On Monday, the National Defence Committee received an overview of the current situation with developing the new National Defence Act which will regulate national defence both during peace and war. The Bill will soon be sent out to relevant authorities for approval.

“The legal acts which regulate Estonia’s national defence are starting to show their outdatedness. Firstly, these were adopted before Estonia joined the EU and NATO; secondly, the security environment and the reality of national defence have changed quite dramatically,” said the Chairman of the Committee Mati Raidma.

The creation process of the new Act is based on the national defence strategy adopted at the end of 2010, the green paper on the National Defence Act, and the current coalition agreement. The objective is to adopt the Act by the end of this year.

“The Ministry of Defence has now started a process of opening three valid Acts – Peace-Time National Defence Act, War-Time National Defence Act, and International Military Cooperation Act – and rewriting these as one comprehensive National Defence Act. The new Act must definitely also implement our broad national defence concept as well as harmonising peace and war time national defence leadership systems and areas of responsibility,” Raidma said.