Facts and Figures

Public information is information recorded and documented on any data medium in any form which is obtained or created in the fulfilment of public law functions set out in the laws of the Republic of Estonia or in legal acts based upon them.

The publication of information is regulated by the Public Information Act, whose objectives are to ensure the possibility of access by the public and every individual to information designed for general use, guided by the principles of open society and of a democratic and social state based on the rule of law, and to create opportunities for the public to check that public law functions are being fulfilled.

The Act sets out:

• the conditions of, procedure for and means of access to public information and the bases on which access may be refused;
• the types of public information for which there is restricted access and the procedure for access to such information where not regulated by other laws
• the bases for the establishment and administration of databases and supervision of the administration of databases
• the procedure for supervision at the national level of the organisation of access to information.