The Riigikogu concluded the first reading of three Bills

The Bill on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act and the Taxation Act (225 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading. The amendments to be made aim to improve the fight against VAT fraud in cross-border e-commerce.

The Bill will establish an obligation for payment service providers to store the data regarding the payees of cross-border payments and to transmit them to the tax authority quarterly if the total number of payments per payee exceeds 25 payments in a quarter. Tax authorities will transmit the data to the European Union’s central electronic system of payment information. The Bill is connected with an EU directive that Members States will have to transpose and implement from next year.

During the debate, Siim Pohlak from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group moved to reject the Bill at the first reading, but the plenary did not support the motion. 13 members of the Riigikogu supported the rejection of the Bill and 69 voted against.

The Bill on Amendments to the Tobacco Act (223 SE), initiated by the Government, passed the first reading in the Riigikogu. According to it, under an EU directive, heated tobacco products with a characterising flavour must no longer be sold.

The Bill will include in the Act the term “heated tobacco product” and the requirements for the contents, labelling and packaging. Under the directive, the exemption for allowing characterising flavours and for the labelling of packages that is currently in place for heated tobacco products will be withdrawn across the EU.

In addition, the Bill will establish penalties for infringement of the requirements for informing of tobacco products and products which are related to tobacco products. Under the Bill, failure to inform of a product will be punishable by a fine in an amount of up to 300 fine units, and by a fine of up to 32,000 euro if the act is committed by a legal person.

Siim Pohlak from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor during the debate.

The Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group moved to reject the Bill at the first reading, but the motion was not supported. 11 members of the Riigikogu supported a rejection and 61 were against.

The Bill on Amendments to the Language Act (1 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, also passed the first reading in the Riigikogu. It will increase the rates of the fines for violating the Language Act and will include new sanctions in the Act in order to improve compliance with the Language Act in natural and legal persons. The amendments are intended to strengthen the protection of the Estonian language in companies and non-profit organisations as well as in the public sector.

During the debate, Vadim Belobrovtsev from the Centre Party Group and Anti Frosch from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor.

The Centre Party Group moved to reject the Bill. However, as 10 members of the Riigikogu voted in favour of the motion and 48 voted against, it was not supported.

Six Bills were dropped from the proceedings

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Municipal Council Election Act (4 SE), initiated by the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group. The discussion had been adjourned at the sitting the day before due to the end of the working hours. The Bill provided that only citizens of Estonia and of the European Union would have the right to vote in municipal council elections. The current Act allows also permanent residents who are citizens of another country or who lack citizenship to vote in local elections.

During the debate, Anti Poolamets from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Eduard Odinets from the Social Democratic Party Group took the floor.

58 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Constitutional Committee to reject the Bill and 18 voted against it.

The Riigikogu rejected the Bill on Amendments to the Municipal Council Election Act and the Language Act (11 SE), initiated by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. The first reading had also been initially scheduled for the agenda for Tuesday’ sitting. The Bill was intended to establish a requirement for people who stand as candidates in local elections under which they would have to be proficient in Estonian at least at B2 level.

During the debate, Riina Solman from Isamaa Parliamentary Group, Eduard Odinets from the Social Democratic Party Group and Henn Põlluaas from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group took the floor.

54 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Constitutional Committee to reject the Bill and 18 were against it.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the Municipal Council Election Act (18 SE), initiated by Isamaa Parliamentary Group. It was intended to repeal the right to vote in municipal council elections for third-country nationals and stateless persons residing in Estonia.

During the debate, Rene Kokk from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group, Eduard Odinets from the Social Democratic Party Group and Tõnis Lukas from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor.

54 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Constitutional Committee to reject the Bill and 18 voted against it.

The Riigikogu rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the State Pension Insurance Act (5 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to establish an extraordinary pension increase of 50 euro for four consecutive years, that is, for 2024–2027, in order to improve the economic welfare of elderly people.

41 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Social Affairs Committee to reject the Bill and 13 voted against it.

The Riigikogu rejected the Bill on Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Health Insurance Act (7 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to restore the earlier procedure for the payment of sickness benefits that had been in place before 1 July where sickness benefit had been paid from the second day of sick leave.

During the debate, Tanel Kiik from the Centre Party Group took the floor.

46 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Social Affairs Committee to reject the Bill and 14 were against it.

The Riigikogu also rejected at the first reading the Bill on Amendments to the State Pension Insurance Act (15 SE), initiated by the Centre Party Group. It was intended to establish widow’s pension in order to support the livelihood of pensioners living alone and to honour long-time marriage. According to the Bill, widow’s pension could have been granted to a person who is of old age pension age and whose spouse, to whom the person has been married for at least ten years, has died by the time of old age pension or retirement due to old age.

During the debate, Andre Hanimägi from the Centre Party Group took the floor.

42 members of the Riigikogu supported the motion of the Social Affairs Committee to reject the Bill and 13 voted against it.

At the beginning of the sitting, the Riigikogu held a moment of silence in memory of the late Member of the Riigikogu Aadu Must.

The sitting ended at 8.39 p.m.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel. (Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

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

Link uudisele: The Riigikogu concluded the first reading of three Bills

Source: Parliament of Estonia