The Riigikogu passed the Act enabling the use of Russia’s frozen assets

NordenBladet —

65 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of passing the Act and 3 were against it.

Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Riigikogu Hendrik Johannes Terras said that the creation of a legal regulation for using the frozen assets was a complicated challenge that several allied countries and international organisations were working on, and Estonia had a pioneering role to here. “Russia is an aggressor state, and the burden of compensating the war damage caused by it cannot be left to Ukraine and its allies. Russia is responsible for causing the damages and must bear that responsibility,” he pointed out.

According to Terras, the assets that have already been frozen under international sanctions and which in any case cannot be used or disposed of by their owners can be used to compensate for the damage caused by the war of aggression in Ukraine. “With the Act that was passed today, Estonia is proposing a mechanism that provides for the liability of the people and companies directly involved in or contributing to the aggression,” he said, adding that the Constitutional Committee had been discussing the creation of such a regulation in great detail with various parties, including foreign experts, for more than six months.

The Act on Amendments to the International Sanctions Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (332 SE), initiated by the Government, will create a national mechanism to ensure the financial liability of an aggressor state for the damage caused by the most serious violations of international law. The amendment will enable the use of assets of individuals and companies that have contributed to Russia’s wrongful acts, which have been frozen under sanctions, as an advance payment for damages owed by Russia to Ukraine.

Before the second reading, the Constitutional Committee had incorporated into the Act an amendment according to which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will decide on the use of the assets as an advance payment for compensation for damage in the course of administrative procedure. According to the initial wording, it would have been necessary to apply for authorisation from administrative court to use the assets.

According to the Act, a decision on the use of assets as an advance payment for compensation for damage can be made where damage has been caused by a wrongful act and the damage has been proved and must be compensated for under international law, and the foreign state that has sustained damage has submitted a relevant claim to the foreign state that has caused the damage, and the state that has caused the damage has not met the claim within a reasonable period of time. In order to launch proceedings on the use of assets in Estonia, a relevant request will have to be submitted to Estonia and the conditions for the use of the assets as an advance payment for compensation for damage and for assigning the right of claim to the owner of the assets will have to be agreed upon with the state that has submitted the request. In addition, the link between the owner of the assets and the wrongful act must be sufficiently proven.

The amendment provides that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have to determine all the facts and ownership relations relating to the assets and make sure that there are no exceptional circumstances that would make the individual’s interests outweigh the need to apply the measure. According to the Act, the owner of the assets will have the right to contest the decision on the use of the assets in administrative court.

The amendment to the Act also clarifies the competences of state agencies in the implementation of international sanctions and gives them clearer legal bases for the implementation of sanctions and for supervision.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu passed the Act enabling the use of Russia’s frozen assets

Source: Parliament of Estonia