The Riigikogu passed three Acts

At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu passed three Acts that make the student loan system more flexible, specify fishing regulations for Lake Peipus, and grant health care professionals the right to prescribe prescription medications to themselves in certain cases.

The Riigikogu passed the Act on Amendments to the Study Allowances and Study Loans Act and the Credit Institutions Act (767 SE), initiated by the Government. It will make the student loan system more flexible and student loans more available to students.

The Act abolishes the requirement for a surety or an immovable property guarantee when applying for a student loan from September 2026, so that young people who have so far not been able to find a suitable surety can also apply for a loan. Instead of guarantee, the loan applicant’s payment behaviour will be assessed in the future, and if they have not fulfilled their other obligations to the bank or another lender, the bank may refuse to grant a student loan.

The Act also makes loan terms more favourable. According to an amendment, the interest rate for student loans will be up to 1.5 percent instead of the current up to three percent, plus six-month Euribor. The state will continue to guarantee both the maximum student loan rate, which is up to EUR 6,000 from this academic year, and the interest payable.

While until now a student loan had to be repaid within twice the standard period of study, according to the Act, the term will be extended by four times, and the maximum repayment period will increase from 20 to 25 years. A longer repayment period makes it possible to reduce monthly loan payments and spread the financial burden over a longer period. Currently, about 1,800 students take out student loans annually, which is four percent of potential recipients of loan. The number of recipients of loans is expected to increase as a result of the amendments.

 Parliament specified the transition to the new student loan system during the proceedings. Student loan agreements concluded before the 2026/2027 academic year will generally remain valid under the terms in force at the time they were concluded. However, if the repayment obligation has not yet arisen for a recipient of a loan, they may, by agreement with the credit institution, transfer their agreements to the new regulation. A person for whom the repayment obligation has already arisen and who has not continued their studies will not be granted such a right, but they retain the option to change the interest rate by agreement with the credit institution.

Margit Sutrop from the Reform Party Group, Lauri Läänemets from the Social Democratic Party Group and Vadim Belobrovtsev from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate.

77 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act.

The Riigikogu passed the Act on Amendments to the Fishing Act (859 SE), initiated by the Rural Affairs Committee. Its aim is to ensure the sustainable use of the fish stocks of Lake Peipus, Warm Lake and Lake Pskov and to avoid situations where fishing is concentrated in unsuitable conditions solely due to a general restriction on vessel departures.

Currently, a total of up to 600 fishing vessel departures per year are allowed on Lake Peipus, including 300 using small-mesh fishing gear and 300 using large-mesh fishing gear, under an intergovernmental agreement. However, the individual quotas implemented from 2023 have shown that the general cap on departures is not compatible with the new system: it can create pressure to catch the allowed catch as quickly as possible, which in turn increases the risk of overfishing, discards, and concealment.

The Act specifies the data to be entered in the commercial fishing register, the conditions for issuing fishing authorisations and how departures to water areas with fishing gear will be counted. The amendments will allow fishermen to better choose when to fish based on weather and water conditions and reduce the need to fish as quickly as possible for fear of reaching the overall quota. The new fishing arrangement is planned to be implemented from the second half of this year.

During the proceedings, among other things, the exercise of the right to add a fishing vessel was specified in the Act and the validity of this right was extended to 66 months, including providing clarity on the retroactive application of the right. The distribution of fishing capacity was also specified, and clearer grounds were established for determining the number of departures to waters with fishing gear and how that was calculated, distinguishing them from fishing opportunities. In addition, the principles for allocating additional fishing opportunities were adjusted to better take into account the actual fishing usage by operators.

68 members of the Riigikogu supported the passing of the Act and six were against it.

The Riigikogu also passed the Act on Amendments to the Health Services Organisation Act and the Medicinal Products Act (886 SE), initiated by the Social Affairs Committee. According to it, health care professionals are given the right to prescribe medicinal products subject to medical prescription to themselves in exceptional circumstances for routine treatment of minor illnesses and for continuation of the treatment of previously diagnosed chronic diseases. The Act currently in force allows health care professionals to prescribe medicinal products subject to medical prescription only for the treatment of other persons.

According to the explanatory memorandum, the amendment is based on the presumption that, even when treating themselves, healthcare professionals must act professionally on the basis of the treatment guidelines in place, the regulations governing medicinal products, and the requirements of professional ethics. Health care professionals will have to assess the limits of their competence as objectively as possible even when treating themselves and, if necessary, turn to another health care professional as a patient.

An amendment includes a provision delegating authority in the Medicinal Products Act under which the minister will be able to establish a list of active substances of medicinal products that health care professionals will be able to prescribe to themselves as patients on a restricted basis or will be prohibited to prescribe to themselves as patients.

74 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of passing the Act.

Five Bills passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Penal Code (consent-based approach to sexual violence) (727 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading in the Riigikogu. The Bill marks a shift from the force and coercion-based approach to a consent-based approach in the case of sexual crimes, and sexual intercourse without consent will be considered to be rape.

Currently, rape is only considered to take place if violence is used against the victim or if the victim is in a helpless state, i.e. unable to resist or understand what is happening. According to the bill, however, non-consensual intercourse will be punishable as rape even if no violence is used against the victim. According to the Bill, it will have to be clear to both parties that their partner consents to sexual activity.

 During the proceedings, provisions were included in the bill that defined what consent was within the meaning of the Act.  According to an amendment, four conditions will need to be met simultaneously: consent will need to be given knowingly and voluntarily, and it will need to be expressed verbally or in another clearly understandable way before sexual intercourse or any other act of a sexual nature, and it will need to be present throughout the entire act.

An amendment was also introduced into the bill to define an act of a sexual nature.  According to an amendment, an act of a sexual nature within the meaning of the Penal Code is sexual intercourse and other physical activity that has an objectively sexual meaning and in which another person’s right to sexual self-determination is significantly impaired.

 In addition, the entry into force of the bill will be postponed by half a year, so that if adopted, the Act will come into force at the beginning of next year.

 Helle-Moonika Helme and Rain Epler from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Timo Suslov and Madis Timpson from the Reform Party Group, Stig Rästa from Estonia 200 Parliamentary Group and Riina Sikkut from the Social Democratic Party Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate. Non-attached Members of the Riigikogu Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski, Züleyxa Izmailova and Varro Vooglaid also took the floor.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group moved to suspend the second reading of the Bill, but the plenary did not support the motion. Nine members of the Riigikogu supported suspension of the deliberation but 51 were against.

 The Credit Information Sharing Bill (652 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It is a preparation for the establishment of a credit information registry. The registry will allow banks and other lenders to better assess the solvency of the recipients of loans and help prevent people taking excessive loans.

The registry will consolidate information on all financial obligations of a person, be it housing loans or consumer loans, car leases, consumer credit, or express loans. According to the bill, lenders who are supervised by the Financial Supervision Authority will have to forward information on the loans taken by each person to the registry and they will have to check what liabilities the person already has before granting a new loan. Consolidating this information into a single registry will give a clearer picture of the actual solvency of a person and prevent people from taking more loans than they can afford.

During the proceedings, amendments were included in the bill regarding the obligation of credit servicers to submit data to the credit information registry. This will be necessary to ensure that the information contained in the registry is complete, up-to-date, and consistent with the registry’s purpose of enabling creditors to assess a consumer’s creditworthiness as accurately as possible.

The bill will grant access to the proposed registry to persons who have a legal obligation to assess a loan applicant’s creditworthiness, and information may be requested from there only about people who have applied for credit or wish to modify a credit agreement. The bill will also regulate the storage of loan information and allow people to impose a loan ban on themselves.

It is planned to delegate the task of maintaining the registry to private sector and to cover the costs by fees.  Similarly to other economic operators in the financial sector, clear requirements and rules will be set for the registrar and its activities.

The Bill on Amendments to the 2021–2027 European Union Cohesion and Internal Security Policy Funds Implementation Act and the Repeal of the 2004–2006 Structural Assistance Act (883 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. Its aim is to streamline the regulation of personal data processing and the support administration register.

According to the bill, beneficiaries of support will not be able to claim interest under the State Liability Act if a decision to recover the support is later annulled, but no damage has arisen as a result. The current procedure allows for interest to be claimed even if the beneficiary has not actually suffered any damage; in the future, claims for damages will be based on actual damage arisen.

The bill will also specify the categories of personal data processed in the register. Regarding data retention, it will be specified that personal data will be anonymized after the initial retention period and after the end of the main period the data will be stored in the register solely for statistical purposes for another five years, after which it will be deleted.

 English will be provided for at the legislative level as the procedural language in the case of Interreg programmes so that the procedural language in cross-border cooperation would be uniform.

The Bill on Amendments to the State Cultural Awards and Culture Grants Act and the Sport Act (824 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its second reading. It will streamline the system of awards and grants awarded in the areas of culture and sports.

As regards cultural awards, a maximum number of awards will be provided in the Act instead of a specific number. According to the Bill, in the future, up to three awards for long-term outstanding creative activity (lifetime achievement awards) and up to five awards for outstanding works that have reached the public in the preceding calendar year (annual awards) will be given for outstanding creative achievements in the field of culture. The Minister of Culture will decide on the number and amounts of the awards to be granted.

According to the Bill, the Government will establish the categories of sports awards and the procedure for granting them, and the minister in charge of the policy sector will determine the amounts of awards. For both types of awards, the minister will submit candidates to the Government according to the proposals of committees. The Minister of Culture, instead of the Government, will appoint the members of the Cultural Awards Committee in the future.

Under the Bill, existing athlete scholarships will be abolished, and their funds will be reallocated. It will be possible to apply for athlete grants from the Estonian Olympic Committee instead of athlete scholarships.

The abolition of culture grants was omitted from the Bill during the proceedings. According to an amendment, grants will remain, but their purpose and target group will change.

Currently, culture grants are intended for students; however, since there are numerous grants and scholarships for acquiring education either in Estonia and abroad, according to the Bill, culture grants will be restructured so that young creative persons who are up to 35 years of age and have already obtained a higher education degree could apply for the grants to support them in launching their professional careers in their field, in their professional development, and in establishing international contacts.

It will also be easier to apply for culture grants in the future, as it will no longer be necessary to do so through artistic associations. Grants will be awarded on the basis of a regulation of the minister. According to the explanatory memorandum, the planned amount of the culture grant will be EUR 10,000 instead of the current EUR 2,300 and a total of EUR 50,000 per year will be allocated for culture grants.

The Bill on Amendments to the Vocational Educational Institutions Act, the Youth Work Act and the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act (830 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will specify the regulation of admissions, exclusions, and sanctions at schools.

According to the Bill, when admitting students to upper secondary schools and vocational schools, the student candidates’ preferences for school and specialty may be asked and taken into account. This voluntary option will have to be provided for in the school’s admission conditions and procedures in order to use it. Schools will be able to decide whether and to what extent they will take preferences into account and how they will relate to other admission criteria, such as interviews, tests and exam scores.

In the case of vocational education institutions, it will be specified that student candidates will be able to apply to up to three curricula in one school during the main admission period in order to limit excessive applications. Once the main admission is over, there will be no such restriction during the additional admission.

The bill will also amend the regulation on exclusion from school. Under the bill, an adult upper secondary school student may be excluded from school due to lack of academic progress if over a half of the course grades the student receives are “poor” in more than two subjects over the academic year. Moreover, in the future, the grounds for exclusion will be provided solely by law, and it will not be possible to establish additional grounds for exclusion from school in the rules of procedure of upper secondary schools.

Schools will be able to retrieve data on graduation from basic school and on graduation certificates directly from the Education Information System. Until now, student candidates have had to submit their graduation certificates to schools themselves. The amendment will reduce bureaucracy, save time and resources, and constitute a proportionate infringement on the learner’s privacy as it will be possible to request only the data that is absolutely necessary, namely the fact of graduation from basic school and the grades on the graduation certificate.

Discussion of the student’s behaviour with the student in the teachers’ council will be omitted from sanctions. The bill will provide that only the head of the school or a person authorized by the head of the school will decide on the imposition of sanctions. Currently, the teachers’ council can decide on sanctions in certain cases.

In addition, the bill will amend the provisions concerning the tests database and provide implementing provisions for the case that, for technical reasons, it is not possible to use the admissions data sub-register of the education information system (SAIS) in this year’s admissions process for upper secondary schools and vocational education institutions, because the new information system (SAIS3) will not be completed on time.

Heljo Pikhof from the Social Democratic Party Faction took the floor during the debate.

Four Bills passed the first reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (888 SE), initiated by the Government of the Republic, passed the first reading. Its aim is to reduce the administrative burden on both employers and the Labour Inspectorate.

 The bill will eliminate duplicative obligations, reduce reporting, and make the occupational safety system clearer, while at the same time preserving employee protection. Among other things, the amendments will specify the organization of first aid, allowing for joint solutions between companies, and provide that employers will no longer be required to notify the Inspectorate of the appointment of a working environment specialist or working environment representative. Nor will a company with fewer than 10 employees be required to submit a risk assessment of the working environment or conduct an analysis of the occupational health situation.  The administrative burden on employers will also be reduced with regard to posted workers.

 To strengthen oversight, the bill will grant the Labour Inspectorate access to data from the employment register and the subcontracting chain, which will help more effectively detect undeclared work and violations, especially in the construction sector.

The Bill on Amendments to the Consular Act and Other Acts (896 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. Its purpose is to direct the focus of the work of foreign missions to their core functions and to make the provision of consular services more efficient.

According to the bill, the provision of consular services in foreign missions will be discontinued for services for which alternatives exist in the form of online services or direct applications, such as the issuance of driving licenses and official authentications, or which have been used very rarely, such as translation services and the initiation of succession proceedings. This will give foreign missions the opportunity to fulfil their foreign policy responsibilities to a greater extent.

The bill will abolish the requirement for special qualifications for consular officers which previously required a higher education in law and allowed them to perform notarial acts. According to the explanatory memorandum, there are currently seven consular officers with special qualifications working in foreign missions, but they have not performed a single notarial act of attestation in the past two years. In exceptional cases, the possibility of performing acts of attestation at foreign missions remains, for example, if the health of an Estonian citizen does not allow them to leave a foreign country or they are in prison there.

In addition, the bill will bring the statutory fees for consular services into line with actual costs. A higher fee will be imposed on people whose place of residence according to the population register is in Estonia, but who use a service at a foreign mission.

The Bill on Amendments to the Prosecutor’s Office Act (909 SE), initiated by the Government, passed its first reading. It will modernize the organization of the work of the prosecutor’s office, strengthen the management system, and make the career and accountability system more transparent.

The bill will provide that the term of office of the Prosecutor General will be limited to a single seven-year period with no possibility of running for a second consecutive term. A five-year term will be established for the positions of chief state prosecutors and senior prosecutors, and the possibility will be created to transfer prosecutors from one position to another more flexibly within the territorial jurisdictions of district prosecutor’s offices. The bill will also create the possibility of increasing the salaries of prosecutors in Ida-Viru County by up to 20 percent in order to support the retention and recruitment of qualified staff in the region.

The bill will provide that filing an appeal to the Supreme Court will require even more serious substantive consideration, as well as the approval of a chief prosecutor and the Prosecutor General in order to improve the organization of the Prosecutor’s Office. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure consistent decisions in criminal proceedings, especially in matters of appeal, which is an institutional responsibility of the prosecutor’s office rather than that of individual prosecutors. In addition, the bill will establish longer probationary periods for prosecutors, specify the procedure for disciplinary proceedings, and provide for new grounds for release from office.

Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

The Bill on Amendments to the Building Code and an Act to Implement the Building Code and the Planning Act (923 SE), initiated by the Environment Committee, also passed the first reading in the Riigikogu. Its aim is to help develop algae and mussel farming in the Baltic Sea.

Under the bill, in the case of encumbering a public water body with the farming of algae and mussels, no superficies fee will be applied during the development period, that is, for three years from the issuance of a building permit. According to the explanatory memorandum, regenerative aquaculture, in particular the cultivation of mussels and macroalgae, removes excess nutrients, improves the condition of the marine ecosystem, and restores valuable marine habitats. However, the current regulation for superficies fee provides no exemption for activities related to the restoration of the natural environment.

The purpose of the bill is to address the situation in which activities necessary to meet national environmental and European Union objectives are economically unprofitable during the development phase. The economic revenue potential of restorative aquaculture is low due to the specific characteristics of the Baltic Sea, but the environmental benefits it provides are high.

Five drafts were dropped from legislative proceedings

The Riigikogu rejected the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a Proposal to the Government of the Republic to resolve the confusion that has arisen in the funding of school-organized study trips” (867 OE), submitted by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It requested a solution from the Government to continue the tradition of students’ extracurricular study trips. The presenters noted that parents’ contributions to fund study trips needed to be voluntary but a blanket ban on involving donations significantly limited the availability of cultural institutions and events to students.

Heljo Pikhof from the Social Democratic Party Group, Kadri Tali from Estonia 200 Parliamentary Group, Margit Sutrop from the Reform Party Group and Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

23 members of the Riigikogu supported the draft Resolution in the final vote. A majority of the votes of the membership of the Riigikogu, that is, at least 51 votes, would have been needed for the Resolution to be passed.

The Riigikogu rejected the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a Proposal to the Government of the Republic” (875 OE), submitted by the Social Democratic Party Group. It was intended to make a proposal to the Government to raise the subsistence level to at least EUR 350 per month. The presenters noted that the subsistence level had been increased twice in recent years: to EUR 200 in June 2022 and to EUR 220 in January this year, and that a further increase was urgently needed given the rising cost of the food basket.

Tanel Kiik took the floor behalf of the Social Democratic Party Group in the debate.

22 members of the Riigikogu supported the draft Resolution in the final vote. A majority of the votes of the membership of the Riigikogu, that is, at least 51 votes, would have been needed for the Resolution to be passed.

The Riigikogu rejected the Draft Resolution of the Riigikogu “Making a proposal to the Government of the Republic to submit a negative supplementary budget bill to reduce government spending in 2026” (884 OE), submitted by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It requested that the government submit a negative supplementary budget of at least EUR 300 million to cut public government expenditure.  According to the presenters, the state of Estonia’s public finances has deteriorated significantly in recent years, and the budget deficit has grown to a level that is no longer sustainable.

 Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group, Annely Akkermann from the Reform Party Group and Lauri Laats from the Centre Party Group took the floor during the debate.

Six members of the Riigikogu supported the draft Resolution in the final vote. A majority of the votes of the membership of the Riigikogu, that is, at least 51 votes, would have been needed for the Resolution to be passed.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Value-Added Tax Act (885 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to lower the VAT rate on basic foodstuffs from 24 per cent to 13 per cent. According to the initiators, the amendment would help ease price pressure, support residents’ livelihoods, and improve the competitiveness of the Estonian economy. According to them, the Estonian Traders’ Association has also made a similar proposal.

Andrei Korobeinik from the Centre Party Group and Anti Allas from the Social Democratic Party Parliamentary Group took the floor during the debate.

The Finance Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 40 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection, and 18 were against it.

The Riigikogu also rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Atmospheric Air Protection Act (839 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. It was intended to end the national enforcement of the European Union Emissions Trading System. According to the initiators, the amendment would make it possible to prioritize preserving Estonia’s companies, jobs, and competitiveness.

Martin Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor during the debate.

The Environment Committee moved to reject the Bill at the first reading. 34 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection, 15 were against and there was one abstention.

The sitting ended at 12.25 a.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

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

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]