City of Helsinki reprimanded for long processing times of information requests

Deputy-Ombudsman Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo has issued a reprimand to the City of Helsinki for the processing times of information requests, which were too long.

The Deputy-Ombudsman has issued a reprimand to the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division of the City of Helsinki for excessive processing times of information requests and urged the city to bring the processing times of information requests into compliance with the law. The complainant’s information request had taken almost five months to process, which exceeded the maximum processing time laid down in the General Data Protection Regulation.

According to the Deputy-Ombudsman, the city’s conduct was particularly reprehensible because the processing times of information requests have been exceeding the maximum processing times laid down in the Act at least since 2024, and the Ombudsman has stated their unlawfulness several times.

The Deputy-Ombudsman has asked the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division of the City of Helsinki to report by 30 November 2026 what measures it has taken to make the processing times of information requests lawful and to report the average processing times of information requests.

The processing times of information requests have been unlawful for a long time

The processing of information requests in the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division of the City of Helsinki has been severely congested since at least 2024. The processing times have been found illegal in several decisions made by the Ombudsman during 2025.

The complaints assessed by the Parliamentary Ombudsman have concerned information requests under both the Act on the Openness of Government Activities and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

According to the report received by the Deputy-Ombudsman from the City of Helsinki in autumn 2025, the processing times of information requests were mainly between two weeks and three months and, in individual cases, even longer.

The Deputy-Ombudsman stated that although the City of Helsinki has been able to shorten the processing times, the processing times were still mainly too long and, in some matters, considerably longer than the maximum processing time laid down in legislation.

The Deputy-Ombudsman’s decision EOAK/4105/2025 has been published (in Finnish) on the website www.oikeusasiamies.fi.

For further information, please contact Senior Legal Adviser Anne Ilkka, tel. +358 9 432 3346.