Finland

This page contains information on statutory alcohol marketing
regulations in Finland (table 1); a description of the restrictions per medium (table 2); labelling information (table 3); information on non-statutory alcohol marketing regulations (table 4); the complaints procedure; and lastly a summary about the Finnish regulations on alcohol marketing, including exhaustive, downloadable documents from the ELSA & FASE research projects.

Updated: 22-11-2017

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Complaints procedure

Alcohol Act:
Complaints can be made to the Product Control Agency or to the provincial control authorities. The Council of Ethics in Advertising (MEN) deals mainly with complaints from consumers and with issues that are deemed to have public significance. The Council of Ethics in Advertising handles complaints from consumers and advertisers regarding commercial communications in all media. There is no right of appeal. No sanctions are available to the Council if its decisions are ignored because its statements are recommendations . Marketing practices can be used until the control authority bans it. In cases where the violation is clear and it is important to stop that marketing, the ban can be immediate. Normally the process takes some weeks before judgement is passed. The complaining process is described in the Alcohol Act. In Finland anyone can submit a complaint to control authorities if violations are found. However, most cases are raised by control authorities themselves. Sanctions are administered take by control authorities, which apart from banning procedures are entitled to give a warning or impose conditional fines. If violations are repeated conditional fines are taken to Market Court, which can rule that the fines have to be paid. The fine ranges from €10.000 to €50.000.

According to a proposal for amendment of the Criminal Law (currently at the Parliament) the violation could also lead to imprisonment for a maximum of 6 months. If the case is considered very important the result is published on the web-pages (by control authorities) and control authorities sometimes also submit a press release.A press release normally is used only if the case has been in the Market Court. Market Court also publishes all its cases on the Internet and in its annual publication. There are no precise time limits for the procedure. Minimum: If the violation is clear and has to be stopped as soon as possible the authorities can order to discontinue it almost immediately (phone call and fax). Normally it takes 2-4 weeks to make the final judgement. Maximum can be much longer if the case is very complicated or insignificant. If the judgement is taken to the Market Court it can take months.

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In Finland Article 33 of the Alcohol Act specifically refers to advertising and other sales promotion of alcoholic beverages. This statutory act can be amended only by the Finnish Parliament. Control authorities have published a guidebook in order to give more detailed information about the interpretation practices of the regulation, but the guidebook is only for guidance purposes and is not binding.

Advertising targeted at minors (under 18) is totally banned. This applies to all kinds of sales promotion and marketing practices, not only advertisements. Also depicting minors in ads is prohibited.

Until 1994, an almost total ban on all alcohol marketing existed. Since 1995, marketing has been allowed for mild alcoholic beverages up to 22 % abv. Marketing of all strong beverages remained banned. The content of alcohol advertisement was subject to rules taken from the European Community TV Directive: no targeting minors, no linkage to social or sexual success or driving etc. Rules applied to alcoholic beverages above 1,2 % abv.

In 2008, new controls for marketing mild alcoholic beverages came into existence (all further controls and amendments concerned mild beverages – as all marketing of strong beverages has been banned the whole time):

No alcohol advertising on TV between 07:00 pm and 21:00 pm.
No alcohol advertising in cinemas except if the film is rated for adults only.
No media advertising for special offers unless they stand for 2 months consecutively. For example “happy hours” can only be advertised within on-premise outlets.

In 2015, even further controls for marketing of mild alcoholic beverages came into existence (all further controls and amendments concerned mild beverages – as all marketing of strong beverages has been banned the whole time):

TV watershed pushed to 22:00 pm and introduced for radio too.
Ban on alcohol advertising outdoors in public places: streets, bus stops etc.
Ban on certain forms of alcohol marketing common in new media:
- games, lotteries and contests
- use of textual or visual content produced by consumers of content intended to be shared by consumers.

Because of the very strong statutory regulation, non-statutory industry self regulation is practically non existent in Finland.

Table 1	Statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in Finland	Coverage
	Alkoholilaki 1994/1143 (The Alcohol Act, latest update in 2015)	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print, promotional items, marketing on the spot

Table 2 Regulations per medium	Type of restrictions
TV	Ban on direct and indirect advertisement or otherwise promotion of the sales of strong (over 22 vol-%) alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Content and volume restrictions for mild alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Youth protection policy for mild alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Ban on alcohol advertising between 7 am and 10 pm for mild alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act).
Radio	Idem
Outdoor marketing	Ban on direct and indirect advertisement or otherwise promotion of the sales of strong alcoholic beverages (over 22% Vol%)(Section 33 The Alcohol Act). Ban on mild alcoholic beverages except in public events.
	Content and volume restrictions for mild alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Youth protection policy for mild alcohol beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act).
Printed media	Idem
Cinema	Idem
Cinema	Ban on alcohol advertising in movies that are allowed for children under 18 years (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
Internet/digital media	Ban on certain forms of alcohol marketing common in new media: using games, lotteries and contests; use of textual or visual content produced by consumers or content intended to be shared by consumers (since 2015)
Promotional items	Restrictions: It is forbidden to offer two or more alcoholic drinks or packages in a lower price in retail or premise. Advertising a sale price for an alcoholic drink or package that lasts less than two months is banned outside the retail or premise (article 33a The Alcohol Act).
(Sports) sponsorship	Ban on direct and indirect advertisement or otherwise promotion of the sales of strong alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Content and volume restrictions for mild alcoholic beverages (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)
	Youth protection policy (Section 33 The Alcohol Act)

Table 3 Labelling information	Description	Legally binding or self-regulation
Health warnings:	No
Ingredients/nutritional information	No

Table 4 Non-statutory Alcohol marketing regulations in Finland	Coverage
Panimoalan alkoholijuomien vastuullisen markkinointiviestin nän ohjeet (Brewing industry`s guidelines for responsible alcohol marketing communications)	TV, radio, cinema, sponsoring, internet/digital media, outdoor, print, promotional items, marketing on the spot, packages. However, because of the very strong statutory regulation, non-statutory industry self regulation is practically non existent in Finland.

Recent information: Marjatta Montonen and Ismo Tuominen: Restricting alcohol marketing on social media in Finland; 2017 in: Youth Drinking Cultures in a Digital world; Edited by: ANTONIA C. LYONS, TIM MCCREANOR, IAN GOODWIN AND HELEN MOEWAKA BARNES; Routledge Studies in Public Health.

The following document contains an older in depth overview of alcohol marketing regulations in Finland: alcohol-marketing-regulations-Finland.pdf

For even more (but older) information on alcohol marketing regulations Finland, please take a look at Finland’s appendix to the 2007 ELSA (Enforcement of national Laws and Self-regulation on advertising and marketing of Alcohol) report.

Alcohol-Adv-Chapter-12-Montonen-Tuominen Download