Population data services agency to be established in 2020

The Act on the Establishment of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency was approved on Friday by the President of the Republic.

The Act will enter into force on 1 January 2020, when the new Digital and Population Data Services Agency (Finnish Digital Agency) will begin operations in Finland, said the government in a press release.

The agency will be created when the Population Register Centre, local register offices and the Development and Steering Unit for the Local Register Offices operating under the Regional State Administrative Agency for Eastern Finland are merged to form a single agency within the Population Register Centre. At the same time, the name of the Population Register Centre will change to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will promote the digitalisation of society, secure the availability of information and provide services related to customers’ life events. Operations will focus, in particular, on national approaches, uniform practices and the possibilities offered by digitalisation. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be a national authority operating at several regional offices.

According to Minister of Local Government and Public Reforms Anu Vehviläinen, the aim of the reform is to promote digitalisation and the e-services of public administration, and to develop the public administration's cooperation in customer service. The name of the Agency indicates its pivotal role as a trailblazer in digitalisation

“The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will be an active and extensive actor promoting digitalisation. The goal is that the merger will allow us to offer citizens more comprehensive, life-situation-oriented services and to strongly promote the digitalisation of public administration and the whole of Finnish society. Now that the law has been approved, organisation of the Agency’s activities can begin in earnest,” said Janne Viskari, Director General of the Population Register Centre and the future Director of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.