Entering Finland through distributors: wellbeing services counties, Hansel and the Hilma record

Finland is a market of long distances and short lists. A few national distributors cover most professional categories, public demand is concentrated in a central purchasing body and, for health and social care, in 21 wellbeing services counties, and every notice above the national threshold goes through one official service. What Finland asks of a foreign manufacturer is documentation in two national languages, structured invoices and a supply chain that keeps working in winter.

Putting it simply: Finnish professional customers are served by national distributors and wholesalers, which hold stock and carry the relationships with hospitals, municipalities and companies. Since 1 January 2023 the organisation of health and social care has sat with wellbeing services counties (hyvinvointialueet), and many public bodies buy through framework agreements from Hansel, the public administration's central purchasing body. Contracts for goods and most services from EUR 60,000 must be announced on Hilma (hankintailmoitukset.fi), and the larger ones also appear on TED. Distributors expect Finnish, and where needed Swedish, product information; public buyers must accept European-standard e-invoices. A first e-mail to a company is lawful unless it has prohibited marketing, with a free opt-out in every message.

How the market buys

National distributors and wholesalers

In most technical, medical and facilities categories the manufacturer sells to a Finnish distributor or wholesaler, which imports, holds stock within reach of customers spread across a large country, and sells to public buyers, installers, retailers and companies. Because the market is small, one distributor often covers the whole of Finland, and some cover the Nordic or Baltic region as well; agree the territory before anything else. The Finnish Commerce Federation (Kaupan liitto), "a nationwide commerce sector lobbying organisation", is a starting point for mapping trade sectors.

In our analysis of TED award notices for supplies (September 2026), 92% of the winners in the 1,677 notices from buyers in Finland were companies registered in the country, against 96% across the 30 EU and EEA countries; those local winners include distributors and wholesalers as well as manufacturers' own Finnish subsidiaries (methodology).

Wellbeing services counties buy for hospitals and care

Finland reorganised health care in 2023. Under the act implementing the reform (616/2021, section 4), responsibility for organising health and social care, and rescue services, passed from municipalities and joint municipal authorities to the wellbeing services counties on 1 January 2023; in Uusimaa, a joint authority, the HUS Group, took on part of that responsibility. Section 7 of the act names the 21 counties, from Varsinais-Suomi to Lapland and four in Uusimaa; under section 3 the transfer does not apply to the City of Helsinki, which keeps its own responsibility. The Procurement Act lists the authorities of the wellbeing services counties among contracting authorities (1397/2016, section 5). For a supplier of medical devices, consumables, care equipment or hospital furniture, the counties and the HUS Group are the buyers whose award notices show which distributor holds the business.

Hansel sets framework agreements for many buyers

Hansel describes itself as the public administration's central purchasing body ("Olemme julkishallinnon yhteishankintayksikkö"). It is a non-profit company owned 65% by the state and 35% by the Association of Finnish Municipalities, and its customers include state agencies, municipalities, wellbeing services counties and universities. It runs about 160 framework agreements and dynamic purchasing systems. Hansel sets up a framework agreement by publishing a procurement notice and usually selects suppliers "for a four-year contract period" ("neljän vuoden sopimuskaudeksi"), while a dynamic purchasing system stays open to suppliers that meet the requirements for its whole duration. Companies may also meet the requirements together as a group. Where a distributor already holds a Hansel agreement in your category, it is the company to approach. A framework's headline value is a ceiling, not a sales figure; see why the headline value is not the sales figure.

Two national languages

Section 1 of the Language Act (423/2003) is short: "Suomen kansalliskielet ovat suomi ja ruotsi", the national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. Public procurement follows: a national notice is published in Finnish, in Swedish or in both, and authorities covered by the Language Act must see to the public's need for information in both languages (1397/2016, section 101). English is widely understood: Finland ranks 12th in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, so a first approach and early technical discussion in English are normal. Tender documents and customer-facing material, however, will be in the national languages.

The proof Finnish buyers expect

Conformity and Finnish and Swedish documentation

CE marking and the EU declaration of conformity are the baseline wherever EU product law applies, and a distributor that bids on Finnish tenders will copy your specifications, test reports, instructions and warranty terms into its responses. Language is written into law for products sold to consumers. Under section 34 of the Language Act, where the law requires a product to carry a trade name, a product description, instructions for use or a warning, the text must be at least in the municipality's language in a monolingual municipality and at least in Finnish and Swedish in a bilingual one. Government Decree 613/2004 on information about consumer goods applies the same rule to the safety information it requires, unless the information is given with generally known symbols. Sector rules may add their own language requirements, so check your product category; for professional goods, expect distributors to ask for Finnish material anyway, with an English technical file as the starting point.

Business ID and the YTJ register

Buyers and distributors check who they are dealing with. Every Finnish company has a Business ID (Y-tunnus), "a code given to businesses and organizations by the PRH or the Tax Administration": seven digits, a dash and a check character. Both authorities jointly maintain the Finnish Business Information System at ytj.fi, where a distributor's Business ID and registered details can be checked through the company search before you sign.

E-invoicing

Finland gives buyers a right to an electronic invoice. The Act on Electronic Invoicing by Contracting Entities and Traders (241/2019) requires contracting entities to receive and process e-invoices based on public contracts (section 3), and gives contracting entities and traders a right to receive, on request, an invoice from another contracting entity or trader as an e-invoice (section 4, applied from 1 April 2020). An e-invoice here means a structured invoice that follows the European standard, EN 16931-1:2017, in one of the listed syntaxes (section 2). The right applies to traders with turnover above EUR 10,000 in the financial year. If you or your distributor invoice Finnish public buyers, plan for e-invoicing from the first contract; check the details with your adviser.

Payment terms

The Act on Payment Terms in Commercial Contracts (30/2013) caps the payment period when the debtor is a contracting authority at 30 days, normally from receipt of the invoice, and allows up to 60 days only if expressly agreed and justified by the particular nature of the contract (section 4). Between businesses, a payment period may exceed 30 days only if expressly agreed (section 5, as amended in 2015). Late payment carries interest at the reference rate plus eight percentage points (Interest Act 633/1982, section 4 a). Agree payment terms with your distributor in writing and check them with your adviser.

Where public demand is visible

Hilma, at hankintailmoitukset.fi, is "the official service for notices on public procurement in Finland", run by the State Treasury. The law makes it the single channel:

• EU-level notices, including contract award notices, must be submitted on hankintailmoitukset.fi using the EU standard forms, and are forwarded from there to the Publications Office of the EU, so they appear on TED (1397/2016, section 60).
• Under section 25, the national threshold for goods and services is EUR 60,000 excluding VAT (EUR 150,000 for works, and higher thresholds for social, health and other special services); below it the Act does not apply, so a buyer has no legal duty to announce smaller purchases on Hilma.
• A contract at or above the national threshold must be announced on Hilma, and, since Act 519/2026 came into force on 18 June 2026, followed by an award notice (jälki-ilmoitus) within 30 days of the contract (section 101); procedures already under way on that date follow the old rules.

From 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027 the EU thresholds for supplies and services are EUR 140,000 for central government and EUR 216,000 for other contracting authorities (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152). Above them every award notice is on TED, naming the winning company and carrying CPV codes. Between EUR 60,000 and the EU thresholds, Hilma's national notices complete the picture.

Lawful first contact

Finland allows the first e-mail to a company. Section 202 of the Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014), headed "direct marketing to organisations", allows direct marketing to an organisation unless it has expressly prohibited it; the organisation must be given an easy, free way to prohibit the use of its contact details with every marketing e-mail, and the sender must state clearly that this option exists. Section 203 requires the message to be identifiable as marketing when received. Natural persons are different: under section 200, marketing by e-mail is allowed only to those who have given prior consent. The Data Protection Ombudsman supervises these rules (section 305).

The Act does not say whether an e-mail to a named employee's address is marketing to the organisation or to a person. The cautious reading is to write to the general address (info@, myynti@, sales@) and treat named addresses as personal until the distributor replies. Identify your company fully, include a one-line, free opt-out, keep a list of organisations that have objected and never write to them again. This is a summary, not legal advice; check your campaign with your adviser. The rule is set out on the Finland market page.

What this means for a manufacturer

• Find the distributors through the award notices: TED above the EU thresholds, Hilma's national award notices from EUR 60,000.
• For health and care products, follow the wellbeing services counties and the HUS Group; their suppliers are your shortlist.
• Check whether your category is covered by a Hansel framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system, and who holds it.
• Agree territory first: Finland alone, or the Nordic and Baltic region.
• Prepare product information in Finnish, and in Swedish where customers need it, with an English technical file and CE evidence.
• Be ready to send European-standard e-invoices, and quote 30-day terms unless agreed otherwise.
• E-mail the distributor's general address with a free opt-out, and never write again after an objection.

Where Cresques fits

Create a market for Finland, choose your CPV categories (or let the materials reader suggest them from a brochure or website), and Cresques shows the companies named in TED award notices for those categories, with the award evidence behind each and personal details removed. Finland is one of the countries with a register list, so the market view also shows other companies registered in your industry that have not won a public contract. Company profiles with an AI-researched role and first messages drafted for the lawful channel are live, and e-mail alerts on new awards come with paid plans. Cresques does not read Hilma's national notices below the EU thresholds; search those yourself by CPV code.