Acting on behalf of another person and special situations

If you have the right to act on behalf of another person in Suomi.fi Messages, you can add your own email address to that person’s electronic mailbox to receive notifications about new messages sent to them

Follow these steps to add your email address as a notification address to another person’s mailbox:

1. Log into Suomi.fi Message with your personal identification token. You will find the Identification button on the Messages pageOpens in a new window..
2. Click on Act on behalf of another person and choose ‘I am acting on behalf of another person’.
3. Select the person on whose behalf you wish to act. After making the selection you will see that you are now acting on behalf of another person.
4. Open the Settings section. Location of the Settings menu
   a. In the Suomi.fi Web Service, on a mobile device: Select ‘Settings’ in the drop-down menu at the top of the Inbox.
   b. In the Suomi.fi Web Service, on a computer: Select Settings in the left-hand menu
5. Under the heading Notifications to a personal email address, you will find the Add email address button, which you can use to add your email address to the other person’s mailbox.
6. The email address will only become active once you have verified it with the code we send you. You can find detailed instructions for changing and verifying your email address in the Email and push notifications guide for Suomi.fi Messages.

Please note:

• If you have previously added your email address as a notification address for another person’s mailbox but have not verified it, it will appear on the list Email addresses to be removed from the mailbox.
• Email addresses to be removed from the mailbox list will soon be deleted. If you still want to receive notifications about another person’s messages, update and verify your email address as explained above.
• Once you have updated and verified your email address, you can remove it yourself from the Email addresses to be removed from the mailbox list. You will receive an email notification once the address has been removed.
• If your right to act on behalf of another person in Suomi.fi Messages ends, the verified email address will be removed automatically. You will no longer receive notifications about that person’s messages. You will, however, receive an email confirming that the address has been removed.
• If you act on behalf of another person through an authorisation granted by a company, you currently cannot save your own email address as a notification address for that person.

1. Log into Suomi.fi Message with your personal identification token. You will find the Identification button on the front page of MessagesOpens in a new window..
2. Click on Act on behalf of another person.
3. Select the person on whose behalf you wish to act. After making the selection, return to the messages view and you will see that you are now acting on behalf of another person.
4. To begin using Suomi.fi Messages, click on Activate Suomi.fi Messages and complete the information requested on the page that opens. Set the email address of the person you are acting on behalf of as the notification email address. It is important that the person themselves always receives information about matters that concern them. You can add your own email address as a notification address later.
5. A verification code will be sent to the email address you provided in the previous step. Ask the other person to check their email for the code.
6. After the email verification, Suomi.fi Messages is active for the person you are acting on behalf of.

Note that the verification code is valid for one hour. If the verification is not carried out in this time, start the activation of Suomi.fi Messages again. Suomi.fi Messages cannot be activated without verifying the email address.

Things to consider before activation:

• You can only act on behalf of another person in the Suomi.fi Web Service, not in the mobile application.
• The primary notification email address must belong to the person who you are activating Suomi.fi Messages for, not to you. You can add your email address as a secondary notification email address after activation.
• If you activate Suomi.fi Messages for another person, their messages will no longer be sent as paper letters. Make sure that the person can read their messages in Suomi.fi Messages and knows that official mail will be delivered electronically in the future.

Detailed instructions for activating Messages.

Yes, you can – there is no age limit for activating Suomi.fi Messages. You need to have a Finnish personal identity code and personal Finnish strong authentication tokens (such as online banking credentials) to activate the service. Inform your guardian that you are activating Suomi.fi Messages.

You can read the instructions for using Suomi.fi Messages on the Suomi.fi Web Service.

As a guardian, you can activate Suomi.fi Messages on behalf of your child. As a guardian, you receive the authorisation to manage your child’s electronic messages, which means, for example, that you can activate or deactivate Suomi.fi Messages for your child. 

If you activate Suomi.fi Messages for your child, messages addressed to them will no longer be sent as paper mail. 

Some messages concerning the child may be delivered to your electronic mailbox (for example, a school placement decision), while others may be delivered to the child’s own mailbox (for example, a tax decision or appointment information). 

It is important that you provide your child’s own email address as the primary email address when activating Suomi.fi Messages. Inform your child that you have activated Suomi.fi Messages for them. 

You can add your own email address as a secondary notification address. 

Make sure that the child and their other guardians can read their messages in Suomi.fi Messages and that they know that the child’s official mail will from now on be delivered to them electronically. 

A legal guardian registered in the Population Information System does not need a separate authorization; handling matters on behalf of a child usually works automatically. It is not possible to act on behalf of the child if: 

• the child is in foster care 
• the child has a non-disclosure for personal safety 
• there is a decision or agreement on custody that concerns more than just living arrangements. 

The automatic right to read Suomi.fi Messages ends when the child turns 18. Ensure that the person turning 18 is aware of the electronic messages and remembers to read them. If you wish to continue acting on behalf of your adult child, you must apply for an authorisation. You will need the child’s consent to apply. 

Read more about acting on behalf of a minor child in the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations instructions.