ABSTRACT
Finland joined the Council of Europe in 1989 and the European Union in 1995. Legislation on the protection of personal data was first issued in Finland in 1987 (Act 47111987) and revised in 1999 (Act 523/1999) on the basis of the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). Unlike in many other countries, the contractual model for the doctor-patient relationship has never been fully accepted in Finland. The contractual model can only be truly applied in Finland when health care professionals work as entrepreneurs, or are employed in privately owned clinics. In most cases the treatment is provided by a public authority (by a municipal body or a health care district), and the relationship between the patient and the personnel is governed by the rules for public administration. In Finland, the data protection principles are not applied to anonymous data. In Finland, the conditions laid down in Articles 7 and 8 of the Directive are treated as open alternatives.
