new window.
Using a mandate to act on behalf of a minor
If the e-service has enabled acting on behalf of a minor by a mandate granted in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations all guardians can jointly, for example, authorise
one of the guardians or a close relative to act on behalf of an underage child in matters where the consent of all guardians is required
one of the guardians to act on behalf of a minor, for example, regardless of the limitations of a shared custody agreement or the guardian's non-disclosure order
a close relative to view a minor’s information in those e-services where this is possible.
Note that:
If consent for acting on behalf of the child is required from all guardians, a single parent must also grant a mandate to act on behalf of the child to himself or herself.
In addition, the e-service may have restricted the mandate so that it can only be used by an official guardian.
In addition, the e-service may have set an age limit for a minor on whose behalf you can use a mandate.
Under the current system, the guardian cannot use Suomi.fi e-Authorizations to act on behalf of a person under guardianship because Suomi.fi e-Authorizations cannot obtain the required information on the content and scope of the guardianship from background registers. If you want to act on behalf of a person under guardianship, contact the e-service that you need to find out how this can be arranged.
The estate of a deceased person with no business ID cannot mandate anyone to manage the estate’s affairs. Check with the organisation responsible for the e-service to see how one of the shareholders can handle the estate's matters alone.
If the estate of a deceased person has a business ID, the shareholders can use a mandate service provided by officials to authorise a person, company or organisation of their choice (e.g. accounting agency) to manage the estate's matters. Go to the authorisation with an application