DESCRIPTION OF THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS OF THE INTELLIGENCE OMBUDSMAN
Description of the right of access to documents
According to section 12 of the Constitution of Finland (731/1999), documents and recordings in the possession of the authorities are public, unless their publication has, for compelling reasons, been specifically restricted by an act. The right of access to public documents and the confidentiality of documents is regulated in more detail in the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999).
This description of the data repositories and case register managed by the Intelligence Ombudsman in accordance with section 28 of the Act on Information Management in Public Administration (906/2019) is maintained in order to implement the principle of right of access laid down in the Constitution and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. The description is intended to facilitate requests for information.
Case register
The Intelligence Ombudsman's case register consists of the Hilda case management system and a separate list of classified matters.
Administrative matters relating to the Intelligence Ombudsman and public matters relating to the oversight function of the Intelligence Ombudsman are registered in the Hilda case management system. Matters registered in the Hilda case management system may also involve confidential documents.
A significant part of the matters relating to the oversight function of the Intelligence Ombudsman are entirely confidential in order to protect the intelligence activities, to ensure the effectiveness of intelligence oversight and to protect those who request for examination and complain. The entirely confidential matters relating to the oversight function of the Intelligence Ombudsman are registered in a separate list of classified matters.
Data repositories
The data repositories of the Intelligence Ombudsman are the oversight data repository, administrative data repository, security arrangements data repository and communications data repository.
The Intelligence Ombudsman's oversight data repository consists of public oversight matters to be registered in the Hilda case management system and entirely classified oversight matters to be registered in a separate list of classified matters.
The Intelligence Ombudsman's administrative data repository consists of administrative matters to be registered in the Hilda case management system. In addition, the administrative matters of the Intelligence Ombudsman are handled by the State’s shared human resources and financial management information systems (including Kieku, Valtiolle.fi and Handi).
Information concerning the security arrangements of the Intelligence Ombudsman is confidential.
The Intelligence Ombudsman's communications data repository consists of material published on the Intelligence Ombudsman's website using the YJA publishing platform service, and on social media channels using the Intelligence Ombudsman's X and LinkedIn accounts.
Data resources
The data resources contained in the Hilda case management system fall under the main categories of general administration, human resources, financial and asset management, legal affairs, international affairs, information management, communication and information systems, security, contingencies and risks based on the joint information management plan of the special judicial administration authorities, or the main category of the function of the Intelligence Ombudsman based on the separate information management plan of the Intelligence Ombudsman.
The data resources in the Hilda case management system include case, case handling and document information. Personal data is particularly included in the data resources under the main category of human resources.
Search factors
The Hilda case management system allows technical search for cases and documents based on, among other things, their metadata. Metadata includes the case or document identifier, the case or document title and the initiator of the case.
Technical interface
The information in the case register of the Intelligence Ombudsman is not openly available through a technical interface.
Requests for information
The information contained in the case register of the Intelligence Ombudsman is made available by decision of the Intelligence Ombudsman.
A request for information addressed to the Intelligence Ombudsman can be sent by e-mail ([email protected]), by post (Intelligence Ombudsman, P.O. Box 800, 00531 Helsinki) or taken to the office of the Intelligence Ombudsman (Lintulahdenkuja 4, Helsinki).
Requests for information shall be processed in accordance with section 14, subsection 4 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities within two weeks of receipt of the request for information or, if the processing of the request for information requires special measures or otherwise requires a greater workload than usual, within one month of receipt of the request for information.
The fees that may be charged for the provision of information are provided for in section 34 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities and section 4 of the Decree of the Ministry of Justice on Fees for Services of the Ministry of Justice and Certain Judicial Administration Authorities in 2023–2024 (988/2022), as well as in the decision of the Data Protection Ombudsman of 26 March 2019 on fees for the retrieval of information (Reg. no. 2081/01/2019), which is also applied to the required extent to the Intelligence Ombudsman in the context of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman.