Read more about our cookie policy

This cookie policy applies to the EU-healthcare.fi website. EU-healthcare.fi is a website maintained by the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare, providing information on using health services in Finland and abroad. The website provides information on patient rights, treatment costs and their reimbursement as well as healthcare in different countries, among other things.


The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare is committed to protecting the priacy of users of its website.

In this cookie policy, we describe how the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare and its partners use cookies and other similar tracking and targeting technologies (hereinafter collectively referred to as cookies) on the EU-healthcare.fi website. Cookies are used to collect information on how and when the website is used. This information can be used to improve the usability of the website and to target marketing messages to those who have visited the EU-healthcare.fi website.

The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare cannot identify the user from the information it collects, as it does not collect the user’s name, contact information or personal identity code on the site. Information collected on the EU-healthcare.fi website will not be combined with any other information.

The user may consent to the use of cookies via the cookie banner. The user can choose not to give their consent or withdraw it at any time.

  • Edit your cookie settings

This cookie policy answers the following questions: 

  1. What is the contact information for the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare?
  2. What are cookies and what information do they collect?
  3. For what purposes are cookies and related data used?
  4. What is the data retention period?
  5. How can I influence cookies?
  6. Where will the data be disclosed or transferred?
  7. How is the data protected?
  8. How is the cookie policy modified?

1. Contact information

Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare, Kela (Social Insurance Institution of Finland), P.O. Box 80, FI-00380 Helsinki, Finland, tel. +358 20 634 11, yhteyspiste(at)kela.fi.

The EU-healthcare.fi website is provided in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare is located within Kela. There is a similar contact point in every EU country.

2. What are cookies and what information do they collect?

Like many other websites, the EU-healthcare.fi website uses cookies and other similar tracking and targeting technologies. A cookie is a small text file that is stored in the user’s browser to collect information about the visit to the EU-healthcare.fi website.

The EU-healthcare.fi website uses first-party and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are set by the website shown in the address bar. In addition to these, the EU-healthcare.fi website uses cookies from third parties, such as advertising technology providers and social media services.

The EU-healthcare.fi website uses cookies to collect the following information, for example:

  • the number of visitors to the website
  • the devices used to access the website, such as phones or computers
  • the web address from which users access the website
  • the individual pages visited.

Cookies and website servers automatically record page requests made by users who visit the site. The information usually includes the user’s web request, the date and time of the request, the IP address of the user’s device and the browser type and language.

The information is stored in such a format that it cannot be attributed to an individual user without further information. Cookies are not used to store the user’s name or e-mail address, for example. The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare cannot link the data collected by cookies to individuals.

3. For what purposes are cookies and related data used?

The following types of cookies are used on the EU-healthcare.fi website:

Necessary cookies (always enabled)

  • These cookies help us to ensure that our online service works properly. For example, the Polylang cookie allows the use of different language versions of the website. You can only disable these cookies in your browser settings.

Functional cookies

  • Functional cookies help our website perform certain functions, such as sharing content between the website and social media platforms as well as other third-party features. Functional cookies are necessary for the functionality and development of the website.

Visitor counter and analytics cookies

  • The web analytics tool (Piwik Pro) uses cookies to collect statistical information. The information is collected in order to analyse the numbers of visitors, the attractiveness of the content and the ways in which the service is used and to develop the website.

Cookies for targeted communications and marketing

  • With the help of cookies, the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare can target marketing messages to users who have visited the EU-healthcare.fi website. The partners that the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare uses for targeting include Facebook, Twitter, Google and MediaMath.
  • Read more about why the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare advertises online.

The processing of third-party cookie information is subject to third-party terms and conditions; see below for more information.

Piwik Pro

Google

  • Purpose of the cookie: to personalise, implement and analyse marketing messages in order to display the kinds of messages that visitors are most likely to find interesting.
  • More information: If the visitor has a Google account, Google may associate the identifier contained in the cookie with the visitor’s Google account. Learn more about how Google uses cookies for targeted marketing communications.

MediaMath 

  • Purpose of the cookie: to personalise, implement and analyse marketing messages in order to display the kinds of messages that visitors are most likely to find interesting.
  • Learn more about how MediaMath uses cookies.

Facebook

  • Purpose of the cookie: to personalise, implement and analyse marketing messages in order to display the kinds of messages that visitors are most likely to find interesting.
  • More information: Facebook may associate an EU-healthcare.fi cookie identifier with a Facebook user if they have a Facebook account. Learn more about how Facebook uses cookies.

Statistical monitoring of content related to Your Europe portal

EU-healthcare.fi is part of the European Commission’s Your Europe portal. The Your Europe portal offers EU citizens and businesses easy access to the EU member states’ information, procedures and advice and problem-solving services.

Visitor data is collected from pages linked to the Your Europe portal using the Matomo tool. In addition to the URL of the page, the data collected from the pages includes the number of visitors, their country of residence and the terminal device used. The data is collected anonymously and is not personalised.

The collection of visitor data is part of monitoring the implementation of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 on a single digital gateway. The data will only be available to the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare, the European Commission and the national coordinators mentioned in the Regulation. The data collected will be stored in the European Commission’s data repository for a maximum of three years, after which it will be automatically deleted.

4. What is the data retention period?

Session cookies are valid for a specific session until the user closes the browser, and persistent cookies are valid for a period ranging from a few months to a few years. The user can influence the retention period of data collected by cookies by clearing the cookies through the browser settings, which will reset the previous cookie profile.

The typical retention periods for data collected by cookies are as follows:

  • Functional cookies: Data collected by functional cookies is usually deleted at the end of the session or stored for a maximum of one month.
  • Visitor counter and analytics cookies: Data collected by Piwik Pro is typically stored for 36 months.
  • Targeting communications: Data collected for targeting marketing communications is typically processed for a few months. For example, MediaMath deletes the data within 13 months of collection at the latest.

5. How can I influence cookies?

Users of the website are asked to consent to the use of cookies via the cookie banner when they visit the EU-healthcare.fi website for the first time. By selecting ‘Accept all cookies’, the user gives permission to set cookies and process the data collected by them. By pressing ‘Select cookies to accept’, the user can choose which cookies to accept. The user can choose not to give consent, withdraw their consent or change their cookie settings by pressing the ‘Edit your cookie settings’ button in the cookie banner.

If the user wants to make choices on a partner-specific basis, the user can block and modify cookies by visiting our partners’ websites:

The user may also disable or delete cookies from the web browser settings. Disabling or deleting cookies may impact the choices previously made on websites, for example, deleting an opt-out cookie for targeted marketing communications set on a partner’s website. The choices are browser-specific, meaning that the user must make the desired choices separately for each browser.

Cookies can be re-enabled at any time. Deleting cookies does not make it more difficult to use the EU-healthcare.fi website.

More information on the use of cookies in online services in Finland is available, for example, on the Traficom website.

6. Where will the data be disclosed or transferred?

The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare uses reliable partners in the targeting of marketing communications and enables these partners to collect data from the EU-healthcare.fi website using cookies and other similar technologies in order to target marketing communications. In this context, data may be transferred outside the EU or EEA. For further information on processing by partners, see Section 3 of this policy.

The service providers used by the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare (such as the media office) may have access to data collected in connection with the use of the EU-healthcare.fi website. The service providers may only use this data for the purposes of the Contact Point.

The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare has taken data security concerns into account in its partnership agreements, aiming to ensure that partners and service providers process the data in accordance with the legislation in force at each time.

7. How is the data protected?

At the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare, data security is systematically taken into account in all use and processing of data. Data security and availability are ensured by appropriate technical and administrative measures. The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare processes all data securely and in accordance with the legislation.

The information collected by cookies is also processed by partners outside the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare in accordance with separate agreements. The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare has taken security concerns into account in its partnership agreements, aiming to ensure that data security is managed as required by the data protection legislation.

8. How is the cookie policy modified?

The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare may make changes to this cookie policy from time to time, if this is justified by, for example, changes in the purposes of processing or changes in official recommendations or legislation. Any changes will be announced on the EU-healthcare.fi website.

This cookie policy was published in April 2022, when a cookie banner was introduced on the EU-healthcare.fi website to manage the user’s cookie consent. The information has been updated in December 2024.