Background information

Due to social distancing rules, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the event and culture sector has been significant. For many organisers, the financial risk of organising events in a situation where the risk of cancellation is significant is very high. This has also a significant negative impact on employment in this sector.

In order to support enterprises and employees in the culture and event sector, the Government proposed new form of support for entreprises in this sector.

The legal basis is an amendment of Yritysten määräaikaisesta kustannustuesta annettu laki (508/2020), a temporary act that forms the legal basis of the business cost support .

Content of measure

Event guarantee is a payment commitment given in advance to an event organiser. It covers the costs declared by the organiser. In case the event is cancelled or the authorities need to restrict the size of the event, a financial compensation (85% of the costs declared by the organiser) will be provided for the organiser.

Event guarantee applies to public events with at least 200 participants organised. Events organised between June 2021 and November 2021 are eligible. Only established and professional organisers who have a Business ID and permanent organisation and whose turnover in 2019 was more than €150,000, can apply. Event guarantee is limited to one-off events, events organised regularly throughout the year cannot apply but there will be a separate form of support for them.

The total budget is €80 million. The State Treasury handles the applications.

Use of measure

According to the State Treasury , approximately 1,154 organisations had applied for the payment commitment as of 21 September 2021. In total €128 million was granted. In total 43 organisations had applied for financial compensation and in total €83,000 had been paid out.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

All stakeholder, including the social partners could leave comments through the online portal lausuntopyyntö.fi. In addition, a separate consultation was carried out with the Event Industry Association (Tapahtumateollisuus ry).

Views and reactions

In an article published by the Federation of the Finnish Enterprises (in Finnish), the Event Industry Association criticises the narrow scope of the guarantee and in particular limiting it to one-off events with at least 200 participants. They argue that the one-off events such as festivals are only one part of the sector while the large majority of jobs and turnover is linked to regularly organised events such as summer theater, sports competitions and music clubs.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 31 March 2021: Tapahtumatakuu tulee osaksi kustannustuen neljättä hakukierrosta – "Ei täytä alan tarpeita" [Event guarantee becomes one part of the fourth application round of the business cost support - "Does not meet the needs of the industry"] (www.yrittajat.fi)
• 06 May 2021: Hallituksen esitys HE 79/2021 vp [Government Proposal HE 79/2021 vp] (www.eduskunta.fi)
• 27 May 2021: Application round for event guarantee to start 1 June – Aims to reduce organisers’ financial risk (valtioneuvosto.fi)
• 21 September 2021: Tilastoja: tapahtumatakuu [Statistics: Event guarantee] (www.valtiokonttori.fi)