Privacy notice for the Population Survey on Gambling

EU General Data Protection Regulation, Articles 12-14

Privacy notice for survey participants

This notification explains how your personal data will be processed in the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) Population survey on gambling.  

Participation in the study is always voluntary. You will not face any negative consequences if you do not participate in the study or if you discontinue your participation in it. However, if you discontinue or cancel your participation in the survey, previously collected material may still be used in research. The end of this of this privacy notice contains details on what rights you have and how you can influence the processing of your data. 

1. Controller of the study 

THL determines and is responsible for the processing of personal data in this survey. This means that THL is the data controller for this information. 

Our contact information: 

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) 
P.O. Box 30 
FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland 
tel. +358 29 524 6000 

Contact person for study-related matters: 

Name: Tanja Grönroos, Senior Researcher 
Address: P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki 
Telephone number: +358 29 524 8465 
E-mail address: firstname.lastname(at)thl.fi 

Name: Tomi Roukka, Senior Specialist 
Address: P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki 
Telephone number: +358 29 524 7141 
E-mail address: firstname.lastname(at)thl.fi 

Email of THL’s data protection officer is: tietosuoja(at)thl.fi.  

2. Description of the research project and the purpose of processing personal data 

The purpose of the Population survey on gambling is to produce reliable and up-to-date information on gambling and gambling-related harms in the population. According to section 52 of the Lotteries Act (1047/2001), the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has been given the task of preventing, monitoring and researching gambling and the social, economic and health-related harms and problems associated with it in the population and of taking responsibility for the development of treatment (Lotteries Act, 2001). The Ministry has assigned this task to THL. Regular collection of nationally representative monitoring data is the only reliable way of finding out how gambling, problem gambling and attitudes as well as phenomena closely related to them change over time.  

The target group of the survey is persons aged 15 or over who live permanently in mainland Finland. Approximately 30,000 randomly selected persons are invited to respond to the survey. The results of the study will be published on the THL website, in reports and similar publications aimed at the general public, and in scientific peer-reviewed publications.

The research data will be used in areas including the evaluation and planning of regional social welfare and healthcare policy. The data will also be used in scientific research and in the development of research methods, such as the analysis of respondent loss. 

THL may combine the information obtained through surveys with register information from registers maintained by different authorities and Veikkaus Oy. The register data are only used for research and statistical purposes. Personal data will be used to contact the research subjects and to link the register data mentioned above to the answers provided by a subject in the questionnaire. Once the register data havebeen combined, any personal identifiers will be eliminated from the research data. It is not possible to directly identify individual research subjects from the data used by the researchers. 

For more information, see on the survey website.

3. Director in charge of the survey 

Name: Tanja Grönroos, Senior Researcher 
Address: P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki 
Telephone number: +358 29 524 8465 
E-mail address: firstname.lastname(at)thl.fi 

Name: Tomi Roukka, Senior Specialist 
Address: P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki 
Telephone number: +358 29 524 7141 
E-mail address: firstname.lastname(at)thl.fi 

4. Parties carrying out the study 

The study is conducted by the Mental Health, Substance Use and Addictions unit of THL’s Health and Social Welfare Department. 

Personal data contained in the research data are only processed by researchers whose tasks require it. Researchers processing personal data have a legal or contractual obligation to confidentiality. 

5. Legal basis for the processing of personal data 

The processing of personal data is always based on valid legislation. THL’s tasks are laid down in the Act on the National Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008). 

The lawful grounds for processing personal data described in this 
notice are: 

  • Scientific or historical research purposes in the public interest, statistical purposes or the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (General Data Protection Regulation, Article 6(1)(e) and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018, section 4, subsection 3))  
  • Compliance with a legal obligation (General Data Protection Regulation, Article 6(1)(c)) 

6. Sensitive personal data 

The following data belonging to special categories of personal data are processed in the survey: 

  • Race or ethnic origin 
  • Health data 

The processing of special categories of personal data is based on the following special category under Article 9(2) of the General Data Protection Regulation or special condition under section 6 of the Data Protection Act (1050/2018): 

  • Scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes 
  • The processing is necessary based on a significant public interest related to national health 
  • Processing is provided by law or it is derived directly from a duty set out for the controller by law. 

7. What personal data are processed? 

The person’s identification data: name, date of birth, personal identity code, native language, contact details (incl. phone number). The identification data of a person are only used when research data are collected and when register data are combined. 

Data collected from research data: data according to the data content of the online survey. 

Data collected from registers: research data collected through the online survey may be supplemented later with data obtained from national registers.

Digital and Population Data Services Agency: details of the following (incl. history): personal identity code, name, address, email address, municipality of residence, gender, marital status, date of birth, place of birth, municipality of birth, native language, language of service use, nationality, residential building data, residence data, size of household, foreign country of birth, date of immigration and possible date of death. 

Statistics Finland: gender, age, residential area, statistical grouping of municipalities, country of residence, country of birth, father’s country of birth, mother’s country of birth, nationality, number of persons in the household, household income, education, socio-economic status, occupation, sector, main activity, causes of death. 

THL: data from the Hospital Discharge/Care Register for Health Care (HILMO), the Register of Primary Health Care Visits (AvoHilmo) and the Care Register for Social Welfare (SosiaaliHilmo) (e.g., date of visit, diagnoses and procedures carried out), Register of Social Assistance, register of gambling-related harms. 

Social Insurance Institution of Finland: medicine reimbursement rights, medicine purchases, rehabilitation, sickness allowance, disability allowance, insurance information, benefit information, prescription centre and prescription archive (Kanta), social assistance notifications sent by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland to municipalities, and applications for supplementary support (service needs notifications), basic social assistance, pension information. 

Finnish Centre for Pensions: pension register (pensions, decisions), Earnings and Accrual Register, unpaid periods. 

Tax Administration: Incomes Register (information on salaries and benefits), Positive credit register (information on debts). 

Defence Forces: results of the basic test (P1 & P2), year of completing the test.

Veikkaus Ldt: game and player data, such as gambling (investments and profits), money transfers and use of gaming management tools, as well as care measures and marketing targeted at customers. 

8. From what sources are personal data collected 

Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Statistics Finland, THL, Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Finnish Centre for Pensions, Tax Administration and Defence Forces, Veikkaus Ldt and the information provided by the research subject completing the questionnaire.

9. Disclosure of personal data outside the research group 

No regular transfers of the data take place to parties outside the research team. 

Data may be disclosed to those requesting it under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the Act on the Secondary Use of Social and Health Data (552/2019) or other binding legislation or international agreements. For a study that meets the THL criteria for an internal study, the decision is made by THL itself. THL has transferred the competence for data access authorisation to the Finnish Social and Health Data Permit Authority (Findata), which is primarily responsible for the data access authorisation of applicants outside THL. 

10. Transfer of data outside the EU or the European Economic Area or to international organisations 

Personal data are not transferred to non-EU/EEA countries or to international organisations. 

11. Profiling and automated decision-making 

THL does not allow automated decision-making. 

12. Principles and means of personal data protection 

The personal data processed in this study are confidential.  

The data processed in the data systems: 

  • access management 
  • data encryption 
  • logging 
  • access control 
  • two-step identification 

Processing of direct identifiers: Direct identification data will be deleted before the analysis phase or the data will be pseudonymised.

13. Duration of the study and processing of personal data after completion of the study 

This survey is a one-time study. 

The register follow-up stage of the survey will last 10 years. The register data will be updated during the follow-up stage. 

At the end of the study, the research data formed using the survey responses will be archived at THL until further notice. The data will also be archived in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive until further notice without identification data and data obtained from registers. From the Finnish Social Science Data Archive, registered users can apply for access to the data. 

14. What rights do you have? 

Under data protection legislation, you have certain rights. By exercising these rights, you can ensure that the protection of your privacy, which is one of your fundamental rights, is realised. If you wish to exercise your right, follow data protection instructions or, alternatively, contact THL’s registry (kirjaamo(at)thl.fi) or the contact person mentioned in section 1.
Data protection

Your rights may be restricted in certain cases, for example due to one of THL’s statutory obligations or if the processing takes place for scientific research or for statistical or archiving purposes. If your rights are restricted, THL will provide for appropriate and necessary safeguards required under the data protection legislation. 

If THL cannot identify you from the material, the right to access, rectify and delete data and restrict the processing of the data will not be applied. 

14.1. Right to withdraw consent 

If we are processing your personal data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent.  

The withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. 

14.2. Right to access data concerning you 

You have the right to know if your personal data is being processed for the purposes of this study. You also have the right to know which personal data concerning you are processed and how. Additionally, you have the right to receive a copy of the personal data concerning you, provided that giving you this copy will not have adverse effects on the rights and freedoms of others and that THL does not have legal grounds for refusing to disclose the data. 

14.3. Right to rectification of data 

As a point of departure, you have a right to have inaccurate or incorrect data rectified. 

14.4. Right to erasure of your data 

You may have the right to have your data deleted from this study. If the processing of your data is based on the performance of THL’s statutory tasks or there is some other legal obligation associated with preserving it, your right to have the data deleted probably is restricted. 

14.5. Right to restrict processing

You may have a right to restrict the processing of your personal data in cases laid down in the law. The right to restrict processing may exist, for instance, if you believe that the personal data concerning you are inaccurate, they are being processed unlawfully, or you have opposed the processing of your data.  The data subject to the restriction can only be processed with your consent, where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or where it is in Finland’s and the Eu’s general interest or essential to protect another person’s rights. 

14.6. Right to oppose the processing of personal data 

You may have the right to oppose the processing of your personal data in cases laid down in the law. The right to oppose may apply in situations such as those where data is used for direct marketing purposes. 

14.7. Right to refer the matter to the supervisory authority 

You have the right to request that the Data Protection Ombudsman assess the lawfulness of the processing of your personal data. 

Contact information: 

Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman 
Visiting address: Lintulahdenkuja 4, 00530 Helsinki, Finland 
Postal address: PO Box 800, FI-00531 Helsinki, Finland 
Switchboard: +358 29 56 66700 
Email address: tietosuoja(at)om.fi

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