Can I appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court?

An appeal may be lodged against a decision by the person to whom the decision is addressed or whose rights, obligations or interests are directly affected by the decision.

Attached to the decision you receive from the Administrative Court are instructions, marked ‘Appeal instructions’, on how to apply for leave to appeal and how to lodge an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court. If the decision cannot be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, the decision will state that no appeal is permitted.

According to the main rule, an appeal against a decision by an administrative court can only be lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court if the Supreme Administrative Court grants leave to appeal. The same applies to the majority of decisions by the Market Court. There are a few exceptions to the main rule. For example, decisions by the Administrative Court concerning the taking into care of a child against their will as defined in the Child Welfare Act may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court without leave to appeal.

An appeal may be lodged directly with the Supreme Administrative Court without leave to appeal against, amongst other things, decisions made by the Government in a plenary session, the Sámi Parliament, the Government of Åland and the Central Tax Board.

Leave to appeal means permission granted by the Supreme Administrative Court to appeal against a decision made by an administrative court or the Market Court. The Supreme Administrative Court will first examine whether your application for leave to appeal meets the legal requirements for the granting of leave to appeal.

If the Supreme Administrative Court does not grant leave to appeal, the processing of the case before the Supreme Administrative Court will end and the Supreme Administrative Court will not issue a decision in that case. In such cases, the decision issued by the administrative court or the Market Court becomes final.

Please notice that you must use either Finnish or Swedish when dealing with the Supreme Administrative Court. Applications for leave to appeal and appeals must also be made in either Finnish or Swedish.