Foreign corporate acquisitions

Processing of personal data

The purpose of the processing of personal data is to process corporate acquisition applications and notifications referred to in the Act on the Screening of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions (172/2012, hereinafter referred to as the act on corporate acquisitions) section 3, as well as cooperation based on Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (hereinafter referred to as the EU’s screening regulation) between other EU Member States and the Commission as the national contact point in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

A foreign owner is obligated, at the request of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, to provide the Ministry with all information about the target company subject to screening, the foreign owner and the transaction related to the corporate acquisition necessary for examining matters concerning the confirmation of the corporate acquisition. When these matters are processed, the application documents may also include personal data of the parties of the corporate acquisition and their representatives, which have been collected expressly for this particular and legitimate purpose.

The personal data to be processed are mainly obtained from the applications and notifications submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment based on the Act on the Screening of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions and from the notifications submitted from EU Member States and the Commission and potential related additional reports.

What data do we collect on you in the foreign acquisitions process?

In connection with the foreign acquisitions process, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment processes data concerning the target of the acquisition (the target company), its owners and persons who represent the target company. In addition, the ministry processes data concerning the foreign owner (the buyer) or persons representing the buyer.
In cooperation pursuant to the EU’s screening regulation, the ministry also processes personal data related to notifications from other Member States, including data concerning the buyer and the target company or persons representing them. The personal data are essential and limited to only what is necessary for the purposes for which they are being processed in this context.
The data are retained without time limits and for as long as is necessary based on an assessment of the matter. Thereafter, the data will be transferred to an archive pursuant to the Archive Act in accordance with the information management plan of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

What is our data processing based on?

We process your personal data to comply with our statutory obligation.
The statutory obligations of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment are laid down in the following, among others: 

  • Government Decree on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
  • Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment Decree on the Rules of Procedure of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment 
  • Act on the Screening of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions 

Disclosure and transfer of personal data

When necessary, data can be disclosed to other authorities to the extent and in the scope that is necessary to implement screening pursuant to the Act on the Screening of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions and the EU’s screening regulation. In addition to what is laid down in the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has the right to disclose, pursuant to section 8 a of the Act on the Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions, a confidential document and information it has received or drawn up in the performance of the official tasks laid down in section 3 of the act to other authorities to implement the aforementioned screening. The other authorities process the data only for the purpose mentioned herein.

We may disclose personal data, upon request, in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

We do not disclose your personal data for direct marketing, market surveys, and opinion polls.

Your data protection rights

Did you know that under the GDPR you have rights related to how we process your personal data? For more information on your rights related to your personal data, please see the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment data protection website.