The Goverment issued a decree on the NATO Ottawa Agreement

The Government decree brings into force the Ottawa Agreement and the act on bringing into force the provisions of a legislative nature in the Agreement.

The Ottawa Agreement concerns the privileges and immunities of national representatives to NATO and NATO’s international staff. It also defines the status of NATO as a legal person.

Finland became a member of NATO on 4 April 2023 upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the United States Government. As a member, Finland is expected to accede to a number of NATO agreements, Ottawa Agreement being one of them.

Parliament accepted Finland’s accession to the Ottawa Agreement on 1 March 2023 as part of the Government proposal on Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty. The President of the Republic confirmed the act bringing into force the Ottawa Agreement on 23 March, and Finland signed the Agreement on 11 May. The Agreement entered into force internationally in respect of Finland when Finland deposited its instrument of ratification in Washington on 7 June.

Inquiries

• Annika Naskila, Legal Counsellor, tel. +358 295 351 157
• The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@gov.fi