New service for the Finnish local register offices

The Finnish local register offices have a new service provided by Affecto; it gives Finnish citizens the possibility to leave in an application for surname change over the Internet and get the decision sent to their citizen’s account.

“Thanks to this service, decision-making is quicker, so the client can change his name faster. Additionally, cutting the number of steps involved means lower government costs,” says Harri Karhunen, development manager from the Eastern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency’s steering and development unit.

The possibility to change one’s name on the web is one of the first functions of the new citizen’s account. The account aims at providing citizens with the opportunity to get all official decisions over the Internet at one point. Tapani Tölli, Minister for Public Administration and Local Government, launched the citizen’s account and surname change service on the 28^th of January 2011.

According to plans, all local register office services will be available on the web in the future. Through citizen’s accounts they will be included in the government’s document management.

The new service continues previous collaboration between Affecto and local register offices; in 2002–2004 Affecto designed and constructed the Maisa system for local register offices. Maisa is a docket and document management system used by all Finnish local register offices.

Most entries into Maisa concern acknowledgements of paternity, prenuptial agreements and donations, estate inventory deeds, name changes, register office administrative items and guardianships. The new service is a part of the e-services strategy of the local register offices, aiming at providing all of the most important services online.

For further information:

Ray Byman, Country Manager, Affecto Finland Ltd

Tel. +358 40 5920 960, e-mail ray.byman(a)affecto.com