NordenBladet —
The Riigikogu concluded the second reading of the Bill allowing for digital court proceedings, as well as the Bill regulating the service of documents in cross-border matters. The Bill facilitating the administrative proceedings for children of repressed people passed the first reading.
The Bill on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (transition to paperless court proceedings) (723 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will give legal effect to the digital court file in order to facilitate a transition to paperless court proceedings.
Currently, court case files in civil and administrative matters are maintained mostly on paper and in bound form. In all other court matters, courts have the obligation to register documents in the courts information system, while the Code of Civil Procedure provides for an obligation to maintain paper files. Thus, two files are maintained in parallel, and the paper file has legal effect. The maintenance of two files is however burdensome for courts.
Digital court proceedings have been implemented in part in courts since 2017. Of all proceedings registered in the courts information system, in 2019, around 27 per cent of civil and administrative matters were heard without paper file and, in 2020, around 38 per cent.
According to the Bill, the amendments will enter into force from 1 April. The current regulation will be applied to the maintenance of files in court cases commenced before that.
The Bill on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, the Vital Statistics Registration Act and Other Acts (731 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the second reading. It will make in Estonian Acts amendments necessary for the application of two EU Regulations. They are new versions of the EU Regulations regulating the taking of evidence and service of documents in cross-border civil and commercial matters.
Among other things, the Bill provides that circuit courts of appeal and the Supreme Court will also be able to directly use the possibilities provided for in the Regulations, in addition to district courts. Notaries will be able to use the relevant Taking of Evidence Regulation when taking evidence.
In the future, it will also be possible to issue data from the population register to people simply by e-mail and regular mail. Under the current law, this is allowed to be done by e-mail only in encrypted form and in regular mail as a registered item. According to the amendments, the issuer of data will be able to decide for themselves how to issue data in a particular case. For example, where data only on place of residence are issued, sending by e-mail can be used but where special categories of data are issued, data will have to be sent in an encrypted form or as a registered item.
The Bill on Amendments to the Persons Repressed by Occupying Powers Act (770 SE), initiated by the Social Affairs Committee, passed the first reading. It will give the status of repressed person to people who were born while their parent was in forced exile and whose parents did not return to Estonia immediately after the receipt of a release certificate.
According to the Bill, all people who were born within five years after their parent who was in forced exile had received a release decision will be deemed to be repressed persons regardless of the reasons why their parents did not return to Estonia. Currently it is complicated for people who were born while their parent was in forced exile to obtain the status of repressed person as a long time has passed from the events and there is no evidence of justification of the postponement of the return. In the future, an applicant will not have to explain or prove to the administrative authority the reasons for not returning and it will be sufficient to submit an application indicating the date of the decision on the release of the parents and the date and place of birth of the applicant.
Henn Põlluaas (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Helmen Kütt (Social Democratic Party) took the floor during the debate.
Source: Parliament of Estonia