3.3 Statelessness determination procedure or other procedures in which statelessness status is determined In Finland, there is no specific statelessness determination procedure. Determination of statelessness takes place through and as part of other procedures, in particular the asylum procedure and the determination of citizenship status procedure provided for in Section 36 of the Nationality Act.101 With regard to the determination of citizenship status procedure, the Government Bill of the Nationality Act102 explains that a correct determination of citizenship of a person is of importance for having rights or obligations related to it, for being registered in official administration correctly, for the alien’s residence in Finland, or for other reasons equivalent to these. The Government Bill further clarifies that a determination of citizenship status is required when not enough information is available regarding the basis for acquisition, retention or loss of citizenship. The purpose of the provision is to clarify the citizenship status in situations where it is unclear, and to improve the consistency of the information regarding nationality in different registries maintained by the authorities. Section 36 further states that efforts shall be made to determine the citizenship status of a person with unknown nationality if her or his home municipality is in Finland. Moreover, Section 1 of the Nationality Decree concerns the obligation of Local Register Offices to request Migri to determine the citizenship status of a child born in Finland in cases when 1) the child is born out of wedlock and the mother is not a Finnish national; 2) when the child’s parents are married and are neither Finnish nationals nor nationals of the same country and 3) when the parents of the child are married, are not Finnish nationals and are nationals of the same country but the child does not automatically acquire the parents’ nationality under operation of law of the parents’ country of nationality. Section 1 of the Nationality Decree further states that Local Register Offices do not need to request for a determination of citizenship status of a child when the information to be entered into PIS has been confirmed in a reliable manner in accordance with Section 19 (1) of the Act on Population Information System.103 Moreover, Local Register Offices shall request for the determination of citizenship status for foundlings and children whose parents’ nationality is unknown. It should be noted that the current Nationality Decree entered into force in May 2013. The Local Register Offices’ responsibility to request for a determination of citizenship status was amended, and further specified, compared to the corresponding provision in the previous Nationality Decree.104 The determination of citizenship status procedure seems not to have been specifically intended for detecting cases of statelessness. However, the Supreme Administrative Court, in its judgment KHO:2012:28105 from April 2012, interpreted Section 36 of the Nationality Act rather broadly, emphasizing the aspect of preventing statelessness. The case did not concern statelessness as such, but dealt with a question of which foreign nationality or nationalities a child born in Finland to foreign parents of two different nationalities should be considered and the determination of citizenship status by Migri in such a case. Migri’s authority to conduct citizenship status determination in the case was questioned and subsequently denied by the Administrative 101 Determination of citizenship status procedure was introduced into the Finnish legislation for the first time by the current Nationality Act in 2003. Government Bill, hallituksen esitys 235/2002, detailed justifications of Section 36. 102 Ibid. 103 Väestötietojärjestelmästä ja väestörekisterikeskuksen varmennepalveluista annettu laki, 661/2009. Section 19 (1) describes conditions under which information which is to be entered into PIS and which is based on a foreign document can be regarded as reliable. 104 Kansalaisuusasetus 799/2004. According to Section 2 of the previous Nationality Decree Local Register Offices had to request for determination of citizenship status by Migri when the child’s parents were not married to each other and when they were not Finnish nationals, or one of them was not a Finnish national and when the child’s parents were married to each other and were not Finnish nationals or nationals of the same country. 105 KHO:2012:28, 30.4.2012/1046, available at http://www.finlex.fi UNHCR STOCKHOLM, NOVEMBER 2014 29