The Riigikogu passed with 88 votes in favour the Act on Amendments to the Medicinal Products Act and the Health Insurance Act (643 SE), initiated by the Government. The amendments specify the procedure for organisation of the administrative proceedings concerning and supervision over medicinal products; reduce the requirements established for pharmacies of small towns in order to ensure sustainability of provision of pharmacy services in areas with a smaller number of users of medicinal products; update the requirements for application for marketing authorisation for medicinal products and storage of medicinal products, and grant the State Agency of Medicines and the Health Board which exercise supervision over compliance with the Act the right to examine, in the course of supervision, also the medical prescriptions that have been issued. In view of more purposeful use of state funds, the retail price of a medicinal product is defined, on the basis of which the Estonian Health Insurance Fund takes over the obligation to pay for medicinal products; a uniform procedure for application of the reference price or the price agreement is established for medicinal products entered in the list of medicinal products of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, and the Ministry of Social Affairs is given the opportunity to initiate price agreement proceedings in order to reduce the terms of entry into force of actual discount rates of medicinal products. Clauses 2 1)-4), 6), 7), 10), 15) and 16) enter into force on 1 July 2010. One member of the Riigikogu voted against the Act, nobody abstained.
On the motion of the Legal Affairs Committee, the second reading of
the Bill on Amendments to the Traffic Act and the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure (
673 SE), initiated by the same Committee, was concluded. The purpose of the amendments is to increase the economicality, speed and reliability of automatic traffic supervision and the subsequent written caution procedure. The Bill simplifies the procedure for electronic delivery of notices of fines to legal persons and agencies and, at the same time, minimises the possibility of occurrence of mistakes (wrong addressee, etc.) in forwarding the notices of fines. The Bill was sent to the third reading.
On the motion of the Constitutional Committee, the second reading of
the Bill on Amendments to the Political Parties Act (
516 SE), initiated by the same Committee, was suspended. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that persons belong to only one political party registered in Estonia at a time and to allow an actual overview of the lists of members of political parties. The version of the Bill provides that changes in a political party are to be registered in the registration department of a court once every three months. In the case when a member of a political party is included in more than one list of members of the political party, the registration department of the court will consider the person to belong to the party to which the person was admitted later.
On the motion of the Constitutional Committee, the first reading of
the Bill on Amendments to the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules Act (
697 SE), initiated by the Estonian Centre Party Faction, the Estonian Reform Party Faction, the Estonian Green Party Faction, the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Faction and the Social Democratic Party Faction, was concluded. The regulations added with the amendments allow the Riigikogu to intervene in the European Union (EU) decision-making process in the case when the EU institutions have infringed the principle of subsidiarity in the opinion of the parliament. According to the Bill, a Resolution for submitting a reasoned opinion on non-compliance of a draft European Union legislative act with the principle of subsidiarity is passed at a plenary session of the Riigikogu. The EU Affairs Committee submits a relevant draft Resolution to the plenary assembly. The Riigikogu may also require that the Government of the Republic file an action at the European Court of Justice concerning an already passed European Union act in the case when the act infringes the principle of subsidiarity. A standing committee or faction submits a relevant draft Resolution to the legislative proceeding of the Riigikogu. In addition, on the basis of the “bridging clause”, the Riigikogu has the right to contest a European Council initiation whereby the European Union Council adopts the principle of qualified majority instead of the principle of decision by unanimity in certain fields. The Bill was sent to the second reading.
The Riigikogu Press Service
