October 1999

Estonia Update Memo

The following memo outlines new developments in the past three months and the state of on-going developments.

There were no remarkable developments during the reporting period (July – October 1999); but the autumn should bring along considerable changes.

1. New legal acts/measures being prepared

1.1. The Freedom of Information Act

"The Freedom of Information Act" – a legal act that will guarantee citizens’ constitutional right for information – is one of the most important regulations being prepared at the moment. This law should regulate what information on the administrative apparatus and its activities will be offered to the public and what are the means for doing it. The law should specify the essence of information meant for internal use only and the order for gaining access to such information; attention will also be given to the distinction of passive and active information distribution, the latter being also organised through the Internet.

In accordance with the opinion of the Estonian Newspaper Association the way from a draft to a legal act has been rather bumpy:

• In spring 1997 the Parliament gave the Government a task to start work with the draft law. The Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Regional Affairs responsible for the completion of the draft by the end of 1997 failed in their mission.
• In 1998 the Minister of Internal Affairs announced that the draft would be completed by September 1998.
• In September 1998 the Minister of Internal Affairs formed a new working group, the objective being to prepare a draft by February 1999. Later, this period was extended to June 1, 1999.
• The Chairman of the working group handed the draft law over to the Minister of Internal Affairs Jüri Mõis on July 2, 1999.

At the present moment the draft has been forwarded to the Ministries for comments. After the Government has discussed the draft (presently known as "Public Information Law") (Avaliku teabe seadus") it will be sent to the Parliament where it will probably passed in 2000.

The development of The Freedom of Information Act is characterised by a fact that Estonian Newspaper Association has participated actively in this process, also trying to involve Estonian population. In 1998 the comments received from the public were systemised and forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

1.2. Digital Signature Act

At the sitting of the Government of the Republic on June 22, 1999 the draft of Digital Signature Act was discussed and it was decided to submit this draft act to the legislative body of the Republic of Estonia - Parliament for further proceedings.

The Parliament started the proceedings with the draft "Digital Signature Draft Law" (No 151 SE) and appointed the Constitutional Commission as the body responsible for the proceedings.

The way to the draft law:

• In 1997 a commission was formed, the main tasks of which were to give a digital signature and time seal legal power equal to that of an ordinary signature; development of principles for a certification infrastructure required to implement time seal service.
• During the second half of 1998 and the first half of 1999, the Commission continued the development of the digital signature draft law.
• The draft was completed in the middle of May, after that it was submitted to the Secretary of State on May 24, 1999. After that the draft was forwarded by the Ministry of Transport and Communication to other ministries and institutions for harmonisation.
• The suggestions and opinions received were discussed by the Commission in June, the text of the draft was partially changed.

At the same time, considering the novelty of this sphere on the global level, the way to a draft that can be passed in spring of 2000 has been quite short.

1.3. Telecommunication Act

The Parliament has received and is reading the Telecommunication Act (Telekommunikatsiooniseadus) (No 32 SE) that will to regulate telecommunication within a liberal environment. The draft has been harmonised with corresponding legal acts of the European Union and will start to regulate liberal markets of telecommunication; this will mean that the monopoly rights of Estonian Telephone Ltd. will be finished.

The first reading of the draft took place in April 1999 and the second reading in June. The second reading was interrupted and it was decided to wait for suggestions for amendments until September 16, 1999.

There are also several expert groups demanding changes to be made into the draft:

• On August 18 there was a public discussion on domain name regulations in Estonia, the objective being to develop proposals for further action for the Parliament.
• The different aspects of the draft have been discussed in different electronic mailing lists and work-group meetings and there is a common understanding that the draft needs to be changed considerably;

It is highly probable that the draft available at the moment will be changed and the law will still be passed in 1999.

1.4. Implementation of the Cable Distribution Act

On June 1 the Cable Distribution Act took force in Estonia. This legal act regulates cable network establishment, operating and provision of cable television and telecommunication services by cable network operators.

In relation to the new Cable Distribution Act the potential cable network operators had to apply the Estonian National Communications Board for a new licence before September 1, 1999 if they wanted to continue their activities or are going to establish some new networks.

1.5. IT financing in public sector

When developing the national budget for 2000 some changes will be made into the rules for planning expenditures related to informatics: expenditures related to informatics will no longer be shown in the national budget as separate action plans/projects.

Estonian Informatics Council working for the Government has decided that new rules for national budgeting will complicate reviewing the budget and are of opinion that the budget should be made more transparent. Council thinks that the new rules for budgeting will also prevent implementation of information technology related joint ventures organised between different institutions.

1.6. Estonian ID-Cards Program

To implement the Estonian ID program the Estonian Informatics Centre formed an ID cards working group on March 11, 1999. The working group has discussed issued related to ID cards; it is intended to develop within the framework of this program the common platform for identification and a technical standard profile for ID cards. ID cards (as electronic ID-carriers) can be in the future issued by all interested and qualified institutions, but the acceptance of ID cards will depend upon the specific situation.

The Government of the Republic of Estonia decided in the beginning of 1999 that such an identification document would be issued to our citizens already in the beginning of 2001. As the budget is rather tight right now, it has been decided to stop development work financed nationally (at least for a time being)

2. Institutional changes

In 1998 a process was started to reorganise the National Inspection of Electric Communications into the Estonian National Communications Board (NCB), and on August 1, 1998 this institution came into being. The Estonian National Communications Board (Sideamet) as an institution regulating telecommunications on national level will gain full legal power after the new Telecommunications Act has been passed.

There is another bigger change concerning the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transport and Communications that will be merged. In the beginning of 1999 an inter-ministry commission was formed (SG 1999, 4, 61) that will develop organisational and legal measures required for such a merge.

3. Related Court Proceedings

3.1. Litigation relating to activities of SuperTel Eesti OY in Estonia

In June 1999 SuperTel Eesti OY started to offer international telephone calls through the Internet. Estonian Telephone Ltd. states this is a violation of the Concession Agreement, SuperTel Eesti Oy considers the service to be data transmission, not a telephone service, and therefore not being under the subordination of the special rights delivered with the Concession Agreement.

With an order issued by The Estonian National Communications Board SuperTel Eesti Oy was denied further access to communication lines and numeration, after that SuperTel Eesti Oy filed a litigation questioning the order of The Estonian National Communications Board stating that Internet-mediated distance call services are being rendered on illegal basis. The date for handling the lawsuit has not been set yet.

As The Estonian National Communications Board and Estonian Telephone Ltd. interfered with business activities of SuperTel Eesti OY, the company has temporarily terminated long distance telephone services in Estonia.

3.2. Litigation relating to Estonian Telecom Ltd.

In September 1999 the Tallinn City Court will start proceedings with a claim to declare null and void an order that authorised the Minister of Transport and Communications to vote as a representative of the Government at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Estonian Telecom Ltd., the minister voted for amendments made into the Articles and increase of the stock capital. The plaintiff is a law student.

On May 13 the court proceedings were postponed, as the plaintiff was not present.

4. Development in the future

Lately, in Estonia a discussion on the topic "Internet for Estonian Population as a Whole" has heated up. From one hand, there is an opinion that a working electronic data transmission network will help to solve problems of regional policy, enabling people to live out of towns, as a fast-working Internet-connection will let them work there too. The supporters of such an approach think that the Government should have much more active role in this process.

At the same time there is no common understanding whether the Government should get involved in developments of this sphere and how it should be done. This topic has been discussed actively in several newspaper articles and Internet news groups.