Category: Legislation

On March 16, 2020, Finland declared a nationwide state of emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result of this, the Finnish government submitted a decree implementing the Emergency Powers Act. The two commissioning decrees for the Act were given on March 17 and 19, respectively. Last time the Emergency Power Act was in use during wartime. Therefore the use of the Emergency Power Act is very exceptional and it demonstrates the significant influence which COVID-19 has on society. The Act transfers the legislative power from the parliament to the government. Furthermore, also the legislative procedure is accelerated which enables swift amendments. [...]