Finland

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

Laki kuvaohjelmista (Act on Audiovisual Programmes, 710/2011) requires a provider to classify an audiovisual programme by age limit before offering it, or to mark plainly that an unclassified programme is restricted to those 18 and older, and it obliges the provider to keep an age-restricted programme from being watched by an underage viewer through broadcast timing, a blocking service, or otherwise verifying age when the programme is offered.

The Kansallinen audiovisuaalinen instituutti (National Audiovisual Institute, KAVI) supervises compliance. No Finnish statute imposing an age-verification duty on a social media platform, an app store, or a design-code style duty on a service likely to be accessed by children has been located; those three families remain unresearched as of the date below.

01

Instruments on record

Laki kuvaohjelmista, Audiovisual-Programme Classification, Age-Limit Marking and Minor-Access Duties

In force

Laki kuvaohjelmista (710/2011), as amended, secs. 2, 5, 6, 16, 36

Effective 2012-01-01 · Applies to both

Section 5 lets a provider offer an audiovisual programme only if it carries a clearly visible age-limit and content mark under Section 16, or, for a programme unambiguously intended only for those 18 and older, a clear mark of the 18-year age limit alone. Section 16 requires a programme harmful to a child's development to be classified 7, 12, 16, or 18 years with a content symbol, and lets a programme intended solely for adults skip classification if it instead carries the 18-year mark.

Section 6 prohibits offering a programme rated 18 to a minor at all, subject to a broadcast-timing exception. The same section requires the provider to keep a programme rated 7, 12, or 16 from being watched by a younger child through broadcast timing, making a blocking service available, or otherwise verifying age when the programme is offered. The National Audiovisual Institute supervises compliance and maintains the public register of classified programmes under Sections 17 and 18.

Enforcement bodyKansallinen audiovisuaalinen instituutti (National Audiovisual Institute, KAVI), the supervisory authority for audiovisual-programme classification and marking under Section 19.

Source: Full text of law