Along with the introduction of the expedited Commercial Register procedure the coverage of the fields of activity of entrepreneurs has been changed as of this year. For instance, entrepreneurs will have to indicate the actual activities of the company and the number of the fields of activity recorded in the Commercial Register is limited from now on. This helps to make certain what the company is actually doing.
At the cabinet meeting that took place today, March 22, the ministers got acquiainted with the report drawn up by the expert commission formed in September of 1994 to investigate the circumstances of shipment of equipment for military use that took place on m/s "Estonia" and decided to disclose it.
According to the summary of the crime statistics in 2006 prepared by the Ministry of Justice, crime in Estonia is back to the level preceding the rise in 1999.
The Riigikogu adopted the Child support Act, which allows single parents to apply to the state for child support provided that they initiate court proceedings against the parent who is in violation of the support obligation.
On January 24 the Public Information Act Amendment Act passed the third reading and was adopted by the Riigikogu. The act was aimed at increasing the transparency of the public authority and bringing the effective act into compliance with the modern information technology developments.
In the first week over a hundred first entry and amendment applications have been submitted via the portal for remote administration of companies, which was opened on January 2, 2007. Most of the applications have been processed by way of the expedited procedure.
The Riigikogu adopted extensive amendments to the special part of the penal law, which specify the elements of criminal official conduct, tax crimes, economic crimes and crimes against intellectual property. The new law will enter into force on March 15.
The personal data protection act adopted by the Riigikogu, which enters into force as of 2007, will considerably improve the protection of personal data and regulate the processing of personal data lawfully granted for public use.
The Ministry of Justice will send to other ministries for approval a draft act, which prohibits persons convicted of sexual crimes against children from working with children and gives the parents information about the conviction of a person of such crimes in the case of a justified interest.
Today, on April 16, Justice Minister Rein Lang introduced the development plans and goals of the justice system to the employees of the Ministry and representatives of the institutions in its area of government.
On February 26 Justice Minister Rein Lang announced the 15th anniversary year of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia in the hall of the Council of the University of Tartu. The logo of the anniversary was also presented.
On February 1 amendments to the procedure for confiscation of proceeds of crime entered into force, considerably simplifying confiscation of proceeds of crime, including, for example, cars, houses and amounts on a bank account.
Last week the Schengen Evaluation Working Party which assembled in Brussels and consists of representatives of all the member states of the European Union and representatives of Norway, Switzerland and Iceland heard a report of the expert group on the level of the personal data protection in Estonia and approved the same.
The Company Registration Portal has been chosen at the Tunnusta ettevõtluse edendajat /Recognise promoters of enterprise/ awards ceremony held at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to represent Estonia at the 2007 European Enterprise Awards.
The Centre of Registers and Information Systems introduced electronic registration possibilities to Europe at the conference fair “Work on E-Justice 2007” taking place in Bremen, Germany, from 29 to 31 May.
Around one-tenth fewer crimes were registered in Estonia
in the first half of 2007 compared to the last six months of 2006, and the
number of inmates in the country’s prisons decreased by more than 10% in the
same period.
The Council of Europe has adopted a new regulation establishing a European small claims procedure. This means that submitting cross-border claims of up to EUR 2000 will be much easier in future.
At the meeting held today, on 18 July, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Internal Affairs decided to develop a package of law amendments aimed at improvement of the situation in traffic.
The September issue of the reputable
European Lawyer magazine features an
article by current and former Ministers of Justice Rein Lang
and Jüri Raidla, who state that thanks to the new Entrepreneur’s Law, Estonia could soon be compared to
the US state of Delaware for its enterprise-friendly business environment.
The Ministry of Justice has submitted a draft to the Government which specifies the necessary elements of a criminal offence in the case of attacks against computer systems and provides for severer punishments for such offences.
At the Hague Diplomatic Conference a convention was signed by nearly 50 states which simplifies the recovery of maintenance support from obligors residing in foreign countries.
According to the results of a recent racism and xenophobia survey commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, there is no base for an increase of the number of hate crimes in Estonia, considering the attitudes and feeling of security of people in Estonia.
As a result of the amendments to the Commercial Code that took effect in the previous week, private limited companies and public limited companies entered in the commercial register of Estonia can now easily merge with companies established in the European Economic Area, while preserving legal continuity.
At the end of October the Centre of Registers and Information Systems of the Ministry of Justice and the Vaata Maailma Foundation signed a cooperation agreement the objective of which is to render Estoniathe state with the most secure information society by 2009.
The Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union reached a political agreement on the choice of law governing international contracts (the so-called Rome I Regulation).
