Your rights in security clearance vetting

You may only be subject to personnel security clearance vetting in circumstances such as recruitment when the statutory conditions are satisfied. Jobseekers are advised of security clearance vetting in advance, for example in advertisements for vacant positions.

You may consent to the investigation via the Supo electronic transaction service or by signing a security clearance form. Your current or prospective employer will give you instructions concerning this.

• Electronic transaction service

Nobody is obliged to give consent to the conducting of the security clearance vetting. Performing the vetting may, however, be a prerequisite for the recruitment decision.

Only information gathering methods permitted by law are used in security clearance vetting

Supo may gather information for security clearance vetting in four ways:

• by asking you to complete security clearance vetting forms
• by retrieving information from registers (such as the population register and criminal records)
• by requesting your information from such sources as other Finnish and foreign public authorities, and credit and financial institutions, such as banks
• by interviewing you.

You will never be subject to wiretapping or other such monitoring of your communications. Use of such information gathering methods in security clearance vetting is not permitted.

Supo will consider reporting the information found on an individual case basis

Supo will always consider the circumstances of the individual case before notifying the employer if your security clearance vetting reveals that you have committed a criminal offence or are suspected of doing so. This margin of discretion allows for such factors as your age when committing the offence and the time that has elapsed since the offence occurred. It also assesses the relevance of the offence to the job that you are seeking.

The same individual case discretion is exercised if security clearance vetting discloses other irregularities, such as a bad credit record or debts subject to distraint.

You are entitled to know the outcome of your own security clearance vetting

You will generally be advised of the completion of security clearance vetting and its outcome by your employer or a recruiting employer. Supo will not disclose your information to your employer if the investigation reveals nothing to report. Most security clearance vetting investigations find nothing to report.

An employer or recruiting employer must share with you any written notice or a copy of it from Supo of issues arising from security clearance vetting.

The details in security clearance vetting may also be based on data files that security clearance vetting subjects are not entitled to access. You may ask the Data Protection Ombudsman to check on your behalf that your information has been used correctly according to law if necessary.

An employer may not retain the written notice for longer than six months. Requests to view the notice may thereafter be submitted to Supo. Supo will delete the investigation data from the security clearance register no later than three years after the investigation expires.

To check a notice at a Supo office, you should first contact the Supo security clearance vetting department to arrange the time and place of inspection. The request may be submitted by e-mailing [email protected].

• Data Protection Ombudsman: Inspection of information processed by a competent authority