The Riigikogu passed three Acts today. The first of them concerns competition law, the second shortens the terms for the response to requests for explanation sent to public authorities and the third allows for a reduced rate of fairway dues to be kept in place for another year.

Three Acts were passed

The Act on Amendments to the Competition Act (466 SE), initiated by the Government, was passed. It creates a solution that will enable European Union block exemptions to also be applied in national competition law.

Block exemptions are one of the most used tools of EU competition law. Block exemptions cover a large number of types of contracts common in commercial activities which, despite anti-competitive provisions, have a positive impact on consumers and the economy. The block exemptions established by the European Commission apply to Estonian undertakings if their agreements have an impact on trade between member states.

The proposed solution is a “hybrid solution”, where, on the one hand, EU block exemptions become essentially directly applicable in national competition law but, on the other hand, the country is left with the possibility to review such block exemptions in advance and to provide a confirmation by a national Regulation that such block exemptions are appropriate and necessary for the Estonian legal order as well as to provide for derogations for national law where necessary. The possibility of establishing national block exemptions by Government regulation has also been retained.

This solution will allow ensure legal certainty and effective competition oversight while at the same time reducing administrative and bureaucratic burdens. It will also help to increase legal certainty for undertakings and save costs related to legal counselling.

The amended regulation will not affect the current competitive situation. There is currently one block exemption on vertical agreements, established by a Government regulation, in force in Estonia. As a result of the amendment, six block exemptions will apply in national competition law. Two of them are block exemptions concerning rail, road and inland waterway transport and technology transfer agreements that have not yet been transposed.

The amendments made in the second reading specified the wording of a provision delegating authority in the Bill and were intended to stick to the current procedure according to which the Government establishes a national regulation on the proposal of the minister in charge of the policy sector. The rights of the Competition Authority arising from the EU block exemption regulations were also specified and it was provided that the amendments relating to block exemptions would enter into force on 1 January next year.

The Act on Amendments to the Response to Memoranda and Requests for Explanations and Submission of Collective Proposals Act (475 SE), initiated by the Government, was passed. According to it, public authorities will have to provide responses to the memoranda and requests for explanations within 15 days instead of the current 30 days.

The Act maintains the principle that a response to a memorandum or request for explanation must be provided without undue delay but shortens the maximum time within which this must be done. At present, the question of a person must be answered within 30 calendar days after the date of registration thereof, but it will be no later than within 15 calendar days once the new Act enters into force. In the case of more complex addresses that require additional time to respond, the possibility remains to extend the term for response to up to two months to ensure thoroughness and quality of the responses. The person who has submitted the memorandum or request for explanation must be informed of extension of the term and of the reason therefor.

The Act is intended to speed up the response to people’s memoranda and requests for explanation, which discuss, for example, the organisation of the work of institutions, the shaping of the development of a field, information related to public life or state governance, as well as legislation and drafts developed by an agency. The amendment mainly concerns state and local government authorities, but a non-profit association, foundation, sole proprietor or company may also be an addressee of a memorandum or request for explanation if the information concerns the use of the budget funds of the state or a local government.

In the course of the second reading, the Bill was amended by adding a provision allowing for refusal to respond to a memorandum or request for explanation if a person’s address with the same content has already been answered within the last year and the need to receive information again is not justified. The provision will also allow not to respond to an address if a person is manifestly abusing the right of address.

The Act on Amendments to the Maritime Safety Act (526 SE), initiated by the Economic Affairs Committee, was passed. It reduces the rate of fairway dues in 2025 in order to maintain the international carriage of goods and passengers by sea.

Under the Act, the fairway dues for all ships entering Estonian ports and the roadstead of Estonian ports will be reduced by 14 per cent from 1 January to 31 December next year. The purpose of the amendment is to continue supporting international maritime transport and to motivate consignors to direct their trade flows through Estonian ports where possible. Fairway dues have been reduced by 15 per cent this year.

According to the explanatory memorandum, the maritime and logistics sector has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused a significant drop in passenger and freight traffic on waterways and in Estonian ports since the beginning of 2020. In addition, the freight volumes of Estonian maritime transport and ports decreased in 2023, primarily in connection with the war against Ukraine and, as a result, the sanctions imposed by the European Union on the transport of goods from Russia. The decrease in freight volumes has continued this year as well.

Jaak Aab (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.

A Bill passed the second reading

The purpose of the Bill on Amendments to the Child Protection Act and Other Acts (427 SE), initiated by the Government, is to improve the identification of and assistance to children in need and to increase the number of foster families.

Although everyone has a duty to report a child in need to the local government, many cases come to the attention of child protection too late. The role of people working with children in identifying children in need will therefore be increased. The Bill lists specialists, such as teachers, coaches and doctors, who have a special duty of care to recognise a child’s need for help and to inform the child protection worker of the municipality thereof. The Bill will also specify the right of municipalities and the Social Insurance Board to process personal data in the performance of child protection tasks.

The Bill will increase support for foster, guardianship and adoptive families who have taken a child from another family to be raised in their family and will establish the content, organisation, volume and funding of the support services for family-based alternative care.

The Bill will also create the possibility for information on children in need of permanent support due to their health condition to be automatically transmitted to municipalities via information systems early on. A list of such health conditions will be set out in a regulation. However, according to a provisional agreement they will be blindness in both eyes, cancer diagnosis, rare disease, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disabilities. The aim of the amendment is to integrate the health and social services offered to children and families in order to ease the burden on parents. Once the information about a child is received, the municipality and the Social Insurance Board will have an obligation to offer support measures to the family without the parent or guardian having to apply for assistance themselves.

The Riigikogu had suspended the second reading of the bill on 10 October as confusion had arisen in the plenary on the issue of whether granting an application to reassess the restriction on working with children could lead to a situation where those who pose an immediate threat to the safety of children could also work with children when the information concerning their punishment had been deleted from the criminal records database. As the Social Affairs Committee had received confirmation after the suspension of the second reading that the bill would not, however, create any new grounds for reassessing the restriction on working with children, no motions to amend the Bill had been submitted for the resumption of the second reading.

Aleksandr Tšaplõgin (Centre Party), Kert Kingo (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Helle-Moonika Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Arvo Aller (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Kalle Grünthal (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Züleyxa Izmailova (Estonia 200), Martin Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Varro Vooglaid (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Evelin Poolamets (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Madis Timpson (Reform Party), Mart Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Riina Solman (Isamaa) took the floor during the debate.

The Estonian Centre Party Group and the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Parliamentary Group moved to reject the Bill. 24 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 42 were against. The motion was not supported and thus the Bill passed the second reading.

A draft Resolution passed the first reading

The Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Increasing the Holding of the Republic of Estonia in the  European Bank for Reconstruction and Development” (542 OE),  submitted by the Government, passed the first reading. According to it, the Riigikogu gives its consent to increase Estonia’s shareholding in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development by 403 paid-in shares with a total value of 4,030,000 euro, to be paid to the bank within five years.

Implementation of the Resolution will involve an obligation for Estonia to pay for the subscribed shares in an amount of 4,030,000 euro in equal instalments in 2025–2029. In total, the bank will issue 400,000 paid-in shares with a nominal value of four billion euro.

The purpose of increasing the bank’s paid-in capital is to strengthen the bank’s support for Ukraine both during the Russian aggression and later during the country’s recovery. According to the Bank’s estimates, the volume of these investments in Ukraine may grow to three billion euro a year in 2027–2032. The bank has invested more than 4.5 billion euro in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

Martin Helme (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor during the debate.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group moved to reject the draft Resolution. 17 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 41 were against. Thus, the motion was not supported, and the draft Resolution passed the first reading.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.

Riigikogu Press Service
Maris Meiessaar
+372 631 6353, +372 5558 3993
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