The Riigikogu passed two Acts: 

The Act on Amendments to the Social Benefits for Disabled Persons Act and the State Pension Insurance Act (159 SE), initiated by the Government, which establishes the legal basis for the processing of sensitive personal data in the health information system in the process of identification of a degree of severity of a disability or permanent incapacity for work, was passed with 59 votes in favour. The health data which are the basis for the identification of a degree of severity of a disability or permanent incapacity for work are in the health information system, and the officials engaging in expert analysis at the Social Insurance Board and medical experts of the Social Insurance Board have the right to make queries from the system, on the bases provided by law, in order to obtain the health data necessary for an expert analysis. 

The Act on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act and the Liquid Fuel Act (146 SE), initiated by the Government, provides a special reverse charge arrangement for avoiding tax evasions related to the turnover of gold, as is also the case with the turnover of metal waste and immovables, was passed with 60 votes in favour. Application of the reverse value added tax eliminates the opportunity to deduct, that is, to reclaim from the state, value added tax in case of transactions between persons liable to value added tax. The obligation to pay value added tax only arises in the “last link” of the supply chain, upon sale to the final consumer. 

The Riigikogu resumed the legislative proceeding of the Act on Amendments to the Universities Act, the Institutions of Professional Higher Education Act and Other Acts (89 UA) which the President of the Republic had refused to proclaim. When the Act had been rejected by the Resolution No 59 of the President of the Republic, it had been pointed that several provisions of the Act were not in conformity with the Constitution. The major amendments to the Act concern the financing of level studies in higher education from the state budget, and the rights and obligations of students upon acquiring higher education financed from the state budget. According to the Act, in the future, activity support which as a general rule is no longer bound to the number of specific study places and graduates will be allocated from the state budget to institutions of higher education for carrying out instruction at higher education levels. In addition, the Act provides cumulative calculation of credit points in every semester. Students who are on academic leave will have the right to attend lectures but not to take examinations and assessments. 

In the discussions that had been held in the Constitutional Committee and the Cultural Affairs Committee, it had been recognised that the President did not contest the concept, aim or content of the abovementioned Act and the accompanying legislation through his veto. What has been contested is the form of the legal regulation or the level of the legal regulation used in this Act. The President had indicated that part of the regulation should have been provided at the level of an Act as the Constitution requires, and not at the level of a legislative act of the Government, that is, a Regulation. The President also thinks that some problems should be regulated more clearly, and a procedure for settlement of possible disputes that may arise should be provided. 

Both the Cultural Affairs Committee and the Constitutional Committee presented a motion to the plenary assembly of the Riigikogu to resume the legislative proceeding of the Act which the President of the Republic had refused to proclaim. 65 members of the Riigikogu supported this motion. Nobody voted against and nobody abstained. 

The Riigikogu Press Service