THE PHILATELIC FEDERATION OF FINLAND

The Philatelic Federation of Finland is the umbrella organization of the Stamp Clubs and Philatelic Associations in Finland. It aims to advance Finnish philately on both national and international level, as well as to support the activities of its member associations on local level. 

The main activities of the Federation are connected with publishing, education, exhibitions, expertising, regional cooperation, as well as public relations on both national and international level.

Oy Finlandia 88 Ab, a company fully-owned by the Federation, is the publisher of the Filatelisti Magazine, bringing out ten issues per year, as well as philatelic research and literature. 

The Federation has a number of lecturers, who make presentations in the Clubs on their special interest areas. The Federation also takes care of the education of jury members, as well as stamp collectors.

The Federation approves the regulations of national philatelic exhibitions and the nominations of jury members. It also appoints the Finnish candidates for jury members and the commissioners for international exhibitions, and the Finnish members of various committées in the international federations.

The experts of the Federation serve collectors in accordance with their special topics. Expertising is sometimes needed to prove the authenticity of a philatelic item, especially if it is an expensive one. The expert committée also struggles against forgeries by checking philatelic items shown in collections during national exhibitions.

The most important stake holders of the Federation are the member associations and their collector members, as well as anyone interested in philately, whether in Finland or abroad.

Natural stake holders are also
- those with postal connection, e.g. the Post of Finland, the Post Museum, etc.
- those with educational connection, e.g. the OK Study Centre (Opintotoiminnan Keskusliitto), the Ministry of Education, teachers, schools, universities, etc.
- those with commercial connection, e.g. the Stamp Centre (Postimerkkikeskus), dealers, publishing agents and printing houses, and
- those with international connection, e.g. the FIP (international federation of philatelic associations), the FEPA (European federation of philatelic associations), the federations of all other countries, especially of the Nordic countries, the organizers of international exhibitions, etc.

The Philatelic Federation of Finland was established in 1947. It has 85 member associations, with some 3,000 members in total.