Quality Management of Expropriation Processes in Finland

Authors

• Tuomo Heinonen

Keywords:

Expropriation, compulsory acquisition, compensation, procedure, process, Finland

Abstract

The expropriation procedure of Finland differs from almost all other countries in the world. An administrative body, the National Land Survey of Finland (NLS), is responsible for this task. The judicial system becomes involved only if the parties to the so called `expropriation survey' appeal to the Land Court. The expropriation procedure is also quite popular among the Finnish public agencies utilising expropriation, even though other land acquisition means are available and even recommended by legislation. This paper presents the quality management system associated with the expropriation processes carried out by the NLS. By way of a background a short description of the legal procedure is described. After some institutional facts about the NLS and the volume of expropriations, the concepts of what constitutes good quality in respect to the expropriation processes are outlined. Most of these are related to customer needs. The `tools' of NLS quality management are introduced comprehensively: clear process and quality responsibilities; and detailed process and product descriptions, process instructions, manuals and standards. These utilize the process databases and systems, audit reports and regular customer satisfaction studies. They are also dependent on continuing training of the personnel and the transparency of the process with both the NLS personnel and customers. Finally the methods of measuring and improving the expropriation process quality measures are described as part of the NLS's process development circle. The conclusions of the paper suggest that the sound reputation of the NLS as the expropriation authority is, among other things, based on the strong process based quality management system.