Page 27 - DIPLOMATIC PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES IN FINLAND

A consular post headed by a career consul may be established by the sending state with the consent of Finland. As a rule, the sending state shall submit a proposal by a verbal note to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland concerning the appointment of a given person as the Head of a Consulate in Finland. A consular commission or similar instrument should also be submitted to the Ministry for the purpose of issuing an exequatur. Provided that the proposal is acceptable to the Ministry it will issue an exequatur to the Head of the Consulate.
Based on reciprocity, career consular officers are normally equated with the diplomatic staff of missions. Consular employees are normally considered to correspond to the administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a diplomatic mission may also exercise consular functions, in which case the status of the staff will be governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
1.12 Honorary Consuls
The Finnish practice related to the establishment of honorary consulates and the admission of honorary consuls is based on the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In addition, Finland has concluded bilateral agreements concerning honorary consuls with certain countries.
A consular post headed by an Honorary Consul may be established by the sending state in the Finnish territory with the consent of Finland. The seat of the consular post, its classification and the consular district shall be subject to the approval of Finland. The sending state shall submit a proposal to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs concerning the appointment of a given person as the Head of an Honorary Consulate or as an Honorary Consul in Finland by a verbal note. The note shall include a statement of reasons for the establishment of an honorary consulate, the planned seat, classification and consular district of the honorary consulate and the personal data of the candidate (a curriculum vitae and an extract from the official population register).
Provided that the proposal is acceptable, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall request the sending state to send a consular commission or similar instrument to the Ministry for the purpose of issuing an exequatur. A similar procedure is also applied to the admission of honorary consuls and consular agents other than those heading a consular post.
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