Excluding tax data from other crimes
Act amending the Excise Taxation Act
Information provided in declarations for excise duty purposes will not be permitted to be used to investigate or prosecute other offences, such as smuggling. Following the change, evading taxes on illegally imported products can once again be penalised as tax fraud without being prevented by the privilege against self-incrimination.
- Status
- Passed
- Submitted
- 11 Sep 2025
- Latest event
- 10 Apr 2026
- Votes
- 0
- Speeches
- 5
- Confirmed
- 17 Apr 2026
- Statute
- 273/2026
- Source
- eduskunta.fi ↗
What is proposed
A provision will be added to the Excise Taxation Act prohibiting the use of information from excise duty returns obtained from a taxable person in the investigation, prosecution or adjudication of an offence other than one related to excise taxation.
What it means
The change applies to the illegal import of prohibited or restricted products, such as snus, cigarettes and alcohol. Because submitting a tax return will no longer expose a person to prosecution for smuggling, Finnish Customs and the Prosecution Service can once again treat illegal imports as tax fraud and use broader coercive measures, such as telecommunications interception, in investigating aggravated tax fraud in significant cases of tax evasion (over 20,000 euros). The act will enter into force on 1 January 2026.
How Parliament voted
The bill passed without a vote – no MP proposed rejecting or amending it in plenary.
Debate in the chamber
What was argued and where each group stood, followed by MPs' speeches verbatim from the parliamentary record. Speeches are shown in their original language.
5 speeches · 4 speakers · 1 debate
Key points of the debate
The debate addressed the amendment to the Excise Taxation Act, which restores the authorities' means to address snus smuggling as tax fraud without violating citizens' privilege against self-incrimination. There was full consensus on the content and approval of the proposal. During the debate, the broader question of principle regarding the legalisation of snus sales in Finland was also raised.
- National Coalition PartyIn favour
The National Coalition Party considers the bill justified to combat crime, but also calls for reducing nanny-state regulation of adults and legalising the snus trade to repatriate tax revenues.
”Tämä esitys sinänsä on hyvinkin perusteltu.”
— Henrik Vuornos - Finns PartyIn favour
The Finns Party supports the proposal because it closes a gap that had emerged in legal practice and enables the effective investigation and penalisation of snus smuggling without compromising the privilege against self-incrimination.
”Tällä esityksellä vahvistetaan rikosoikeudellisen järjestelmän johdonmukaisuutta ja varmistetaan, että laittoman nuuskan maahantuontiin voidaan puuttua tehokkaasti ja oikeasuhtaisesti.”
— Riikka Purra
This digest was generated by AI from 5 speeches 13 Sep 2026. Group positions are read from the speeches, not from votes; quotations were checked verbatim against the record.
Keskustelu päättyi. Asia lähetettiin valtiovarainvaliokuntaan, jolle perustuslakivaliokunnan on annettava lausunto.
Stages of consideration
The bill's path from the preliminary debate to the decision, as recorded by Parliament.
- 11 Sep 2025Eduskuntakäsittelyn vireilletulo · Valtiovarainministeriö
- 17 Sep 2025Lähetekeskustelu · Täysistunto
- 24 Mar 2026Valiokunnan mietintö tai lausunto · valtiovarainvaliokunta
- 25 Mar 2026Ensimmäinen käsittely · Täysistunto
- 8 Apr 2026Toinen käsittely · Täysistunto
- 9 Apr 2026Eduskunnan vastaus ja kirjelmä
Decisions by law proposal1
- 1Laki valmisteverotuslain muuttamisestaHyväksytty · 273/2026 · 17 Apr 2026
Proposed law text
The law proposals in the bill as the Government presented them. The final act may differ after committee consideration.
The law text is shown in Finnish or Swedish from Parliament's official documents; it is not translated into English.
Laki valmisteverotuslain muuttamisesta
Eduskunnan päätöksen mukaisesti lisätään valmisteverotuslakiin (182/2010) uusi 4 b § seuraavasti:
4 b §Kielto hyödyntää eräitä tietoja
Verovelvollisen yksityishenkilön antamasta valmisteverotusta koskevasta ilmoituksesta saatua tietoa ei saa hyödyntää verovelvollisen muun rikoksen kuin valmisteveron lainvastaiseen välttämiseen tai sen yrittämiseen liittyvän rikoksen tutkimisessa, syytteeseen panossa ja tuomitsemisessa.
§
Tämä laki tulee voimaan päivänä kuuta 20 .
Main content of the bill (official)
The summary and title were produced with AI on 13 Sep 2026. They are not official documents – check the details in the original bill. The title and summaries are machine translations of the Finnish AI summaries. Speeches and quotations are always shown in their original language.