Questions and answers about the redesign of the system of personal identity codes

The redesign will improve the system for personal identity codes and address some of its problems. Existing personal identity codes would continue to be used.

The redesign of the personal identity code system will ensure that there are sufficient personal identity codes available, enable foreign nationals to use Finnish services more conveniently, enable the use of a new personal unique identifier that does not contain personal data, and promote equality by removing information on gender from personal identity codes.

The draft bills concerning the redesign of the personal identity code were circulated for comments from 10 January to 4 March 2022. A government proposal modified based on the comments was submitted to Parliament on 15 September 2022. If adopted, the proposed amendments would enter into force on 1 September 2023. The amendments concerning gender-neutral personal identity codes would enter into force on 1 January 2027.

No. Personal identity codes that have already been issued will remain unchanged.

From the start of 2027, it would no longer be possible to deduce a person's gender from the individual number of their personal identity code. The individual number is the three digit number following the additional character in the personal identity code. Currently the individual number is an even number for women and an odd number for men. Personal identity codes issued after the change would have a random individual number.

The availability of sufficient personal identity codes has been ensured by adopting new intermediate characters that indicate a person’s century of birth and by making the intermediate character a distinguishing part of the code.

• For people born in the 2000s, the letters B, C, D, E and F will be introduced alongside the letter A currently in use. 
• For people born in the 20th century, the letters Y, X, W, V and U will be introduced in alongside the hyphen (-) currently in use.

The Government issued a decree on the new intermediate characters in July 2022. The decree will enter into force officially on 1 January 2023. The new intermediate characters will be taken into use when the existing characters run out.

• Read the government decree (in Finnish)
• Read more about the adoption of the new intermediate characters on the website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency

Information on gender is rarely required when using services. Removing information on gender can help improve equality.

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation sets an obligation to only process information that is necessary for the particular purpose at hand. The current format of the personal identity code does not allow for this, because it indicates a person’s gender regardless of whether that information is necessary when using a particular service or not.

Information on gender is already listed separately in the Population Information System. Information on gender must be listed as a separate item of information in registers where it is needed once it can no longer be deduced from the personal identity code. 
Identification code.

The new personal unique identifier would contain no personal data at all. For example, it would not be possible to deduce a person’s age from the identifier. The new personal unique identifier would be added to the Population Information System for every person who has a Finnish personal identity code. The new identifier would be 11 characters long.

The new personal unique identifier would not require citizens to take any action and would not affect how citizens use various services provided by society.

The new personal unique identifier would not replace the personal identify code. Instead, companies, organisations and authorities that do not want to or are unable to process personal identity codes for data protection reasons could voluntarily start using the new personal unique identifier as a way of identifying, for example, employees or customers.

According to the Government proposal, the use of the new personal unique identifier would be voluntary for organisations. This being the case, only organisations that decide to introduce the new personal unique identifier would have to pay costs. These costs would mostly be caused by updates to systems. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency is an exception to this, as it will have mandatory costs, for example, due to the development of the new identifier system.

Organisations that decide to not start using the new personal unique identifier will continue using personal identity codes as before.

The new personal unique identifier would be introduced in the Population Information System in September 2023. Other parties in society would also be able to start using the new personal unique identifier starting in September 2023. However, each organisation would decide whether to start using the new identifier in its own activities and would decide its own timetable for doing so.

The draft government proposal recommends introducing a new remote registration procedure.
In the remote registration procedure, foreign nationals (for example, people moving to Finland to work or study) could register their information in the Population Information System themselves using a smartphone and receive a Finnish personal identity code before arriving in Finland. The identity of people registering themselves through the remote procedure would be automatically confirmed using the chip in their passport and facial recognition software.

The introduction of remote registration is one measure aimed at making it easier and faster to obtain a Finnish personal identity code.  For example, with a Finnish personal identity code, work-based migrants would be better able to conduct their tax, healthcare and education affairs when they arrive in Finland. However, most services require strong authentication, which would take place by proving one's identify in person at a service point of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Finnish Tax Administration or Finnish Immigration Service. 

There are several measures underway to prevent identity theft and help the victims of identity theft. The Suomi.fi Web Service maintained by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency has a new information and service package on what to do if you suspect your personal data has fallen into the wrong hands. 

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance are currently working on a project to establish a positive credit register (in Finnish). It would be possible to enter a voluntary credit ban in the register. 

The project on redesigning the system of personal identity codes has compiled a list of recommended measures (in Finnish) to prevent the misuse of personal data and personal identity codes.

In 2021, the project studied ways of making it easier to change one's personal identity code, but decided to propose maintaining the current practices. The consequences and costs to both private citizens and all parties that process personal identity codes were considered unpredictable and potentially high in view of the benefit to be achieved.