The Riigikogu passed with 82 votes in favour the Act on Amendments to the State Borders Act, the Customs Act and the Police and Border Guard Act (701 SE), initiated by the Government, which provides for the obligation of air carriers to transfer air passenger name record data to the Police and Border Guard Board.

The transferring of air passenger name record data (PNR data) is necessary in order that law enforcement authorities could process these data for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting terrorist offences or serious crime.

In addition, according to the Act, legal and natural persons who provide international carriage of passengers by rail in Estonia have the possibility to transmit the passenger name records to the Police and Border Guard Board electronically through data communication channels in order to pre-check the lists. The Act also provides that customs officials are given the same rights for controlling the crossing of the state border as police officers have.

Also, the Act that was passed gives the Government the right to define the Estonian-Russian temporary control line which creates a precondition for better marking and maintenance and more efficient guarding of the control line.

Urmas Reinsalu took the floor during the debate.

The verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian): https://www.riigikogu.ee/?op=steno&stcommand=stenogramm