The statistics on Finnish affiliates abroad describe the global location of Finnish enterprises’ activities and the significance of these activities abroad. The data are collected from enterprises located in Finland. The data are published once a year.
Every response improves the reliability of the data we collect. This way we ensure that the inquiry results and compiled statistics are of high quality and give a correct picture of the studied subject.
With the login credentials and link to online form are in the upper right corner of the cover letter sent by mail or e-mail.
Alternatively, you can use the Suomi.fi identification and mandate. Statistics Finland's Suomi.fi mandate for data collection is Responding to data collections from enterprises and organisations.
More information about: Identification
Log in to the form via Suomi.fi identification or with the user ID and password you have received in a letter.
The Suomi.fi identification as an organisation respondent requires that you have been given
a mandate via your organisation to respond to the inquiry. The mandate is granted in the Suomi.fi service. Please find Statistics Finland's instructions related to mandates and identification attached.
Because you respond on behalf of the organisation, you need a mandate for the Suomi.fi identification from your organisation. The name of the mandate required is Responding to data collections from enterprises and organisations.
Further information on identification on the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s website
We have sent the respondents a letter when the inquiry started. Have a look at the letter!
The data are used to describe the positioning of the activities of Finnish companies and the significance of the activities worldwide. The data can be used to assess the globalisation degree of the economy, the effect of the EU internal market on the activity of Finnish enterprises and on the competitiveness of Finnish-owned enterprises in the world. The data are also delivered to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, and the OECD.
The groups' data are collected in the group register maintained by Statistics Finland, which contains data, e.g. about the type of group. about the group's nationality and group relations.
The data from the data collection are used in the following statistics:
Statistics are beneficial for enterprises as well. Statistics can be used by enterprises to monitor, for example, the development of pay or trade in Finland. The more comprehensive the data we receive from enterprises, the better our statistics describe the activity of enterprises. Enterprises will then get better statistics as a basis for their decision-making.
- If an affiliate is a holding company which controls or manages the activities of other enterprises in the group, its economic activity is 701 - Activities of head offices.
- If an affiliate is a holding company which manages the group’s assets but does not offer any other services to the enterprises whose assets it manages, its economic activity is 642 - Activities of holding companies.
- If an affiliate engages in wholesale sales to other than private consumers (business to business sales), its industry is 46 - Wholesale trade expect of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Wholesale trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles comes under industry category 45.
- If an affiliate practises commission trade, its industry is 46 - Wholesale trade except of motor vehicles and motorcycles . Commission trade comprises commodity exchanges and commission sales via the Internet, as well as auctioneers and liquidation centres of sawn timber, fish, furs, flowers, etc. Commission trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles comes under industry category 45.
- If an affiliate engages in retail trade sales primarily to private consumers for personal or household use, its industry is 47, “Retail trade”. Retail trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles comes under economic activity category 45.
All data collected for statistical purposes are confidential. When processing data, it is seen to that no person's privacy or business or professional secret are endangered. Every person employed by Statistics Finland has signed a pledge of secrecy.
The regulations of the European Union require the collection of the data in question (Regulation (EC) No. 716/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on ommon statistics on the structure and operation of foreign associates and subsidiaries and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 747/2008.)
According to Section 18 of the Statistics Act the public information is the communities, among others, foundations and trades and practitioners, business identity code or community code, name, industry, place of domicile, address and other contact information, the location of the operation and the establishments, the total number of the staff and the number of the staff according to the municipality. Public information about establishment are establishment code, operating time, name, address, industry, location and size category of personnel of establishments and other public contact details.
If your enterprise has been selected as a respondent for a data collection, Statistics Finland will always contact you in advance by letter or email. This communication will explain what data will be collected and for what purpose the data will be used. In data collections that collect personal data, the grounds for processing are usually Article 6, Paragraph 1, point c of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, compliance with a legal obligation.
We process the data as confidential. The data are published as statistics and studies from which the answers of individual enterprises cannot be identified. Statistical data can be released for statistical surveys and scientific research.
Enterprises have an obligation to respond to Statistics Finland's data collections. The obligation to provide data is based on the Statistics Act (280/2004).
Exemption from the obligation can be sought based on Section 8 of the Statistics Act if responding causes unreasonable inconvenience. Unreasonable inconvenience refers to putting the respondent in an unequal position with regard to other data providers. Exemption can be sought only from individual surveys and Statistics Finland cannot grant a general exemption from all data collections. Exemption is granted for a fixed period and may be granted wholly or in part.
When we consider granting an exemption, we consider the respondents' possibilities to supply the requested data and the importance of the data in producing and utilising statistics. Unreasonable inconvenience caused to the data supplier refers to putting the data supplier
in an unequal position with regard to other data suppliers.
We cannot grant an exemption due to an enterprise's lack of resources or time or the difficulty caused by the provision of data or corresponding reasons.
If you are considering requesting exemption, please contact us first. The contact information can be found in the accompanying letter and on the homepage of the data collection.
You can seek exemption with a free-form written application or with the form Application for exemption from the obligation to provide data (PDF).
If necessary, download the free Adobe Reader software (adobe.com) for filling in the PDF file. Specify the data collections from which you apply for exemption in the application. You can add appendices to the application. Send the application to Statistics Finland’s Registrar’s Office.