Population: 5,223,442

Economy Overview:

Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equaling two-fifths of GDP. Finland excels in high-tech exports, e.g., mobile phones. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods. Because of the climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. Rapidly increasing integration with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 12 countries joining the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years. Growth in 2003 was held back by the global slowdown but picked up in 2004. High unemployment remains a persistent problem.

General Business Practices.

a) The main language in domestic agreements are Finnish and Swedish, in foreign connections the transactions are primarily made in English.
Finnish and Swedish are the official languages used in all court proceedings.
b) Finland operates under a metric currency. The monetary unit is the Finnish Mark, which is divided into 100 penni. From the beginning of the year 1999, also the Euro has been an accounting monetary unit in Finland.
c) Collection agencies are to follow a defined good collection practice. Attorneys are also to follow a defined good practice of law.
A law prescribing the acts of collection agencies will come into force 1.9.1999. The new law is weighted towards the interests of the debtor. The most important point about this new law is that acceptable debt collection practice must be observed.

Collections.

A. Background of Industry. 1. In 1994 Finnish collection agencies received about 1 000 000 collection mandates.
Collection work is done on both consumer and commercial debt.
2. Debt collection is handled by both lawyers and debt collection agencies. We will further be calling the collector as agency, regardless of the fact whether it is really a collection agency or a law firm.

B. Licensing Requirements

According to the new law on recovery of debts a collection agency must have a license. License is not required if the agency is a law firm, which is also a member of the Finnish Bar Association.

C. General Procedures

When an agency receives an order to collect from the creditor, the first action is to send a demand for payment to the debtor and an acknowledgement of receipt of the mandate to the mandatory. In the payment demand the debtor is requested to remit the debt, interest and the collection costs, directly to the agencies nominated bank account within a stipulated time frame. If the debtor fails to meet the payment demand, the agency usually sends him another payment demand and furthermore contacts him by telephone as well. The majority of agencies are computerised and have sophisticated collection systems that ensure prompt follow up to any arrangements made with the debtor. Where an offer is made, the agency will have an arrangement with the client to ensure that they can accept or reject such offers to a certain value. The agency will liaise on a regular basis with the client.
In the event that the debt can not be settled amicably, and if the credit investigations reveal that the debtor has assets, legal proceedings will commence once the creditor has given approval. Other collectors beside lawyers need a written power of attorney for court procedures.<