Base-period changes now notified by email

A luonnontuotekeruualan toimija organises collection without being an employer: it arranges accommodation and catering for pickers in order to buy the natural products they collect, or it has invited the pickers to Finland. Where pickers are not in an employment relationship, their position is governed by laki luonnontuotteita keräävien ulkomaalaisten oikeudellisesta asemasta 487/2021, the marjalaki, covering berries, mushrooms and other products that may be picked under jokaisenoikeus without the landowner's consent. If the characteristics of an employment relationship are met, the work is seasonal employment and the marjalaki does not apply.

The operator must notify the locations of pickers' tukikohdat in advance to the occupational safety authority, the Lupa- ja valvontaviraston työsuojeluosastoTyosuojelu, using the web formTyosuojelu. Tukikohdat are the pickers' camps where collected products are weighed and traded, food is prepared, vehicles and equipment are serviced, accommodation is provided and pickers are inducted and directed to terrain. The advance notification sits alongside the operator's other duties to induct pickers in a language they understand, to monitor the harvest and direct pickers to productive areas, to provide accommodation meeting terveydensuojelulaki standards with appropriate catering, inspected vehicles and picking equipment, to keep minimum purchase prices and charges transparent before arrival, to display authority contacts for feedback, to arrange earnings tracking and pay all earnings before departure, and to retain related records for two years from the end of the collection year for inspection.

The trigger and channel for reporting a change have both changedTyosuojelu. Previously a new advance notification was required where the base changed during the collection seasonTyosuojelu, made through the same web route as the initial noticeTyosuojelu. Now any change in the notified base's usage period or location is notified to the occupational safety authority by email to luonnontuotteidenkeruu@lvv.fiTyosuojelu. A pure shift in timing therefore triggers a notice in the same way as a move doesTyosuojelu, and the change notice travels by email rather than as a fresh advance notification through the web formTyosuojelu. The initial advance notification itself remains a web-form filingTyosuojelu.

The named email address is also the advice channel for marjalaki questions to the joint authority, which gives general guidance on the applicable legislation and refers onwards where supervision belongs elsewhere, for example municipal environmental health for accommodation or the police for right of residence.

Legal basis: Laki luonnontuotteita keräävien ulkomaalaisten oikeudellisesta asemasta 487/2021; Terveydensuojelulaki 763/1994 on accommodation standards.