Taking of evidence as a form of international legal assistance is needed when a witness or a document or object to be used as evidence is located in a foreign country. This part presents the legislation and conventions on the taking of evidence.

The statutes mentioned are found at the address www.finlex.fi/en. EU provisions are found at the address europa.eu/eur-lex/en/.

The Nordic Countries apply the Agreement between Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on Mutual Legal Assistance in Service and Taking of Evidence (Treaty Series 26/1975). This Agreement is based on direct contact – a request for legal assistance is submitted directly to the relevant authority without the assistance of the central authority.

The European Union adopted on 28 May 2001 a Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters. The Practice guide for the application of the regulation has been drawn up by the Commission (pdf-file, 23 s.).

An important international agreement is the Hague Convention of 1970 on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters (Treaty Series 37/1976). The Finnish Central Authority is the Ministry of Justice. The Hague Convention of 1954 Relating to Civil Procedure also concerns the taking of evidence (Treaty Series 2/1957). The Convention of 1970 has, however, amended and complemented this earlier Convention.

The convention texts, memoranda and ratification details of the Hague Conventions are found on the Internet pages of the Conference on Private International Law .

The national provisions concerning requests for taking of evidence are found in the Act on Cooperation between Finnish and Foreign Authorities in Trials and in the Enforcement of a Decision of a Foreign Court in Certain Cases (171/1921). This Act lays down that in a civil matter or non-contentious civil case a court has to provide the legal assistance that a foreign judicial authority has requested, if taking the required measure is in Finland in the province of the court, and it does not contradict the foundations of the Finnish judicial system. The act also includes provisions on the taking of evidence by a foreign authority.

In addition, Finland has entered into bilateral agreements for instance with Russia (Treaty Series 48/1980).

When a request is sent to a country that has not acceded to a convention, the diplomatic channel is used i.e. the request is submitted through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Updated on 7 January 2010