Finrepo » Creating and Starting Business in Finland » Quality Management System in Finland. Licensing

Quality Management System in Finland

Self-monitoring Plan. Licenses and Permits for Your Business

When concluding the business plan, you'll need to consider carefully two important factors: the organization of control and management of the quality in the company, as well as the acquisition of all permits and licences needed for your business.

Product quality management means certain set of tools and activities that enables companies to establish, ensure, maintain and control the necessary level of product quality during its creation, service or consumption. The process of quality management is a constant and systematic process of influencing factors that guarantee the creation of products of the best quality.

There is also one important thing which you cannot and should not neglect looking into when starting a business in Finland. One of the first issue you should to solve is to obtain all licenses and permits needed for your business. Some types of business require a special license before they can operate, for example your staff may be required to hold professional or occupational licenses. Occupational licensing means that workers should submit verification of training, testing and education before beginning a job in their chosen field, in other words, they are required to obtain a government permission slip to work. Under the Finnish law, licensing needed, as an example, to the healthcare professionals, such as physician, dentist, pharmacist, psychologist, speech therapist, dietician, nurse, midwife, physiotherapist, dental hygienist, optician and dental technician, etc. More information on Valvira (National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health / Sosiaali- ja terveysalan lupa- ja valvontavirasto). There are some commercial activities in Finland that are also subject to a license, for example, serving of alcohol, tobacco and nicotine products, taxi service, etc.

Thus, there are a lot of different categories of business license in Finland. And if you are planning to start a new business in Finland, you have to decide what kind of permits and professional qualifications you should have.

Main content

Quality control or quality management. Internal Control
Self-monitoring and self-regulated plan (omavalvontasuunnitelma)
Occupational, Professional and Special Licenses and Permits
Registers and database for entrepreneurs

Quality control or quality management. Internal Control

The product/service quality is a set of product/service properties that determine its ability to meet certain needs in accordance with the purpose. The quality of products or services is crucial for the production of goods or service activities. The high-quality products or services increases customer satisfaction. Customer orientation is a core element of marketing strategy of any company. Thus, the primary task is to determine the requirements and desires of consumers in terms of product and service quality.

Quality assessment helps service providers / business operators find their strengths and achieve its key development goals. The quality management is an activity that facilitate efficiency and effectiveness of your business. The special attention should be given to quality assurance in changing situations as well as in case when the company orders services or products from other operators.

Internal Control

Quality control is one of the main features in the quality management process and a component part of internal control. The purpose of quality control is that it allows to establish the compliance of products with all requirements or to identify the deviations to correct them before the delivery of products to the customer. Internal control is required for timely information about product/service quality or any possible deviations from standards.

The internal control is a tool for product quality management. The internal quality control is carried out by the staff/employees of the organizations. The aim of internal control is information support of the management system to enable more effective decision making.

Self-monitoring and self-regulated plan (omavalvontasuunnitelma)

Self-monitoring is a tool for service providers and business operators, which is used to improve and monitor the quality of a product or service, as well as ensuring customer safety. The basic idea of self-monitoring is that a written plan has been drawn up for the operational unit, which help to identify the defects in products or services and quickly prevent the situations that are uncertain and cause a risk. This is an effective way to improve the quality of work and legal protection of clients. The goal is to ensure that the customers receive high quality and safe products and / or services.

Self-regulated plan, In-house control plan, Self-supervision plan (omavalvontasuunnitelma):

a document of a company that includes all key measures and methods adopted within a business by which service providers/ business operators control their operating units, staff activities and the quality of their services
an essential daily tool used for quality service development
the service provider/ business operator is required to have sufficient skills, knowledge and experience in evaluating and understanding what types of control will ensure the quality of operations / services
it consists of the instructions and processes that are developed to implement a consistent quality control at all the stages of the product-service supply chain (PSSC)
it includes procedures to prevent and eliminate all possible risks, incidents and any quality shortcomings and to ensure the professional competence of the staff
the plan should be as much extensive and most accurately detailed, as riskier is business operator (service provider)
it determines the methods to be followed by the company and monitor of their implementation
the quality control manager or service manager is responsible for the creation and implementation of the self- control plan covering the activities of the service provider or business operator and its departments to assure the production of a quality good or service
the obligation to draw up a self - control plan applies to producers of health or social services and practically all sectors; such as food, industry, maintenance, sanitation, cleaning, education, consulting, transportation and logistics

Some useful sources concerning self-regulated plan (omavalvontasuunnitelma):

Self-monitoring plan for Tobacco (in Finnish)
Alcohol and self-regulated plan (in Finnish)
Self-monitoring in social and healthcare services (in Finnish)
Food safety and control at Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry / Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö website (in English)
Finnish Food Authority / Ruokavirasto website and Self-regulated control (in Finnish)
Self-monitoring plan ,template (in Finnish)

Occupational, professional and special licenses and permits

Some types of business need to get a permit or license for their activity. You have to check whether your business is required specific permits or not. Below are examples of permits and obligations:

Retail licenses for tobacco and nicotine products (in English)
Retail license for alcoholic beverages, Alkoholin vähittäismyyntilupa (in Finnish)
Licensing of alcoholic beverages, Anniskelulupa (in Finnish)
Animal Transport Permits (in Finnish)
Taxi license (in Finnish)
Building permit (in Finnish)
Private social welfare services (in Finnish)
Private health care services (in Finnish)
Medicinal and herbal medicinal products permit (in Finnish)
Game(-playing) machine (in Finnish)
Import licenses for fish (in Finnish)
Vehicle Inspection (in Finnish)

There are also industries, fields and areas of activity that do not require permission. You can check if you need any permit at Suomi.fi

Permits for private 24-hour social service providers

Private 24-hour social service providers must apply for a license from their Regional State Administrative Agency or Valvira (National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health), Permission to provide 24-hour social services

A permission from Valvira should be obtained if there are an activity in several areas of the regional state administrative agency.
Other service operators which provide social care services non 24-hour have to report to the municipality in which they operate.
Private social services provider, who continuously provides 24-hour social services, must obtain a permission from the licensing authority to provide services before the start of operations and/or essential changes.
The license covers all service provider's units that provide 24-hour social services.
Permission can be obtained from the regional administrative agency in whose area the services are provided.
If the services are provided in more than one area of the regional administrative agency, the permission have to be obtained from Valvira (National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health).
Private social services provider that provides social services non 24-hour must make a written declaration of activity before its operation starts or substantial changes. It has to be done to the municipal institution in the municipality where the service is provided. The notification shall contain the same information as the application for permit/license.
Service provider who has applied for the permit referred to in section §7 of Private Social Services Act does not need to make a separate notification of the non 24-hour social services it produces if they appear in the application for permit/license.
Private Social Services Act / Laki yksityisistä sosiaalipalveluista 22.7.2011/922 (The law has been repealed.)
Act on social and health care supervision / Laki sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon valvonnasta 14.4.2023/741

Professional certifications and occupational licenses. Qualification of professionals

In some occupations, a person must meet certain professional qualification requirements specified in the legislation. The requirements may relate to training and / or work experience, or, for example, to a particular test.
Professional qualifications

Registers and database for entrepreneurs

There are a lot of different registers and database for entrepreneurs in Finland. Finnish trade register, incomes register, employer register, prepayment register and/or VAT register and a lot of others. When establishing a company in Finland you should to check registers where your business has to be registered.

You can find information about different registers on Valvira's website, for example:

Alcohol register; Private social and health care providers (in Finnish)
Tobacco sales register (in Finnish)

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