The Riigikogu passed with 81 votes in favour the Police Act Amendment Act (26 SE), initiated by the Government of the Republic. The Act specifies the obligations of the Police and stipulates as a task of the Police the participation in the international cooperation. The Act provides the Police with a general basis for transboundary police cooperation. The Act creates prerequisites for the accession to the Schengen Convention, by forming an information system proceeding from the Convention. Through the Schengen information system and by the automated search procedure the institutions determined by the Parties to the Convention receive information concerning the control of persons and things on the state border and the police and customs control in the internal state.

The Riigikogu passed with 82 votes in favour (1 abstention) the Police Act, Government of the Republic Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Their Source Materials Act, Police Service Act and Forensic Examination Act Amendment Act (37 SE), initiated by the Government of the Republic. The Act creates legal bases for the merger of the tasks of two state forensic institutions (the Estonian Forensic Medical Examinations Bureau and the Forensic Service Centre) into one forensic institution. The main purpose of the merger is to render better services to the Police, Prosecutor’s Office and Court for the creation of an evidential base and the use of it in disclosing offences. Due to the concentration of competences, a body conducting proceedings, will get a single partner. The joint forensic institution will allow to co-ordinate the problems related to the forensic examination in a more efficient and compact manner.

The verbatim record (in Estonian) can be found at: https://www.riigikogu.ee/?op=steno

The Riigikogu Press Service