Finland has laws requiring public administration documents to be made available to the public and preserved long-term, however these laws are not fully complied with. Documents are not always provided when requested and requestors do not know which agency to request documents from. The document proposes a simple solution of making all non-classified documents available online through a search interface and database, using standardized formats and identifiers to enable access and ensure identical documents are linked. This would fulfill the intent of the legislation and enable effective access to public information.

1. Implementing
Interoperability
Availability of Public Administration
Documents
Mikael Vakkari
Project manager
18.10.2017

2. The background
The Finnish public sector is required…
• To ensure and handle the long term preservation of public administration
documents (the Archives act) and the documents in question are defined by
the law (see below*)
• The public sector is required to make non-classified public administration
documents available for the public (*Act on the openness of government
activities)
16.10.2017 Mikael Vakkari 2
Finland has one of the least corrupted public sectors in the world and the
current legislation on openness states non-classified public administration
documents must be available to the general public.
Finland is also supposed to be quite advanced in implementing digitalisation.

3. 16.10.2017 Mikael Vakkari 3
Current situation
The spirit of the law is not actually fully complied with. There are several
examples of public authorities blatantly refusing to hand over official non-
classified documents. The Finnish parliament being the latest case…
Thus, the act on openness is like a box of chocolate: you never
know what you will get…
• One can request documents from the public administration but…
• One must know which agency the request must be made to (i.e. which agency
created the document and is responsible for it), and…
• One never knows if the documents will be made available or not (journalists
take note)
• One might end up in court to get an official ruling on the ’openness’
• The documents are seldon delivered electronically

4. 16.10.2017 Mikael Vakkari 4
A simple solution (really…)
Just comply with the legislation, and…
Make the public administration documents available online
1. A search interface (duh…)
2. Database with metadata and fulltext documents (the non-classified stuff)
• Use SÄHKE2 format* (already in widespread use)
• Classified material can be made available to relevant parties via strong ID
3. Direct inquiries to relevant authorities if documents not found
• HINT: Could be implemented as a web service
4. Use persistent ID’s with a (national?) resolver service* to indicate
identical documents in case several authorities handle the document
* These are the parts related to (semantic) interoperability

5. 16.10.2017 Mikael Vakkari 5
Thank you
Comments? Questions?
Relevant legislation
• The Archives act
• The act on Openness of Government Activities
• The act on Information Management Governance in Public Administration