Central government medals of merit for public officials

Central government medals of merit are conferred on public officials as recognition for long-term service in a government office. They are awarded by the President of the Republic. Provisions on medals of merit are contained in the Decree on Central Government Medals of Merit for Public Officials (166/1961). A medal of merit comes with a certificate showing the recipient’s official position, full name and date of birth.

A precondition for receiving a central government medal of merit is at minimum 30 years of service. Only the time worked in a full-time public service employment relationship is included in the calculation of this period. However, the employment relationship need not be continuous.

Applying for a medal of merit for public officials

Central government medals of merit are awarded on application. An agency or an institution must submit their statements together with the application documents and the applicants’ staff record extracts as well as any proposals for conferring medals of merit to the central government committee on medals of merit before 1 October. This means that the Ministry of Finance must receive the applications at the latest on 30 September to be able to consider them. The committee checks the applications and submits them, together with its statement, to the Ministry of Finance by 25 November for presentation to the President of the Republic.

On 3 December 2021 the President awarded a central government medal of merit to 2,091 public officials. Further information: Marianne Savinen, [email protected].

Contact information

Applications to be addressed to:
Central government committee on medals of merit
Public Governance Department
Ministry of Finance
P.O Box 28
00023 Government

Marianne Savinen
Assistant
Tel. +358 2955 30285
[email protected]

Kaisa-Juulia Raita
Secretary of the Committee on medals of merit
Tel. +358 2955 30379
[email protected]