FINNISH PRE-TRIAL INVESTIGATION ACT

Current consolidated statute · Chapter 3, Section 3

Esitutkintaviranomaisen on toimitettava esitutkinta, kun sille tehdyn ilmoituksen perusteella tai muuten on syytä epäillä, että rikos on tehty.

Ennen esitutkinnan aloittamista esitutkintaviranomaisen on tarvittaessa selvitettävä rikosepäilyyn liittyvät seikat erityisesti siten, että ketään ei aiheettomasti aseteta rikoksesta epäillyn asemaan ja että asian sitä edellyttäessä voidaan tehdä 9 §:n 1 momentissa tai 10 §:n 1 momentissa tarkoitettu ratkaisu esitutkinnan toimittamatta jättämisestä.

A pre-trial investigation authority must conduct a pre-trial investigation when, on the basis of a report made to it or otherwise, there is reason to suspect that an offence has been committed.

Before starting the investigation, the authority must, where necessary, clarify the circumstances relating to the suspicion of an offence, in particular to avoid unjustifiably placing anyone in the position of a suspect and to enable a decision under section 9(1) or section 10(1), where appropriate, not to conduct an investigation.

This is an unofficial translation. The Finnish statutory text is authoritative.

The legal trigger is that there is reason to suspect an offence has been committed. The law also requires preliminary clarification where necessary. The authority must distinguish between the threshold for beginning an investigation and the later assessment of whether the evidence justifies charges.

Sections 9 and 10 govern specified situations in which an investigation may be left unconducted or limited. The legal conditions for those decisions must be assessed under the relevant subsections; this section does not mean that every report automatically results in a full investigation.

Finlex — Esitutkintalaki 805/2011, Chapter 3, section 3

Finnish wording checked against the current consolidated statute available on Finlex on 12 October 2026.