On the motion of the Economic Affairs Committee, the second reading of the Bill on Establishing Price Limits on Monopolies (597 SE), initiated by the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Faction, the Estonian Reform Party Faction and the Estonian Green Party Faction, was suspended. The purpose of the amendments is to ensure better protection of consumer in view of price formation of providers of universal service and enterprises in a dominant position. The amendments concern the District Heating Act, the Public Water Supply and Sewerage Act and the Penal Code. The means to achieve this are, in the initiators’ words, fixed reasoned profit rates, the obligation of undertakings to initiate lowering of prices if input prices or other production costs change, the right of the Competition Board to establish temporary prices, the right of the Competition Board to monitor the activities of heat producers and 52 larger water undertakings, as well as punishments for material violations. In the course of the discussion, the obligation of heating undertakings to obtain, separately for each network area, the approval of the Competition Board for the maximum price of heat to be sold was introduced in the Bill. The Bill pays special attention to establishing the price of water service, price regulation and liability, as well as supervision related thereto.
On the motion of the Environmental Committee, the first reading of
the Bill on Amendments to § 24 of the Nature Conservation Act (
752 SE), initiated by the Estonian Green Party Faction, was concluded. The purpose of the Bill is to establish the obligation of possessors of immovables to notify persons who are staying on a registered immovable on the order of the possessor of the immovable of the restrictions applied on a protected natural object, for example, when they are performing works ordered by the possessor of the immovable or providing a service on the basis of a contract for services. As the initiator asserted, this is motivated by the need to ensure more effective protection to protected natural objects. The Bill was sent to the second reading.
On the motion of the Finance Committee, the first reading of
the Plastic Bag Excise Tax Bill (
722 SE), initiated by the Estonian Green Party Faction, the Estonian Reform Party Faction and the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union Faction, was concluded. The Act provides the definition of a plastic bag: “plastic bag” means a bag which is used for the purpose of containing goods for carrying from the place of purchase and more than a half of the mass of which is plastic. The excise duty rate of plastic bag is 3 kroons per unit of excise good. The Bill also provides the regulation concerning excise duty exemption and keeping account. The Bill was sent to the second reading.
For more details, read the verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian):
The Riigikogu Press Service
