The Legislative Interpretation Information Service is a solution developed by the State Treasury. Its development began as part of a project funded by Sitra and implemented by the State Treasury.
The service presents legislation in a consistent structure, allowing it to be used in various applications and data products, particularly AI-based solutions. It also helps identify dependencies between legislative instruments, track the effects of amendments, and examine the validity of legislation down to individual sections and subsections.
Towards Machine-Readable Legislation
The Legislative Interpretation Information Service is part of a broader effort to make legislation more machine-interpretable and reusable. Structured and enriched legislative data provides a foundation for future digital services in which legislation is not merely readable text but information that can be put to practical use. The service also supports efforts to improve the interoperability, transparency and effective use of public administration data in various data products and services.
What Does Enriched Legislative Data Mean?
First, the legislative material from Finlex in Akoma Ntoso (AKN) XML format is converted into JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), as XML is a document standard while JSON is a data structure format. The material is then enriched, taking into account only legislative instruments that contain provisions. The enrichment process adds the following to the legislation:
- validity periods at section and subsection level
- tables in a format that can be displayed in a web browser
- embedded images without references to separate files
- mathematical formulas in a readable presentation format
- web addresses for references to other legislative instruments
The Service’s Data Foundation
The service’s data foundation is based on openly available Finlex data and uses Finlex’s consolidated legislation, which includes legislative instruments in Finnish and Swedish. The service uses the Finnish-language consolidated legislation, as it incorporates, for example, corrections and information on responsible organisations. The enrichment process has also made use of the Finnish Statute Book, including to retrieve images. Finlex is owned by the Ministry of Justice and maintained by the Legal Register Centre. The Handbook on Legislative Drafting has been used to interpret the structural elements of legislative content.
As of 25 September 2026, the data foundation contains legislative data from 8,904 Finnish-language legislative instruments containing provisions.
Available Data Files
Finlex_JSON.zip contains legislative data in a structured format for further use. Finlex_HTML.zip contains the legislative data as separate HTML pages for each legislative instrument. In addition, Finlex_saadoskasitteet.html provides an example of how an enriched legislative database can be used to illustrate concepts, relationships and structures within legislation.
Finlex_saadoskasitteet.html.zip >
Note: Corrections and updates to the enriched legislative data are made monthly.
Further Information
Virpi Hotti, Principal Specialist, State Treasury
© State Treasury, CC BY 4.0.