New features of the indoor air quality policy in Finland.

The importance of IAQ to Finland's society and economy has led to the realisation that nationally planned and coordinated activities are necessary to achieve reliable results. For 20 years the Finnish government has had a national policy to coordinate different governmental, local and private policies to improve IAQ in homes, schools, offices, public places etc. This program has been very successful although there are still many buildings with damp, mould and other similar problems and the quality of construction falls below that required. The paper describes the main features of Finland's IAQ. The actions and the future plans of different governmental agencies together with the many individual initiatives by different societies and private firms are discussed. Emphasis is laid upon the opportunities presented by a new building act, where the responsibilities of different parties in the building process have been divided in a new way. The principles behind the Ministry of the Environment's new official regulations for IAQ and energy conservation in new buildings are also explained. Particular importance is attached to the solution of problem of connecting good IAQ with energy conservation and other environmental demands. The far-reaching measures to improve IAQ in Finland, the new version 2000 of the classification of indoor climate, construction and building materials are also described. Attention is given particularly to the requirements and the size of HVAC- systems.