The Defence Forces may restrict everyman’s rights or prohibit them completely in the areas in its use for reasons of defence and security.
Areas in permanent use
There are approximately 100 areas in perma-nent use by the Defence Forces, covering a total of 280,000 hectares of land. The State of Finland owns approximately 90% of the areas. The areas are used for firing practice and training exercises and storage, and they also include, among other things, garrisons and restricted areas.
The largest firing ranges and training areas are Rovajärvi, 106,000 hectares (in Kemijärvi and Rovaniemi), Vuosanka, 14,000 hectares (in Ku-hmo), Pohjankangas, 10,000 hectares (in Kankaan-pää), Kyläjärvi, 8,000 hectares (in Sodankylä) and Sotinpuro, 7,000 hectares (in Nurmes). The Pokka detonation area (in Kittilä) is 28,000 hectares.
Areas under the use of the Defence Forces where movement is prohibited or restricted must be marked (Act on the Defence Forces, Chapter 2, section 15). Violating the prohibition is punishable.
The requirement for penalties is that the Defence Forces’ local or regional administrative authority has prohibited movement in the area and the re-striction has been announced in an appropriate manner. The land areas in permanent use by the Defence Forces are marked with signs that prohibit access to the area (Ministry of Defence Decree on residence permits and visitors’ permits, prohibi-tion notices, the training of officials carrying out guard and on-call duties, and on the basic skills and condition of professional soldiers). The
pro-hibition notices and signs are located along the official and assumed unofficial routes, such as on the sides of the roads and paths coming into the military area.
Other methods of marking areas used by the Defence Forces, such as white-blue-white stripes painted on trees, indicate the borders of areas used and controlled by the Defence Forces. However, as such they do not restrict movement in the area under everyman’s rights.
The Defence Forces may restrict or completely pro-hibit movement in its areas. Photo: Rea Nyström.
Areas in temporary use
In areas designated temporarily for the use of the Defence Forces, everyman’s rights can be restricted or they can be completely prohibited. The Defence Forces can temporarily use properties other than those in its permanent use for military exercises (Act on the Defence Forces, Chapter 2, section 14).
The Defence Forces’ local or regional administra-tive authority or the leader of the military exercise makes the decision on using the property. If nec-essary, everyman’s rights can be restricted in areas designated for temporary use.
No separate provisions have been issued on marking the areas reserved for temporary use. A soldier on guard duty may prevent access or re-strictions on access may be indicated, among other ways, by means of prohibition notices and signs, barrier gates or barrier tape.
Act on the Defence Forces, Chapter 2, section 15
Prohibitions and restrictions on movement
If military reasons or the protection of outsiders from harm so requires, a Defence Forces’ local or regional administrative authority may prohibit unauthorized persons from accessing an area or property being used by the Defence Forces or may restrict movement there. The penalties for violating such prohibitions or restrictions are provided for in the Criminal Code.
The leader of a military exercise may impose a prohibition or restriction as referred to in subsection 1 on an area or property temporarily being used by the Defence Forces for an exercise for the purpose of materials storage, troop mustering or other activity which may cause danger to outsiders.
Permission to access or visit such an area or property will be granted if the applicant has a justified reason for accessing or visiting an area being used by the Defence Forces: work-related duties, having a home in the area or similar reason. (…).
Act on the Defence Forces, Chapter 2, section 19
Verifying identity, ejecting persons and right of apprehension
An official who is a guard officer or a duty officer has the authority to eject a person from an area permanently used by the Defence Forces and
from the area referred to in section 15 if it is obvious that the person in question is not entitled to access the area and if the official has requested the person to leave.
An official is also entitled to eject from such an area a person who has a permit to access the area if that person is behaving in a disruptive manner or is endangering his or her own safety or that of others.
Moreover, an official discharging the aforementioned duties is entitled to question a person present in or moving in the area in order to establish that person’s name, personal identity number or date of birth, nationality and passport information. (…).
Restricted areas on the coast of Finland
In the Defence Forces’ restricted areas in Finnish territorial waters, certain activities are only al-lowed with a permit granted by a military author-ity. The restrictions apply to diving, anchoring and movement in the vicinity of areas belonging to the Defence Forces, among other things.
The restrictions on movement in the restricted areas are based on the Territorial Surveillance Act and the government decrees on territorial surveil-lance and restricted areas. The restrictions apply to scuba diving, fishing with fishing tackle dragged along the bottom, anchoring a vessel other than a pleasure craft outside an anchorage marked on Finnish sea charts, and passage in a public wa-ter area within 100 metres of land areas used by the Defence Forces where landing is marked as prohibited by law. The provision also applies to movement on ice. The restrictions do not apply to movement in a private water area or in a public fairway. The regulations concerning restricted are-as apply to everyone regardless of their nationality.
There are no restrictions on angling, ice fishing, lure fishing or fishing with a fish trap, a pot, a net or a regular fyke net in restricted areas. The territorial surveillance authorities, which include military,
border guard, police and customs authorities, as well as the Finnish Transport Agency, monitor that the regulations are complied with. When acting in a restricted area, a person must carry a permit grant-ed by a territorial surveillance authority and an identity document. Activity that violates the reg-ulations may be punished as a territorial offence.
Territorial Surveillance Act, chapter 4, section 17
Restrictions in a restricted area
Without permission, the following activities are not allowed in a restricted area:
1) scuba diving or other underwater activity which does not normally form part of navigation;
2) fishing with fishing tackle dragged along the bottom or heavy tackle anchored at the bottom, such as a seine, trawl or large bow net;
3) anchoring a vessel other than a pleasure craft outside an anchorage marked on Finnish sea charts, unless this is necessary for reasons of navigational safety, force majeure or an emergency;
4) movement in a public water area outside a public fairway within 100 metres of land areas which are used by the Defence Forces and where landing is marked as forbidden by law. (…).