Finland Company Lookup: What It Shows vs What It Ships

A Finland company lookup runs through the kaupparekisteri, the Trade Register, kept by Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus (PRH) — the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. YTJ is the joint information system of PRH and the Tax Administration, and its company search is at ytj.fi; Virre handles extracts and documents; open data sits at avoindata.prh.fi. This guide covers what each channel carries, a visibility rule that depends on other registers, and where the open data starts and stops. If you need the Finnish population rather than one company at a time, the Finland company directory covers the same registered companies with industry, size and contact breakdowns attached, and the Finland business database is the same file described as a dataset.

Finland company lookup: the short version

• The free search at ytj.fi shows a company's postal or visiting address and its other reported contact details — telephone number, fax, email address and website.
• The free open-data API states that company email addresses and telephone numbers are not available, and that it excludes sole traders altogether.
• A sole trader's name and address are shown only if the person is entered in the trade register or the VAT register; otherwise only the business ID, company form and register entries are public.
• Trade register data is public, and PRH states everyone has the right to information on registered matters and filings except beneficial owner data.

What the register shows and what the register ships

One registrar, one register, two channels — and they carry different field sets. Both pages say so, which is what makes this worth a section rather than a footnote.

The search at ytj.fi shows "posti- tai käyntiosoite sekä mahdolliset muut ilmoitetut yhteystiedot (puhelinnumero, faksinumero, sähköpostiosoite ja www-osoite)" — the postal or visiting address and any other reported contact details: telephone number, fax number, email address and website. It also shows the company's legal situation — any bankruptcy, liquidation or restructuring — and any notice of interruption of business activity. On currency it is precise: "Haussa näkyvät katsomishetkellä voimassa olevat tiedot ja osasta tietoja edellinen tieto." The search shows the data valid at the moment of viewing, and for some data the previous entry as well.

The open data page describes the same register through a different door:

"PRH:n avoin data on maksuton palvelu, jonka rajapinnasta voit hakea yritysten tietoja sovellukseen tai järjestelmään. Palvelussa on perustietoja kaupparekisteriin merkityistä yrityksistä ja rekisteröidyistä ilmoituksista sekä tietoa digitaalisista tilinpäätöksistä. […] Yritysten sähköpostiosoitteet ja puhelinnumerot eivät ole saatavilla. Tiedot ovat digitaalisessa muodossa, ja ne päivitetään kerran vuorokaudessa."

PRH's open data is a free service whose interface lets you fetch company information into an application or system. It carries basic information on companies entered in the trade register, on registered notifications, and on digital financial statements. Company email addresses and telephone numbers are not available. The data is in digital form and is updated once every 24 hours.

Put those two passages beside each other and the point is plain: what a register shows and what a register ships are two different field sets. A Finnish contact detail visible on screen is not a Finnish contact detail obtainable at scale from the same authority, through the same authority's own machine channel. Both facts are published by PRH, on adjacent pages, without apology — it is a deliberate design rather than an oversight, and knowing it before you build is the whole value of knowing it.

The same page excludes sole traders

The second half of the channel difference is a coverage gap rather than a field gap, and it is stated in the same place:

"Huomaa: palvelu sisältää tiedot kaupparekisteriin merkityistä ja vireillä olevista yrityksistä toiminimiyrittäjiä (yksityisiä elinkeinonharjoittajia) lukuun ottamatta."

Note: the service contains information on companies entered in the trade register and on pending ones, with the exception of sole traders (private entrepreneurs).

Which channel they are missing from matters. Toiminimiyrittäjät are absent from the open data, not from the register. A population that exists in the trade register and can be looked up individually is not in the file, so a count, a coverage check or a match rate computed from the open data is computed over a different population from the one the register holds.

Visibility that depends on another register

Finland's treatment of personal data in the search has a condition attached, and it is unusual in what the condition depends on:

"Tietosuojasyistä henkilöiden (yritysmuotona yksityinen elinkeinonharjoittaja eli toiminimiyrittäjä) nimeä ja osoitetietoja ei näytetä, jos henkilöä ei ole merkitty kaupparekisteriin tai arvonlisäverovelvollisten rekisteriin. Tällaisen henkilön tiedoista julkisia ovat vain Y-tunnus, yritysmuoto ja tiedot rekisterimerkinnöistä."

For data protection reasons, the name and address of persons — where the company form is a sole trader — are not shown if the person is not entered in the trade register or in the VAT register. For such a person, only the Y-tunnus (business ID), the company form, and information on register entries are public.

Read that as a rule rather than as a gap, because that is what it is. The absence of a name is a rule, not a data error. Whether a Finnish sole trader's name and address are visible depends on their presence in other registers — the trade register or the VAT register — so the visibility of a personal detail is conditioned on a fact about registration elsewhere. A matching process that treats a missing name as a defect will be treating a lawful, systematic outcome as noise.

Four states, four mechanisms

Finland is the fourth register in this series to condition the visibility of personal data, and the four mechanisms have almost nothing in common.

• The Netherlands company lookup guide covers a register where visibility depends on who is asking: a telephone number is held, and only organisations with permission can see it.
• The Denmark company lookup guide covers a register where it depends on time: addresses are published until five years after the person ceased to be active, while names never expire.
• The France company lookup guide covers a register where it depends on a right exercised, with the protection differing by legal personality.
• Finland conditions it on entry in another register entirely.

Four states, four mechanisms, and this page does not rank them. What it draws from the four is narrow: "why is this field empty?" has a different answer in each country, and none of the four answers is "the data is missing".

What a Finnish company register entry contains

A self-contained summary. Finland's trade register is the kaupparekisteri, kept by Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus (PRH); YTJ is the joint information system of PRH and the Tax Administration, with a company search at ytj.fi, while Virre handles extracts and documents and open data is at avoindata.prh.fi. The ytj.fi search shows a company's postal or visiting address and any other reported contact details — telephone number, fax number, email address and website — the company's legal situation including any bankruptcy, liquidation or restructuring, and any notice of interruption of business activity; it shows the data valid at the moment of viewing and, for some data, the previous entry. For data protection reasons the name and address of a person whose company form is a sole trader are not shown if the person is not entered in the trade register or in the VAT register, and for such a person only the Y-tunnus, the company form and information on register entries are public. PRH states that trade register data is public and that everyone has the right to obtain information on matters entered in the register and on filings with their attachments, with the exception of beneficial owner data; a free electronic trade register extract is available from Virre, while documents such as articles of association and financial statements are purchased there. PRH's open data is a free service whose interface returns company information into an application or system, carrying basic information on companies entered in the trade register, on registered notifications and on digital financial statements; company email addresses and telephone numbers are not available, the data is digital and updated once every 24 hours, and the service excludes sole traders. The API covers registered notifications from 7 November 2014 onwards. For digital financial statements, information is returned only for statements reported in the iXBRL reporting language, and other financial statements can be bought from PRH's Virre information service. PRH instructs that when the data is used, the original source must be mentioned, and publishes the YTJ trade-register API dataset under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, with current companies' data downloadable in one go as a packed JSON file.

Public, with one carve-out

PRH states the general rule in a single sentence, and states its exception in the same breath:

"Kaupparekisteritiedot ovat julkisia. Jokaisella on oikeus saada tietoja rekisteriin merkityistä asioista ja ilmoituksista liitteineen edunsaajatietoja lukuun ottamatta."

Trade register data is public. Everyone has the right to obtain information on matters entered in the register and on filings together with their attachments — with the exception of beneficial owner data (edunsaajatiedot).

That is the whole of what this page says on the subject. The carve-out is named; what governs access to beneficial owner data instead is not described here, because it was not sourced.

A free electronic trade register extract is available from Virre. Documents such as articles of association and financial statements are purchased there.

Where a Finland lookup stops

Three limits on the open data are worth having before you build against it.

A horizon. The API covers registered notifications from 7 November 2014 onwards. That is an explicit start date, and a question about anything earlier is not one the API answers.

A format condition on the financials. "saat tietoja vain IXBRL-raportointikielellä ilmoitetuista tilinpäätöksistä. Muita tilinpäätöksiä voit ostaa PRH:n Virre-tietopalvelusta." — you get information only on financial statements reported in the iXBRL reporting language; other financial statements can be bought from PRH's Virre information service. So coverage of Finnish financials through the API is a function of how the statement was filed, not of whether it exists.

An attribution duty. "Kun käytät tietoja, mainitse alkuperäinen lähde." — when you use the data, mention the original source. PRH publishes the YTJ trade-register API dataset under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, and current companies' data can be downloaded in one go as a packed JSON file.

One neighbour in this series publishes under the same licence and asks for one thing more. The Lithuania company lookup guide covers a register also opened under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, whose registrar additionally requires that you state the date on which the information was obtained. Same licence, one extra condition — worth knowing if you assume CC BY 4.0 means the same obligations everywhere.

Where the question is a population rather than a company, a firmographic directory covers the same registered companies with classification, size and contact data attached and queryable as a set; the Europe company directory breaks the European file down by market.

Data quality pitfalls to avoid in Finland

Expecting the API to carry what the search displays. PRH states that company email addresses and telephone numbers are not available through the open data.

Computing coverage from the open data. The service excludes sole traders, so any rate calculated from it is calculated over a different population from the register's.

Reading a missing sole trader name as a data error. It is not shown where the person is not entered in the trade register or the VAT register; only the Y-tunnus, company form and register entries are public for such a person.

Assuming the API reaches back indefinitely. It covers registered notifications from 7 November 2014 onwards.

Assuming every Finnish financial statement is in the API. Only statements reported in iXBRL are returned; others are bought from Virre.

Treating CC BY 4.0 as identical everywhere. PRH requires the original source to be mentioned; at least one other register under the same licence also requires the retrieval date.

A repeatable Finland company lookup workflow

1. Use ytj.fi when you need what the register displays, and the open data when you need what it ships.
2. Never assume the two channels carry the same fields — contact details are the known difference.
3. Exclude sole traders from any population built on the open data, or source them separately.
4. Record whether a missing sole-trader name is the visibility rule before treating it as a gap.
5. Check the 7 November 2014 horizon before asking the API a historical question.
6. Expect financial data only for iXBRL filings, and go to Virre for the rest.
7. Carry the original source into anything you publish from the data.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Finnish register show company phone numbers and emails?

The ytj.fi search shows the postal or visiting address and any other reported contact details, including telephone number, fax number, email address and website.

Can I get those through the API?

No. PRH states that company email addresses and telephone numbers are not available through the open data service.

Are sole traders in the open data?

No. PRH notes that the service contains information on companies entered in the trade register and on pending ones, with the exception of sole traders.

Why is a sole trader's name missing from a search result?

For data protection reasons, a person's name and address are not shown if the person is not entered in the trade register or in the VAT register. For such a person only the Y-tunnus, company form and register entries are public.

Is Finnish trade register data public?

Yes. PRH states that trade register data is public and that everyone has the right to obtain information on matters entered in the register and on filings with their attachments, with the exception of beneficial owner data.

How far back does the API go?

It covers registered notifications from 7 November 2014 onwards.

Can I get all Finnish financial statements from the API?

Only those reported in the iXBRL reporting language. Other financial statements can be bought from PRH's Virre information service.

What does the licence require?

PRH publishes the dataset under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence and instructs that when you use the data you mention the original source.

Source Register

Every Finnish sentence quoted above is PRH's own wording, read on the date shown, with an English gloss beside it rather than in place of it. No amount appears anywhere in this page's prose.

This page does not describe what governs access to beneficial owner data, what the paid Virre products contain beyond the list above, or the structure of the Y-tunnus. None was sourced, and FINLAND_REPORT.md records each with what would confirm it.

The readings that are InfobelPRO's rather than PRH's: that what a register shows and what a register ships are two different field sets, and that the difference is a deliberate design rather than an oversight; that the sole-trader exclusion makes any coverage rate computed from the open data a rate over a different population than the register's; and that a missing sole-trader name is a lawful systematic outcome rather than noise, so a matching process that treats it as a defect is mis-modelling the register. Those are ours. The four-country comparison sets out four published mechanisms for conditioning visibility, offered without ranking.