Comments of Estonia

Suur-Ameerika 1/ 10122 Tallinn / ESTONIA/ +372 620 8100 / [email protected] / www.justdigi.ee Reg.no 70000898

Human Rights Intergovernmental Cooperation Division Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law - DGI TROMSØ CONVENTION [email protected] Comments of Estonia Dear Secretariat of the Tromsø Convention, On behalf of the Estonian Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, I am honoured to forward you the Comments of Estonia on the conclusions and recommendations of the Consultation of the Parties on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents by Estonia. Yours sincerely, Kristi Värk Director of Data Protection Law Division Encl. Comments of Estonia on 2 pages Kristi Värk +372 5083036 [email protected] Copy to Permanent Representation of Estonia to the Council of Europe

Our Ref: 24.10.2025

No 7-14/8656

1

Comments of Estonia on the conclusions and recommendations of the

Consultation of the Parties on the implementation of the Council of Europe

Convention on Access to Official Documents by Estonia

The Government of Estonia has been requested to report to the Consultation of the Parties on

the measures taken to improve the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on

Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205) (‘the Convention’) pursuant to point 2 of the

conclusions of the Consultation of the Parties on 3 October 2024 (TC-CP(2024)02).

The Consultation of the Parties has in its conclusions and recommendations recommended

that Estonia takes the following measures identified on the basis of the report from the Access

Info Group:

- reconsider the qualification of “upon performance of public duties provided by law” in the

definition of public information in §3(1) of the Public Information Act with a view to ensuring

compliance with Article 1, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph b, of the Convention (paragraphs 11-

12, 57 of the AIG report);

- revise the system of proactive classification of information as internal under §35(1) of the

Public Information Act with a view to fully implementing the harm test principle and the

overriding public interest principle in compliance with Article 3, paragraph 2, of the Convention

(paragraphs 27-31, 60 of the AIG report);

- ensure full compliance of §21(3) of the Public information Act with Article 5, paragraph 2, of

the Convention as regards the duty of legal or natural persons which perform specific

administrative tasks to transfer requests for access to competent authorities and of §23 (2) (6)

of the Public Information Act with Article 5, paragraph 5, of the Convention as regards refusal

of access on grounds of legal incapacity of the applicant (paragraphs 36, 39 and 62 of the AIG

report).

The following comments provide information on initiatives to review the Public Information Act to address the recommendations made by the Consultation of the Parties.

On March 11, 2024, the Minister of Justice formed a working group consisting of the Data

Protection Inspectorate, the Estonian Bar Association, the Estonian Cooperation Assembly,

the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities, the Estonian Media Companies

Association, the e-Governance Academy, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economic

Affairs and Communications, Open Knowledge Estonia, the Ministry of Finance, the

Government Office, the Chancellery of the Riigikogu, the Ministry of the Interior, the University

of Tartu, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The aim was to map the implementation practices

and identified shortcomings of the Public Information Act (PIA). The working group also

discussed the recommendations mentioned above. In January 2025, the working group

released an analysis indicating that the recommendations from the Consultation of the Parties

necessitate amendments to the PIA.

In 2025, the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs has been preparing a legislative intent to

introduce amendments of the PIA. Among other issues, the recommendations received by

Estonia from the Consultation of the Parties will also be addressed in the legislative intent. To

finalize the legislative intent, it is important to understand for Estonia how AIG interprets the

term “drawn up” before proposing any changes to the PIA.

2

In addition, there is ongoing debate in Estonia about whether the PIA should remain a

comprehensive law covering both public documents and public databases, or whether data

governance should be regulated by a separate act following new EU legislation. This issue

also impacts the completion of legislative intent.

The Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs will finalise the legislative intent to amend the PIA after receiving feedback from the AIG and deciding which data governance issues require public consultation. Once the consultation concludes, the ministry will draft the relevant PIA amendments.