On the motion of the Social Affairs Committee, the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Social Benefits for Disabled Persons Act and the State Pension Insurance Act (159 SE), initiated by the Government, was concluded. The aim of the Bill is to grant the officials engaging in expert analysis at the Social Insurance Board and medical experts of the Social Insurance Board (with the consent of the person) the right to access the personal data in the health information system for ascertaining the degree of severity of a disability and the additional expenses involved. Another aim of the Bill is to reduce the workload of the family physicians and specialist doctors who are interfaced to the health information system and send the health data of persons thereto, and to save their time. The Bill was sent to the third reading.

On the motion of the Legal Affairs Committee, the first reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure and Other Associated Acts (175 SE), initiated by the Government, was concluded. The aim of the Bill is to update the regulation of surveillance and to bring it into conformity with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the practice of the court, as well as with the Constitution. As compared to the current law, the Act provides tighter requirements for conducting surveillance activities, and the acts which are not surveillance activities in their essence are excluded from the range of surveillance activities. The Bill was sent to the second reading.

On the motion of the Legal Affairs Committee, the first reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Mental Health Act, the Punishment Register Act, the Probation Supervision Act and the Health Care Services Organisation Act (176 SE), initiated by the Government, was concluded. The aim of the Bill is to allow for treatment of convicted offenders, as an alternative to imprisonment, in the case when a person has committed an offence due to a curable or controllable mental disorder and there is a risk that he or she may commit a new similar offence in the future. The target group of the treatment are persons who have committed sexual offences and who at the same time have a diagnosis of paedophilia or any other sexual orientation disorder (paraphilia) and who agree to receive treatment. Within the meaning of the Bill, complex treatment of sexual offenders is a combination of medicamental treatment and psychotherapeutic treatment (therapy/counselling), the aim of which is to cure the sexual orientation disorders of a person or to keep them under control. As one possibility, treatment is planned to be applied as a prerequisite for releasing a prisoner before the prescribed time. The Bill was sent to the second reading.

Estonian maritime policy 2011‒2020 (145 TK), drafted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, was deliberated in the Riigikogu. Reports were made by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts and member of the Economic Affairs Committee Kalev Lillo.

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications introduced the process of the preparation of the development plan and spoke of the need for a maritime policy. Parts pointed out three main aims: maritime affairs as an important sector of the economy, the improvement of the state of the environment of the Baltic Sea, and the improvement of the maritime cooperation between different ministries and agencies. The Minister spoke about the five main objectives of maritime policy. First, the business environment of the marine sector, which should develop to be business friendly and internationally competitive. Second, the increasing of safety and security at sea, and the improvement of the cleanliness of the marine environment. The third objective concerns the activities of the public sector which are directed towards the development of maritime affairs not only at the national level but also in consideration of the international dimension. As the fourth objective, the Minister mentioned the Estonian marine education and science and, as the fifth, the improvement of coastal life and visiting centres.

Member of the Economic Affairs Committee Kalev Lillo, for his part, added that, for the first time, we have a document which takes into account the joint impact of different aspects related to sea and involves all relevant ministries in the integral vision: the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Environment, as well as the Ministry of Culture. The maritime affairs development plan is drafted with the aim of outlining guidelines for the promotion of maritime affairs which treat maritime affairs sectors in mutual conjunction, with a view to realising to the maximum Estonia’s potential in the use and preservation of marine resource. Lillo also introduced the recommendations of the Economic Affairs Committee for improving the maritime policy development plan.

Comments were presented by Members of the Riigikogu Tõnis Lukas, Toomas Tõniste, Kalev Kallo and Kalev Kotkas.

For more details, read the verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian):

The Riigikogu Press Service