The Na­tional Non-Dis­crim­i­na­tion and Equal­ity Tri­bunal is an im­par­tial and in­de­pen­dent ju­di­cial body ap­pointed by the Gov­ern­ment. The Tri­bunal su­per­vises com­pli­ance with the Non-Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act and the Act on Equal­ity be­tween Women and Men (Equal­ity Act) both in pri­vate ac­tiv­i­ties and in pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tive and com­mer­cial ac­tiv­i­ties.

How­ever, the man­date of the Tri­bunal does not cover mat­ters re­lated to pri­vate life, fam­ily life or prac­tice of re­li­gion.

The func­tion of the Tri­bunal is to give le­gal pro­tec­tion to those who con­sider they have been dis­crim­i­nated against or vic­timised.

Mat­ters re­lat­ing to the ac­tiv­i­ties of the Finnish par­lia­ment may be sub­mit­ted to the Tri­bunal for con­sid­er­a­tion only if the mat­ter con­cerns the ac­tiv­i­ties of the Par­lia­ment or one of its or­gans as pub­lic au­thor­ity or em­ployer.

The su­per­vi­sion car­ried out by the Tri­bunal does not cover the ac­tiv­i­ties of the Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic, the gov­ern­ment ple­nary ses­sion, the courts of law and other ju­di­cial bod­ies, the Chan­cel­lor of Jus­tice and the Par­lia­men­tary Om­buds­man.

If a case con­cern­ing a pro­hi­bi­tion on dis­crim­i­na­tion has been or is to be taken up by an­other au­thor­ity, the Tri­bunal may not in­ves­ti­gate it.

The Tri­bunal may pro­hi­bit con­tin­ued or re­peated dis­crim­i­na­tion or vic­tim­i­sa­tion and im­pose a con­di­tional fine to en­force com­pli­ance with its in­junc­tions and or­der pay­ment of such a fine.

The Tri­bunal may oblige the party con­cerned to take mea­sures within a rea­son­able pe­riod of time in or­der to ful­fil the oblig­a­tions un­der the Non-Dis­crim­i­na­tion Act.

A de­ci­sion is­sued by the Tri­bunal may be ap­pealed to the com­pe­tent Ad­min­is­tra­tive Court.

The Tri­bunal con­sid­ers pe­ti­tions free of charge and there are no ser­vice fees. How­ever, the par­ties con­cerned are li­able for any other le­gal costs.