New Ministry for Foreign Affairs decree on fees for 2025 enters into force on 1 January 2025

The new decree of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on fees charged for services provided by the Finnish Foreign Service in 2025 enters into force on 1 January 2025. Several services that are now provided free of charge will become subject to a fee as of 1 January 2025.

The services of the National Security Authority (NSA) concerning international personnel security clearance, international facility security clearance, visitor permits and separate certificates will be made chargeable.

A fee will not be collected for a security clearance referred to in the Security Clearance Act (726/2014) or the Act on International Information Security Obligations (588/2004) under section 6, subsections 3 and 4 of the Act on Criteria for Charges Payable to the State, if the security clearance concerns a person recruited to the Foreign Service. Nor will a fee be charged when the security clearance is provided to an authority of another state or to an international organisation in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.

The processing of authorisations relating to the export control of dual-used items will also be made chargeable with regard to single authorisations, transit authorisations, brokering authorisations, transfer authorisations, authorisations for the provision of technical assistance, global authorisations, advance decisions and inquiries on export controls.

Exemptions processed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs under EU sanctions regulations will remain free of charge.

A new free-of-charge service in the decree is the transmission of funds against an advance deposit made in a bank account of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs when the funds are transferred in connection with financial assistance (an undertaking to repay). The fee for financial assistance against  an undertaking to repay is EUR 150. In future, a lower fee of EUR 40 will be charged for assistance against an undertaking to repay in crisis situations referred to in section 15 of the Consular Services Act.

Some technical and content amendments are also proposed.

Other fees for services provided by the Foreign Service will remain unchanged, for example the fees for passports issued by Finnish missions.