The Riigikogu deliberated the Bill on the ratification of the prison lease agreement

The first reading of the Bill on the Ratification of the Agreement between the Republic of Estonia and the Kingdom of Sweden on the Enforcement in Estonia of Swedish Sentences of Imprisonment (682 SE), initiated by the Government, was adjourned due to the end of the working hours of the sitting and will continue tomorrow.

 The bill will ratify an agreement according to which Estonia is ready to accept Swedish prisoners and to enable the enforcement of their sentences in Estonia. The agreement was signed in Stockholm in June this year.

The Agreement sets out rights and obligations and regulates the enforcement of sentences, prison conditions, as well as the distribution of costs, and supervision. According to the explanatory memorandum of the Bill, the number of prisoners in Estonia is steadily decreasing, while the costs of maintaining prisons remain high. Leasing out prison places will enable Tartu Prison to remain in operation, to ensure that jobs are preserved in the region and to create new jobs and to bring at least EUR 30 million in additional revenue to the state budget. According to the explanatory memorandum, the agreement offers Sweden a solution to the temporary overload of its prison system.

According to the agreement, Estonia will only accept prisoners who meet certain conditions, which means that security risks, along with possible prevention and mitigation measures, have been identified in cooperation between the Police and Border Guard Board, the Estonian Internal Security Service and the Ministry of the Interior. Under the agreement, foreign prisoners will be sent back to Sweden no later than one month before the end of their sentences.

According to the explanatory memorandum, the first foreign prisoners are planned to be placed in Tartu Prison in the second half of 2026. The arrival of prisoners is planned to be organized gradually so that Tartu Prison has time to make the necessary preparations. In total, the agreement will allow up to 600 prisoners to be transferred from Sweden to Estonia.

According to the Bill, the Agreement will enter into force on the thirtieth day after both Estonia and Sweden will have completed the necessary national legal procedures and will have notified each other thereof in writing.

The first reading of a Bill was deferred

The first reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Code of Enforcement Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Enforcement Procedure Implementation Act (726 SE), initiated by the Government, was deferred to tomorrow’s sitting due to the end of the working hours of the sitting. The amendments proposed by the bill will increase the transparency of the queries made through the enforcement register, allowing individuals to obtain a better overview of the queries made about them than before.

Currently, people do not have the opportunity to see which public authorities or other persons specified in the law have made inquiries about them to banks and payment institutions through the enforcement register. The enforcement register functions solely as an information channel and does not store the content of queries. Although the law gives people the right to know how their personal data is being used, there is currently no technical solution that would allow this information to be easily displayed.  To this end, the Bill will provide for an obligation that, before joining the register, users joining the enforcement register will have to also interface with a technical solution (the so-called data tracker) whereby it will be possible to display to a person the information about the queries made about them. Users will also have to make available the information about the queries made. Exceptions will be made in cases where the requester may, in cases provided for by law, transmit information about the processing of the data to the data subject later, restrict the provision thereof or refuse to issue it.  The relevant obligation will also apply to institutions and persons that have joined earlier, including the Chamber of Bailiffs and Trustees in Bankruptcy. The Bill will also update the regulation of databases in the Code of Enforcement Procedure in the interests of legal clarity, providing at the level of law the categories of personal data processed in databases and the maximum period for storing the data, and providing more clearly in a provision delegating authority the framework for enacting constitutive regulations.

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
maris.meiessaar@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu deliberated the Bill on the ratification of the prison lease agreement

Source: Parliament of Estonia