Telephone guidance
Our telephone guidance service provides general guidance and support in matters involving data protection and lets you know if the case requires more detailed investigation and processing at our Office.
In the first instance, try to clear up any questions or problems related to the processing of your personal data with the controller. If you fail to make progress with the controller, you can then call the telephone service of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman or make a notification to the Data Protection Ombudsman. You can make a notification if your data protection rights have been infringed or you suspect that an organisation or individual is processing personal data in violation of data protection regulations.
Controllers can also ask for additional information and advice from the telephone servicer.
What can the telephone service do for you?
Please note that we are unable to give detailed or binding opinions on individual issues, but are limited to providing advice of a general nature.
You can call the telephone service if you would like information on, for example:
- your data protection rights;
- how to request access to or the erasure of your data from a controller;
- what to do if a controller does not respond to your requests;
- what an organisation should do when it detects a potential data breach; or
- when the General Data Protection Regulation applies.
Please note that the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman does not issue preliminary rulings or grant permits for the processing of personal data.
The Data Protection Ombudsman is not a pre-trial investigation authority. If you suspect that you have been the victim of a crime (defamation, fraud, eavesdropping or illicit observation, dissemination of information violating personal privacy, etc.), contact your local police station in the first instance.
The Data Protection Ombudsman does not act as an attorney and cannot claim damages on your behalf, for example. Civil claims must be filed with the courts.
The Data Protection Ombudsman will not comment on the public or confidential nature of data. If an authority has violated the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the competent authority can, depending on the case, be the Parliamentary Ombudsman or the Chancellor of Justice.
It is not within the competence of the Data Protection Ombudsman to evaluate treatment provided by a health care professional. Neither is verifying the correctness of diagnoses in the Ombudsman’s competence.
The Data Protection Ombudsman will only comment on questions related to employment insofar as they concern the processing of personal data.
Evaluating the concept of marketing or whether specific marketing communications are unethical, inappropriate or misleading is not within the competence of the Data Protection Ombudsman. The evaluation of such matters is the duty of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority. Questions regarding the correctness and grounds of invoices addressed to consumers or the termination of consumer agreements also fall under consumer protection. Read more on the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority's website.
The telephone helpline of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman will not assess the level of risk of a data breach on behalf of the organisation or whether the organisation should notify the supervisory authority or the affected individuals of the breach. For guidance on risk assessment and reporting, please see our website:
Personal data breaches
Examples of personal data breaches in the social welfare and health care sector:
Frequently asked questions about health care
Questions related to cookies and the confidentiality of communications fall under the competence of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom (Traficom's website).
Telephone guidance for private persons: +358 (0)29 56 66777
Telephone guidance for controllers: +358 (0)29 56 66778
The telephone service is available from Tuesday to Thursday, 9.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m.
Our data protection policy: Telephone services
Calls made to numbers beginning with 029 56 are only subject to the local network or mobile phone charge based on the caller's agreement with the operator. When calling from abroad, the price of the call will be determined by the local operator.