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Visiting the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman

Instituting a case

Our website contains electronic forms for instituting cases falling within the competence of the data protection authorities (read more on our office’s electronic services). However, you can also institute a case by bringing the documents personally to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman.

A lobby service is available in the entrance lobby of our office. The service is part of the office rental service provided by Senate Properties. Our lobby services are provided by Palmia Oy, a company contracted by Senate Properties.

As the controller, Senate Records has arranged for recording video surveillance of the premises to protect the property and its users.

Read more about Senate Properties’ processing of personal data is available on the company’s website (in Finnish)

If a visit concerns instituting a case, or a case that is being processed in the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman, the visit will be logged in the Office's case management system.  More information on our data protection policies with regard to the processing of cases by the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman can be found in the section Processing of matters within our competence.

Job interview or scheduled visit

If a visit has been scheduled in advance, we will notify the lobby service company of the visitor’s name and organisation via the Senaattila system. The lobby service then informs us of the visitor’s arrival. The lobby service does not save data in any other systems, and the data is deleted from the system within two months of the visit. We process personal data in order to ensure the safety of our offices and compliance with the related instructions.

The lobby service is part of the office rental service provided by Senate Properties. Our lobby services are provided by Palmia Oy, a company contracted by Senate Properties.

Our processing is based on

We process personal data for the performance of a task in the public interest and in the exercise of public authority vested in the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679), Article 6(1), point e). The position, tasks and competence of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman are provided for in:

Disclosure of data

There are no regular disclosures of data.

Data is disclosed in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. The data and documents are public unless specifically decreed confidential by law.

Data may be disclosed also to other supervisory authorities in the EU or EEA in circumstances where we must handle complaints and investigations in cooperation with other supervisory authorities in the EU/EEA.

No data will be disclosed for direct marketing, survey or market research purposes, unless there are separate provisions regarding disclosure for such purposes.

Your data protection rights with regard to the processing of personal data

Right to obtain information on the processing of personal data

  • You have the right to know for what purposes and by which methods we process your personal data.
  • The aim of this description of our data protection policies is to provide a comprehensive picture of the processing of personal data in our operations. If some aspect of our processing of personal data remains unclear, however, the description has failed in its purpose. If this is the case, you are welcome to send your questions to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (see contact details below).
  • Additional information on the right to be informed of the processing of personal data.

Right of access

Right to rectification

  • If the personal data we are processing is inaccurate, you can request us to rectify such data that concerns you.
  • If we rectify data on the basis of your request, we are obligated to notify all parties to whom we have previously disclosed your data of the rectification where viable.
  • Additional information on the right to rectification.

Right to restriction of processing

If you consider the data that we are processing to be inaccurate or the processing to be unlawful, or you have objected to the processing of your data, you can request us to restrict the processing of your data.

In such cases, we are only allowed to process your data

  • with your consent
  • if we need the data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
  • for the public interest or
  • in order to safeguard the rights of another person.

If we restrict the processing of data on the basis of your request, we are obligated to notify all parties to whom we have previously disclosed your data of the restriction where viable. Additional information on the right to restriction of processing.

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data by us. You can exercise this right at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. After this, we may not continue processing your personal data except for compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or if the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Additional information on the right to object.

The Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman does not make decisions based on automated processing. Neither does the Office create profiles on the basis of the personal data it processes.

You can send requests concerning your data-protection rights to the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman by e-mail ([email protected]) or post (PL 800, 00531 HELSINKI).

The decisions of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman can be appealed in the competent Administrative Court according to the instructions for appeal provided by the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. The legality of the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman's actions is supervised by the supreme guardians of the law, i.e. the Parliamentary Ombudsman and Chancellor of Justice.

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