(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Helsinki district court released 31 January 2007 Electronic Frontier Finland (EFFI) from charges on illegal fund raising on the Internet. The board members faced criminal charges and it was further demanded that EFFI transfers all illegal donations totalling over 4000 euros to the state.

The prosecutor, supported by a statement from the Ministry of Interior Affairs, claimed that EFFI's unregistered donation-page as part of their homepages was against the law on the regulation of donation campaigns. The law requires that all campaigns are registered and must report to local police. Many other countries do not have this kind of laws at all.

Mikko Välimäki from law firm Turre Legal, who defended EFFI in the court, comments: "The case sets a precedent that the law requires activity such as stopping people on the streets. This kind of campaigns must be registered and make reports. However, a passive webpage such as EFFI's does not count as a 'campaign'. I am happy to report that this law will not adversely affect donation webpages of Finnish NGOs in the future. It was a major threat before this case."

EFFI's blog on the subject (in Finnish only, 31.01.2007)
http://www.effi.org/blog/2007-01-31-Tapani-Tarvainen.html

Turre Legal
http://www.turre.com/

(Contribution by Mikko Välimäki - Electronic Frontier Finland)