In this book, we refer to standard Finnish as a language form that follows the norms and conventions defined for written Finnish. As with other languages, this is not a matter of standards issued by standards organizations, except for a few issues. Instead, the rules are set by language authorities, such as Kielitoimisto (language bureau), which has had different organization statuses; now it is a department of Kotimaisten kielten keskus, Kotus (Institute for the Languages of Finland). There is also suomen kielen lautakunta (Board for the Finnish language), working in cooperation with Kotus.
The national standard SFS 4175 Numeroiden ja merkkien kirjoittaminen (with the English title “Typing of numbers, marks and signs”) specifies several notational conventions.
The recommendations of the authorities can be characterized as “official”, but they have no legal status. However, they have widely been regarded as defining what is correct and what is not. In recent years, the recommendations have partly been changed to a more liberal direction, causing protests.
There is a large number of language guides for Finnish in Finnish, mostly promoting the rules of the language authorities, but partly with some added principles and intentional or unintentional deviation from the “official” rules. The most extensive online guide is Nykyajan kielenopas, by the author of this book. Section Official language guides lists some official printed and online materia by Kotus.
Publishers and educational institutions have their own guides, but they are mostly limited to presenting special rules only. They typically emphasize some principles in the official rules, present some deviations from them, or give some added instructions on matters not covered by them. Thus, the situation is different from the regulation of English, which is largely handled by major publishers and language guides issued by them.