Laws are approved according to the constitutional procedures.
The following parties have the right to initiate laws:
- A member of Riigikogu
- Factions of the Riigikogu
- Committee of the Riigikogu
- Government of the Republic
- President of the Republic for amending the Constitution.
The Riigikogu has the right to turn to the Government of the Republic with the suggestion to initiate a draft Act recommended by the Riigikogu, if the relevant decision is made with a majority of votes in the Riigikogu. The procedure for approving the laws in the Riigikogu is stated in the Riigikogu Rules of Procedure and Internal Rules Act. The approval of laws by referendum is regulated by the Referendum Act. Amending the Constitution is regulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia.
Draft Act until approval
A new draft act is presented to the chairperson of the session at the Riigikogu, together with the letter of explanation and other necessary additional documents. Within 3 days, the Board of the Riigikogu makes a decision whether to proceed with the draft act. In case of proceeding, a leading committee is assigned for the draft act. The chairperson of the session announces the decision to either proceed or not proceed with the draft act at the session of the Riigikogu. In order to approve the law, as a rule, the relevant draft act must be discussed on at least two readings at the Riigikogu.
The general principles of the draft act are discussed during the first reading of the draft act. At the first reading of a draft act, a report from the initiator of the draft act and a supplementary report from the leading committee are heard. After the first reading, it is decided whether to send the draft act to the second reading or to exclude the draft from the procedure. If the draft act goes to the second reading, a deadline is given for submitting written amendments. Members, fractions, and committees of the Riigikogu have the right to propose amendments. By the second reading, the leading committee discusses the received amendments and includes the amendments that they agree with in the text of the draft act. The leading committee also prepares a list of the proposed amendments. The new version of the draft act and the list of proposed amendments is shared with all members of the Riigikogu.
At the second reading of a draft act, a report from the initiator of the draft act and a supplementary report from the leading committee are heard. The reports explain the work done with the draft act between the first and second reading. Members of the Riigikogu may ask questions from the reporters. This is followed by speeches by members of the Riigikogu and the representatives of fractions and committees. After that, the proposed amendments are voted on.
The final vote on the draft act takes place during the third reading of the draft act. Before the final vote, the second reading may be suspended for making new amendments. The second reading may be suspended several times. The third reading takes place in a similar manner to the second reading. An important difference is that during the third reading, only an authorised representative of a fraction or committee may present their opinions on the draft act.
The initiator of the draft act has the right to revoke the draft act at any stage of proceeding in the Riigikogu. Thereby, the initiator of the draft act can prevent the approval of an act that incorporates amendments to the draft act that the initiator does not agree with. The approved law is signed by the chairperson of the Riigikogu and then, the chancellery of the Riigikogu presents the law to the president of the republic for announcing.
Draft Act in case of a change of the composition of the Riigikogu
If the powers of the composition of the Riigikogu end, then all draft Acts that the Riigikogu was not able to proceed to the end shall be removed from procedure. The member of the Riigikogu having initiated the draft Act may not be in the new composition of the Riigikogu, the Government of the Republic having initiated the draft Act is replaced by a new government, and the new composition of the Riigikogu is not versed in the previous work made with the draft Act.
Where to find legal information!
Riigi Teataja
The Riigi Teataja is the official online publication of the Republic of Estonia, containing all important legal information. The Riigi Teataja is published by the Ministry of Justice.
Subsection 2 of § 3 of the Constitution states that only published laws can have obligatory force. Section 108 of the Constitution provides, among other things, that laws are published in the Riigi Teataja.
Important acts have been published in the Riigi Teataja in accordance with section 2 of the Riigi Teataja Act. The Riigi Teataja also includes all valid regulations of local government units, summaries of decisions of the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, up-to-date English translations, and summaries of laws.
In addition to this, the Riigi Teataja can be used to search for all enacted decisions and times for the publication of court hearings and decisions published by courts in the information system. Draft legislation and procedural information can also be found in the Riigikogu draft and procedural systems of the Government of the Republic.
The Riigi Teataja is also a ‘time machine of law’, which, since the introduction of the official electronic Riigi Teataja on 1 June 2002, makes it possible to find all the wordings of revisions of laws and nationwide regulations as at any given moment by means of a simple and accurate search of the full texts. By default, the user is always forwarded to the current text.
Orders of the Government of the Republic and decisions of the Riigikogu can also be found as up-to-date full texts.
In order for legal acts to be found as up-to-date, the publisher of the Riigi Teataja prepares and publishes the full text of the legal acts with the amendments.
The MinuRT service allows you to order all the information published in the Riigi Teataja to your e-mail: both decisions and their summaries by types of proceedings and drafts by their stages, as well as all acts and their full texts and translations. Legislation published in the Riigi Teataja before 1944 can be found in Riigi Teataja publications published from 1918 to 1944 published in cooperation between the publisher of the Riigi Teataja and the National Library for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.
Amending the Constitution
At least one fifth of the composition of the Riigikogu, and also the President of the Republic has the right to initiate an amendment of the Constitution. Chapter I “General clauses” and Chapter XV “Amending the Constitution” of the Constitution can be amended only with a referendum. The Constitution can be amended with a law that has been approved by one of the following ways:
- Via a referendum
- By two consecutive compositions of the Riigikogu
- By the Riigikogu as an emergency procedure.
Main source: Constitution of the Republic of Estonia: commented edition 2020