Notification-based activities include, for example:
- operating a petting zoo
- animal-assisted therapy, wellbeing, or experience services
- keeping companion or hobby animals professionally or on a large scale
- farming wild animal species for production purposes
- game management farming of wild animal species
- operating a care facility for wild animals that are injured or otherwise helpless
Notification-based activities must be reported to the Regional State Administrative Agency responsible for the area where the activity is carried out.
The notification can be submitted:
- using the Regional State Administrative Agency's form Notification of the keeping of animals, or
- electronically via the e-service of the Register of Animal Keepers and Premises.
If the operator does not have a Finnish personal identity code, the notification must be submitted using the form and sent to the appropriate Regional State Administrative Agency. The agency charges a fee for processing notifications related to the keeping of animals and other notification-based activities, in accordance with its price list.
Finnish Food Authority has prepared a guideline titled "Notification-based keeping of animals and other activities" for all operators who are engaged in or planning to start notification-based animal keeping or other animal-related activities as defined in the Animal Welfare Act. The guideline describes in more detail the requirements that apply to such activities in the future.