Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia

Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Riigi Teataja (State Gazette) Electronic Process The whole process, starting with coordination of a draft legal act by various institutions and ending with publication of the act of law with the aim of enactment, is performed electronically. In the course of legislative proceedings a draft law passes the following electronic stages: 1 2 3 4 5 E-Consultation: Government’s Information System for Draft Legislation E-Cabinet: Government Sessions’ Information System President’s Office’s Document Management System Parliament’s Information System for Draft Legislation Riigi Teataja (State Gazette) For entering the next stage, a draft law is signed digitally or a digital stamp is given to it.

ID-cards and digital signature in Estonia Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia ID-cards and digital signature in Estonia An identification document or ID-card is a mandatory identity document of the Estonian citizens and aliens staying/residing permanently in Estonia. In addition to regular identification of a person, an ID-card can also be used for establishing one’s person in electronic environment, for giving one’s digital signature and for digital encryption. Digital signatures and authentication are legally equivalent to handwritten signatures and face-to-face identification in Estonia and between partners upon agreement anywhere around the world.  Personal identity documents ID-card and Digi-ID e-Residency

Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Procedure Coordination of draft legislation 1 Submission of draft legislation to the Government session 2 Approval of draft legislation and submission to the Parliament 3 Proceedings at the Parliament (if signed digitally) 4 Passing the act of law and submission to the President of the Republic 5 Proclaimed by the President of the Republic 6 Submission to the Riigi Teataja for publication 7 Publication in the Riigi Teataja 8

Coordination of Draft Legislation Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Coordination of Draft Legislation Draft Explanatory memorandum Annexes Feedback E-Consultation The final version of a draft legal act shall be signed digitally by the responsible minister, or an official authorised by him/her, and submitted to the Government for discussion and decision.

Digital Signing by the Government Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Digital Signing by the Government After being approved by the Government the draft legislation together with all the attachments shall be submitted to the Parliament with the digital signature of an Advisor to the Government. The Government regulations are digitally signed by the Prime Minister, the responsible minister and the Cabinet Secretary. The Government orders are digitally signed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary. The minutes of Government sessions are signed digitally by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary.

Proceedings at the Riigikogu (Parliament) Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Proceedings at the Riigikogu (Parliament) The minutes of sessions of the Parliament committees are signed digitally. The Act of Law passed by the Parliament shall be digitally signed by the Chairman of the Parliament and submitted to the President of the Republic to be proclaimed. The resolution on proclaiming the Act shall be digitally signed by the President.

Submission for Publication and Publishing in the Riigi Teataja Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia Submission for Publication and Publishing in the Riigi Teataja All the adopted legal acts, subject to publication, shall be submitted with the digital signature of the authorized representative of the issuer, or with a digital stamp, for publication in the Riigi Teataja. Based on the digital signature or the digital stamp, the Riigi Teataja Information System shall identify the right of submission of a submitter or an institution and only documents that have successfully passed the control are accepted. Upon publication, each legislative document shall obtain a digital stamp. Act published in the Riigi Teataja The container protected by a digital stamp contains XML- and the pdf-format document Upon publication, the digital stamp of the publisher of the Riigi Teataja is given to each act

Digitally Signed Legislation in Estonia An act cannot be published, or corrected afterwards, in the Riigi Teataja without giving a digital stamp to it. Upon correcting a mistake in the act or adding a new link to it, a new digital stamp shall be given to the act. The user of the act can always check the time of publication of the act, when the digital stamp was given to the act or when and on what grounds corrections were made.

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