Special tasks
The legislative reform on the division of work between the supreme guardians of the law entered into force on 1 October 2022. The reform will specify the division of tasks between the Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
In the reform, the Chancellor of Justice received new special tasks related to legality supervision:
- the development of automated administrative systems and general grounds for maintenance
- the organisation of anti-corruption activities
- supervision related to public procurement, competition and state aid.
Automation of public administration
The Chancellor of Justice supervises the development and functioning of automated public administration systems from the viewpoint of the general prerequisites for the realisation of the rights of public administration clients. Public administration increasingly utilises automated systems in the processing and resolution of administrative matters and the organisation of e-services. Authorities deal with matters and provide solutions by utilising different information systems and their automated features. The supervision of legality by the Chancellor of Justice focuses on supervising the general prerequisites for automation in that the requirements laid down in the Constitution of Finland on legal protection and good governance and the protection of privacy are met.
In practice, the supervision may focus on issues such as:
- significant errors and shortcomings that have occurred in the development of the systems
- the implementation of the consultation of the clients of the administration in automated processing and decision-making concerning administrative matters
- the appropriate organisation of legal responsibility
- overall realisation of the rights of the clients.
Anti-corruption activities
The Chancellor of Justice monitors the organisation of anti-corruption activities in the activities of the authorities and the management of public duties. The monitoring is particularly concerned with the adequacy of anti-corruption efforts and also includes supervising that measures taken to prevent and combat corruption are appropriate. This task is particularly concerned with the supervision of the systems and structures of the activities of the authorities instead of the investigation of individual cases of corruption unless these have a more general, structural significance.
Supervision related to public procurement, competition and state aid
Public procurement includes the procurement of goods, services and construction projects carried out by the central government, wellbeing services counties, municipalities, unincorporated state enterprises and other procurement units determined in procurement legislation outside their organisation. Public procurement must comply with national procurement laws and the EU’s procurement directives.
The Chancellor of Justice monitors compliance with the regulation concerning public procurement, competition and state aid from the perspective of the general legal prerequisites of the activities. This supervision aims to prevent recurrent negligence in complying with regulations and other systemic errors. The appropriate practices, overall implementation of competition and uniform state aid together with the EU's legal order form an interlinked whole. In practice, the related supervision of legality may concern the preparation of general public administration policies, plans and budgets or the drafting of statutes in the operation of the Government.