The Act on Ratification of the European Cooperating State Agreement between the Republic of Estonia and the European Space Agency (699 SE), initiated by the Government, was passed with 79 votes in favour. The agreements and launching of cooperation projects of enterprises will give Estonian enterprises an opportunity to participate in high technology development and will create new jobs. It will be one source for knowledge-intensive export. Development of space technologies and terrestrial use of implementations thereof is one basis of the future economic growth in Europe.

 

The Act on Amendments to the Penal Code and the Probation Supervision Act (662 SE), initiated by the National Defence Committee, which brings Chapter 24 “Offences relating to National Defence” of the Penal Code into conformity with the Acts regulating the service in the Defence Forces and with other legislation because the Penal Code still uses the concepts of “garrison regulations” and “Defence Forces official” which have no content, was passed with 83 votes in favour. They cannot be applied in penal law and therefore these concepts were omitted from the Penal Code. The Bill also specifies the rules relating to community service.

 

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Tourism Act (677 SE), initiated by the Government, specifies and updates the regulation relating to the activity of travel undertakings. The definition of package as well as the obligations of travel undertakings relating to the security are specified.

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Defence Forces Service Act (698 SE), initiated by the Government, extends the circle of recipients of the single benefit paid by the state if a member of the Defence Forces dies during the performance of his or her duties. Extending of the circle of recipients of the benefit will allow to include in the circle of recipients of the benefit persons who do not belong to the family of the member of the Defence Forces or are not maintained by him or her within the meaning of the Family Law Act.

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and the Law of Property Act (657 SE), initiated by the Government, amends the bases for determining the value of an action. Also, maximum limits are set for the value of an action: in an action for termination of common ownership and division of a thing; in an action for division of joint property and an action for repeal or establishment of the nullity of a resolution of a legal person. The Bill amends the regulation concerning the division of the procedural expenses in a proceeding on petition upon review of a complaint against decisions of bailiff and an application for the performance of a notarial act, and amends the regulation concerning grant of procedural assistance. The regulation of termination of a mortgage on the demand of the owner of an encumbered immovable and changing of the mortgage to an owner mortgage is also amended in the Law of Property Act.

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Public Procurements Act and Associated Acts (665 SE), initiated by the Government, harmonises the remedies directive and reorganises the functions of the supervisory and advisory units of public procurements.

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Commercial Code and Other Acts (708 SE), initiated by the Government, regulates company law so that Estonia would be able to adopt the euro on the determined date. Relevant amendments are also made in the Credit Institutions Act, the Securities Market Act, the Estonian Central Register of Securities Act, the Code of Civil Procedure and the State Fees Act. In order to adopt the euro as the official currency of the Republic of Estonia in company law, it will have to be possible, upon foundation of companies, to express in euro all monetary indicators important in terms of the activities of the company.

 

The Bill on Amendments to the Political Parties Act and Other Associated Acts (655 SE), initiated by the Government, changes the system of the financing of political parties, election coalitions and independent candidates, and increases transparency of the reporting of election campaigns. It establishes rules for donations, provides the consequences of accepting prohibited donations and grants the supervision competence to an independent supervisory body. In the Bill, this function is granted to the National Electoral Committee. The Bill also establishes effective punishments to those who ignore the rules established by law.

 

At Question Time, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip answered the question about the salary administration of managers of state companies and ministers, submitted by Jaan Kundla. The Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts answered the question about the economic strategy of Estonia for the coming years, submitted by Lembit Kaljuvee, and the question about the investment activity of AS Tallinna Vesi, submitted by Maret Merisaar. The Minister of the Environment Jaanus Tamkivi answered a question about the problems relating to the campaign “Teeme ära” (“Let’s Do It”). Problems relating to nuclear-free Estonia, the use of digital prescriptions, the analysis of the human development report, the survey request of Nord Stream and the economic forecast were also discussed.

 

The Riigikogu Press Service