The Ministry of Employment and Economy and the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority organized a joint expert seminar on 27th May 2014.

The Finnish Advisory Board for Bankruptcy Affairs has recommended an accelerated reorganization model to be applied to viable companies that have fallen into financial difficulties.

A new Co-operatives Act will come into effect in Finland on 1 January 2014.

In case 2013:48, the Supreme Court set a precedent regarding the protection of directors against dismissal.

The CJEU found incompatible with EU legislation a Finnish collective agreement provision, according to which a pregnant employee who interrupts a period of unpaid parental leave to take a maternity leave does not benefit from the maintenance of the remuneration to which she would have been entitled had that period of maternity leave been preceded by a period of resumption of work.

A new Competition Act entered into force in Finland on 1 November 2011. It brings the country’s competition regime ever closer to that of the EU.

The Finnish Consumer Protection Act was amended in June 2013.

The Finnish Securities Market legislation has been reformed in its entirety at the beginning of 2013.

An employee's obligations towards his or her employer generally terminate when their em-ployment relationship terminates, unless the parties specifically agree otherwise.

The Finnish Parliament is currently discussing a proposal for the amendment to the Finnish electricity and gas market legislation.

The EU directive concerning alternative investment fund managers known as the AIFM Directive came into effect in the EU and Finland on 22 July 2013. Based on the Directive, the only type of fund management not covered is, in practice, the type that involves UCITS funds.

The new Finnish Market Court Act will move the hearing of intellectual property disputes to Market Court as the first instance as of 1 September 2013.

In late 2012, the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman carried out a survey concerning the processing and protection of personal data in domestic network services.

Several amendments to the Finnish Asset Transfer Tax Act, which have significant effects on foreign real estate investors, are scheduled to enter into force on January 1st, 2013.

In November, the Finnish Parliament approved Government Bill 84/2013 on the Amendment of Land Use and Building Act (the "Amendment" and the "LBA", respectively).

Amendments will be made to the Act on the Monitoring of Foreign Corporate Acquisitions in Finland (172/2012).

In the decision 2012:40, the Supreme Court of Finland considered whether an agreement regarding termination of an employment contract was legally valid.

In a recent case, decision 2012:63, the Supreme Court of Finland considered whether the District Court of Turku had international jurisdiction over an action for recovery in bankruptcy brought against two foreign companies.

The 100-year-old Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce is currently in the process of revising its rules.

As of 1 September 2013, the statutory venue for new civil IPR cases (IPR disputes, IPR petitions and IPR registration appeals) in Finland has been the Market Court. Previously, such cases were processed in civil courts (district courts, courts of appeal and the Supreme Court).