Today the Riigikogu passed three Acts and concluded the second reading of three Bills. Among others, the Bill providing for a reform of old-age pensions under favourable conditions and superannuated pensions passed the second reading.

The Riigikogu passed with 78 votes in favour the Forensic Examination Act (644 SE), initiated by the Government. Its purpose is to solve the practical problems in the forensic examination sector. More specific wording will ensure a clearer regulation of the obligations of forensic experts and officially certified experts and the differentiation between examination and study.

With the amendments, a regulation for contract partner of a forensic institution is created, the regulation of databases and registries is organised, the fingerprint and DNA database are merged into a single offence proceedings biometric register and the legal basis for collecting two new biometric identifiers is included for future purposes. The regulation for the role of a forensic institution is brought more into line with reality and the price list of examinations will no longer be established by the Act but by a Government Regulation. The bases for the financing of examinations are established by the Act.

One aim of the new regulation is greater flexibility of the forensic examination sector. Flexibility will in particular ensure better and faster proceedings which will continue to include high-quality scientifically grounded expert opinions which may however be in a shorter or longer form as necessary.

Before the second reading, the Legal Affairs Committee amended the Bill by including amendments that would be necessary for a transition to fully digital criminal procedure. The amendments also establish the legal preparedness of the forensic examination sector for the transition to all-digital court proceedings. The committee also supported the changing of the formal requirements for the examination ruling and the expert report in order to simply the formulation thereof and to eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic requirements.

The Riigikogu passed with 60 votes in favour the Act on Amendments to the Biocides Act and Other Acts (700 SE), initiated by the Government. It amends the structure and amount of the state fees and charges in the processing of authorisations of biocidal products. The Act is brought into conformity with the EU directive concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products.

Amendments of technical nature are also made to the Biocides Act. For example, the provisions concerning the control of harmful organisms that are related to the requirement concerning the availability of the instructions for use of hand disinfectants in public places are specified to allow for disinfectant dispensers to be filled from open packages in public places. In addition, state supervision is consolidated under specific agencies according to the types and purposes of products in order to avoid duplication of supervision.

The Riigikogu passed the Act on Amendments to the Foreign Relations Act (714 SE), initiated by the Government. It prescribes for an opportunity for the Government or a minister authorised by the Government to authorise, under a contract under public law, a state foundation or a foundation established with state participation to perform an administrative duty in order to use European Union support and foreign aid. Where an administrative duty will be transferred, the bases for financing the performance of the administrative duty and the extent of financing will also be agreed upon in a contract under public law.

The amendment will enable to flexibly choose cooperation partners for the implementation of support programmes who review applications, assess them, make funding decisions, and reclaim money where necessary.

58 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of passing the Act and 13 voted against.

Three Bills passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Courts Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (633 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will change the management structure of district courts and prescribe specialisation of judges. According to the Bill, all circuit courts will be transferred from courthouse-based management to management based on field. The Bill also provides at the level of Act for the establishment of chambers at circuit courts of appeal.

The Bill provides that judges will specialise in the administrative, civil and offence fields. In the future, judges will apply for positions in the civil and offence departments of district courts and in the administrative, civil and criminal chambers of circuit courts of appeal. The chief judge will decide on the transfer of a judge from one department or chamber to another on the basis of an application of the judge. Before the second reading, the Constitutional Committee made an amendment to the Bill under which the chief judge will also have to hear the opinion of the full court in the case of departments and the opinion of the chairs of chambers in the case of chambers.

In district courts, the posts of deputy chief judges of courts and managers of courthouses will be eliminated, and, in the future, heads of civil and offence departments will be appointed for four years. According to an amendment made by the Committee, the chief judge of a district court will have to hear the opinion of the judges of the relevant department before appointing a head of department.

With a view to greater specialisation of judges and in order to harmonise procedural practices, the hearing of all registration cases will be transferred to Tartu Circuit Court of Appeal, and a guardianship supervision department which will cover the whole Estonia and will have officers in every district court will be established at Pärnu Circuit Court of Appeal.

At the same time, the Bill will create a system to support law clerks in improving their professionalism and preparing for the office of judge. The Bill will also harmonise the appointment of law clerks and assistant judges and facilitate their movement within the system. According to the amendments, the chief judge of a district court will appoint assistant judges and the minister will determine their number after having heard the opinion of the chief judge of the district court. In addition, the Bill will raise the salary of assistant judges which will be 65 per cent of the salary of a judge of a court of first instance, instead of the current 50 per cent.

The Bill on Amendments to the Old-Age Pensions under Favourable Conditions Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (710 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will provide for a reform of old-age pensions under favourable conditions and superannuated pensions. A long-term transition is being planned that will enable to acquire the pension qualifying period lacking for the grant of a pension under favourable conditions or to adapt to the situation and to prepare for a career turn if necessary.

According to the Bill, it will be possible to additionally acquire at least a half of the required favourable pension qualifying period. If the required pension qualifying period for the grant of a pension under favourable conditions is 12 years and six months or less, it will be possible to acquire additional pension qualifying period until 31 December 2030 and, in the case of a longer required pension qualifying period, until 31 December 2036. By way of derogation, in the case of old-age pensions under favourable conditions and superannuated pensions, a longer transition period will be established for the people who are employed in underground mining and surface mining in the extraction, treatment and processing of oil shale. Employment in this sector will be factored into the favourable pension qualifying period until 31 December 2049.

A pension is granted under the current Act in the case when all the requirements provided for in Acts are met, such as the favourable pension qualifying period, the general pension qualifying period, and the age to qualify for pension under favourable conditions. People who have already acquired the favourable pension qualifying period previously will need to acquire no additional pension qualifying period and a pension will be granted to them if they meet all the requirements therefor.

During the debate, Marika Tuus-Laul and Marko Šorin from the Centre Party Faction, Kert Kingo, Helle-Moonika Helme and Kalle Grünthal from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction, Raimond Kaljulaid from the Social Democratic Party Faction and Tarmo Kruusimäe from Faction Isamaa took the floor.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill, but the plenary did not support the motion. 33 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion and 46 voted against.

The Prudential Assessment of Foreign Investments Bill (639 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will create a legal framework for the prudential assessment of foreign investments. The Bill will regulate under what conditions and pursuant to what procedure prudential assessment of third country foreign investors and undertakings under their control will be carried out in the case when a foreign investor wishes to participate in an economic sector essential for Estonia’s security or public order by making an investment in an undertaking operating in certain sectors.

The range of target undertakings where the impact on security and public order will be assessed in the case of foreign investments will include, for example, providers of vital services, undertakings with state participation, producers and suppliers of military and dual use goods, owners of national defence facilities, certain media undertakings and possessors of transport infrastructure.

According to the Bill, the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority will authorise foreign investments after having coordinated them beforehand with the foreign investment committee consisting of representatives of various ministries and other governmental authorities. A foreign investment will not be authorised if it endangers the security or public order of Estonia or another European Union Member State.

The second reading of two Bills was suspended

On the motion of the lead committee, the Riigikogu suspended the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Earth’s Crust Act and Other Associated Acts (745 SE), initiated by the Government. The Bill will help better implement the Earth’s Crust Act and regulate the sector more clearly. The Bill provides that the Mineral Resources Commission will also begin to advise the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and authorities within the area of administration thereof, in addition to the Ministry of the Environment and authorities within the area of administration thereof.

The Bill will extend the opportunity to apply for other mineral reserves that have been designated as potentially economic to be designated as economic, in addition to oil shale. The re-assessment of mineral reserves as economic will bring about increasing supply security in terms of mineral resources because only reserves that have been registered as economic can be extracted. The re-assessment will also contribute to sustainable use of mineral resources, for example in cases where a suitable solution is found for extracting a reserve that has earlier been registered as potentially economic for mining engineering reasons and the mineral resource can be used after it will have been re-assessed as economic.

The Bill will make application for retroactively extractable quantities of oil shale more flexible. Namely, it will be possible to apply for retroactively extractable quantity of oil shale until 1 July where any residual extractable quantity remains as at 1 September in the previous year. It will also be prescribed that the state will have a priority right to receive exploration permits for phosphate rock and metal raw material.

During the debate, Heiki Hepner from Faction Isamaa and Erki Savisaar from the Centre Party Faction took the floor.

On the motion of the lead committee, the Riigikogu also suspended the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Electricity Market Act and Other Acts (696 SE), initiated by the Economic Affairs Committee. The purpose of the Bill is to speed up the transition to renewable energy by creating the preconditions facilitating the promotion of renewable energy.

At present, undertakings who are planning to begin to generate renewable energy are lacking the motivation to construct their generating installations as quickly as possible and to adopt connection points quickly and this has become a noticeable obstacle in constructing new power stations and connecting them to the network. If a sizeable amount of the resource of the power network is reserved but generating installations are not constructed within a reasonable period of time while the reservations are not withdrawn, the producers who would actually generate electricity are prevented from using the network.

The Bill will solve the problem of fictitious reservations by giving network operators the right to charge a justified fee of 38,000 euro per MVA in a year if the reserved power network resource is not used. Undertakings who will connect to the new generation ambition will also have to pay a deposit of 38,000 euro per MVA when they enter into contracts for connecting to the network. If, in the case of solar panels, generation is launched within one year and, in the case of other technologies, within two years, the deposit will be returned to the electricity producer. The requirement will apply to generating installations with a capacity of more than 15 kW and thus household consumers will not have to pay a deposit.

In addition to that, the Bill will provide for an opportunity for network operators to buy loss energy as energy generated from a renewable source. Issues relating to reverse auctions will also be specified. In the future, all participants in a reverse auction will have to provide a deposit regardless of the capacity of their generating installations. The Building Code and the Earth’s Crust Act will be amended by including the requirements for intermediate use of mineral deposit, that is, in the future, it will be possible to construct renewable energy construction works on mineral deposits for 35 years. Also, the concept of hydrogen will be included in the Atmospheric Air Protection Act and the Liquid Fuel Act. As a result of this, in the achievement of the target for the transition to renewable energy in transport, it will also be possible to take hydrogen into account where it is used for example in road transport.

Before the second reading, the Economic Affairs Committee had incorporated into the Bill an amendment that would allow for the time spent on the spatial plans of renewable power stations to be shortened by up to two years. Besides that, it is intended to amend the Nature Conservation Act so that for example the rotor of a wind turbine could extend into a building exclusion zone without the need to reduce the area of the building exclusion zone. The organisation of public competitions in marine areas will also become simpler.

During the debate, Kalle Grünthal and Peeter Ernits from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction, Kristen Michal from the Reform Party Faction and Mihhail Korb from the Centre Party Faction took the floor.

Seven Bills passed the first reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Rural Development and Agricultural Market Regulation Act and the Veterinary Act (738 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. One of its purposes is to update references to the European Union legislation on state aid. Since the European Commission had not adopted the new state aid guidelines and the new block exemption regulation by the time the Bill had been initiated, the Economic Affairs Committee had filled the gaps in the Bill with the necessary references to European Commission legislation before the first reading.

Another purpose of the Bill is to terminate national intervention in the implementation of the control measures against wild oats on profit yielding land and other land because the obligation to implement the control measures has produced the desired results. The extensive spread of the weed has decreased, and the users of agricultural land are carrying out consistent weed control, including wild oat control, on their agricultural land even without national intervention.

The Bill on Amendments to the Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions Act (736 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. It will improve the opportunities for qualified trust service providers to provide electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions such as signing with ID-card, Smart-ID and mobile-ID, and personal identification.

At present, qualified trust service providers can provide electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the case when a liability insurance contract has been entered into with an insurer to ensure compensation for damage where damage is caused. However, since the Estonian market is small and it is costly for local service provides to develop niche services, specialised liability insurance is not sufficiently available in the Estonian market.

In order that the provision of service would not be interrupted due to failure to obtain insurance, the Bill will establish an alternative to the obligation to enter into a liability insurance contract. According to the Bill, it will be possible to ensure compensation for damage by a security equivalent to liability insurance, or by certification of availability of financial resources. The amendment will concern the two qualified trust service providers operating in Estonia at present: Guardtime Ltd and SK ID Solutions Ltd.

The Bill on Amendments to the Competition Act (759 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. Its aim is to ensure that the amount of the supervision fee paid to the Competition Authority and thereby also the supervision activity budget would be predictable.

At the beginning of 2022, amendments to the Competition Act entered into force under which undertakings operating in markets regulated by specific Acts must pay a supervision fee to the Competition Authority. Undertakings whose prices and fees of services are approved by the Competition Authority pay the supervision fee according to the sales revenue indicated in an administrative act issued in respect of each network area or licensed territory or electricity generation at the rate of 0.2 per cent of the sales revenue indicated in the administrative act issued to the undertaking.

While at present the supervision fee is calculated on the basis of an administrative act issued on 15 July of each calendar year, in the future the administrative act issued on 15 July of the previous year will be taken into account instead, which will make the amount of the supervision fee better predictable. The amendment planned to come into force from 2024 will affect nearly 200 infrastructure undertakings in the relevant sectors.

The Bill on Amendments to the Police and Border Guard Act and Amendments to Other Associated Act (756 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. It will implement the European Union Regulations which among other things establish a European Travel Information and Authorisation System for third-country nationals exempt from the requirement to be in possession of a visa when entering the Schengen Area. The purpose of the amendment is to enable consideration of whether their presence in the territory of the Member States would pose a security, illegal immigration or high epidemic risk.

Although the Regulation is a directly applicable EU regulation, Member States have been given the right to specify its provisions in some issues. The Bill will designate a central access point and competent authorities which will have access to the system. It will also regulate issues relating to access to, rectification, completion and erasure of data and restriction of processing, as well as the procedure for challenging decisions to refuse, annul and revoke travel authorisations.

The EU Regulations also establish a framework for interoperability between EU information systems, and a common identity repository to implement it. The Bill will designate the authorities that will be entitled to perform queries in the repository and create a basis for the establishment of a migration supervision database.

The Bill on Amendments to the Population Register Act (762 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. It will amend the Act in connection with the agreement between Estonia and Finland on population registration signed in September last year which aims to support the free movement of people between Estonian and Finland and to facilitate the registration of population. The data exchanged under the agreement will be recorded in the population register and Estonian public authorities will be able to use them as data with legal effect.

The Bill on the Ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Republic of Finland on Population Registration (763 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. It will ratify the agreement signed in September last year under which it will be possible to obtain quick and correct information on Estonian people who move to Finland that can be relied on, because the states must ensure the accuracy of the data delivered. The data received under the agreement will be recorded in the population register and Estonian public authorities will be able to use them as data with legal effect.

The Bill on Amendments to the Funded Pensions Act and Other Associated Acts (771 SE), initiated by the Government, also passed the first reading. It will ensure smooth implementation of the European Union’s pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) Regulation. Under the Bill, PEPP will be included in the regulation for the third pillar pension, the pension age and tax incentives of the third pillar pension will be applied to it, and references to PEPP and the relevant Regulation will be included in the Act.

While up to now the third pillar pension has covered voluntary pension funds and insurance contracts for supplementary funded pensions, the inclusion of the pan-European Personal Pension Product will extend the range of available pension schemes. A PEPP can also be in the form of an alternative fund, a UCITS, a deposit, or a securities portfolio, in addition to a pension fund and an insurance contract.

The sitting ended at 6.34 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel. (Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]