Article 13 of the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions requires each contracting party to specify a national platform. The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has appointed a National Platform for 2023–2027. Under the leadership of FINCIS, the National Platform is updating and preparing, among other things, a national situation picture and action plan against manipulation of sports competitions.
The National Platform must, in accordance with the national legislation, among other things:
- act as an information hub for collecting and disseminating information relevant to the prevention of the manipulation of sports competitions to relevant organisations and authorities;
- coordinate the prevention of the manipulation of sports competitions;
- receive, centralise and analyse information on irregular and suspicious betting on sports events in the jurisdiction of the contracting party, and issue warnings where appropriate;
- provide information on possible violations of the laws or regulations referred to in the Convention to public authorities or sports organisations and/or sports betting operators;
- co-operate with all relevant actors and authorities at the national and international level, including the National Platforms of other Member States.
The Finnish Advisory Board for Ethics in Sport of the Ministry of Education and Culture made a proposal concerning the members of the National Platform pursuant to the Convention at its meeting on 27 April 2020. FINCIS holds the chairmanship of the National Platform. The members of the National Platform come from the Football Players Association of Finland, the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Police Board of Finland, the Helsinki Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Football Association of Finland, the Finnish Olympic Committee and Veikkaus.
The activities of the informal network of national platforms against manipulation of sports competitions, the Group of Copenhagen, are coordinated by the secretariat set up by the Council of Europe.
The informal network of national platforms against manipulation of sports competitions of countries which have signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, the Group of Copenhagen, whose activities are coordinated by the secretariat set up by the Council of Europe.