Hea õigusloome ja normitehnika eeskiri (HÕNTE)

§ 1. Legislative intent, concept and impact assessment of Act

(1) The person preparing a draft Act (hereinafter in this Chapter also draft) draws up a legislative intent for the approval of the need to prepare a draft Act. A legislative intent must contain the following information and reasoning:

1) the field or the problem to be addressed (hereinafter also issue) and the target group;

2) the purpose;

3) possible policy options of resolving the issue, comparison of the options and the preferable option;

4) compatibility of the selected policy option with the current legal system;

5) policy option of resolving the issue in countries with a social order and legal system similar to Estonia;

6) description and structure of the planned legal instrument, including determination of the level of regulation, estimated date of completion of the draft and recommended period of validity of the legal instrument;

7) which significant impact, based on the frequency and scope of the impact, the size of the target group and the risk of undesirable impact, may accompany the implementation of the Act;

7¹) whether the proposed amendment increases the administrative burden and by what it is planned to reduce the existing administrative burden;

8) how will the accompanying significant impact be analysed and the reasons why certain accompanying impacts will not be analysed;

9) action plan for further preparation of the draft Act;

10) other circumstances relevant to the resolution of the issue.

(2) A legislative intent is not required:

1) if legislative proceedings of the draft need to be urgent with good reason;

2) if the draft concerns implementation of EU law and if the draft EU legislation on which the draft is based has been substantively processed in accordance with the requirements laid down in subsection 1;

3) in the case of conclusion, amendment or termination of an international agreement;

4) in the case of the annual draft State Budget Act or a draft Act amending the State Budget Act or a draft Supplementary Budget Act;

5) if no significant legislative changes or any other significant impact occurs when the draft Act is passed as an Act.

(3) If the content of the planned draft Act is of fundamental significance in the Estonian legal system, the ministry concerned will, after the approval of the legislative intent and before laying down the provisions of the draft Act, prepare the concept of the draft Act, indicating the legal options. The concept of a draft Act is prepared in accordance with the requirements for an explanatory memorandum to a draft Act laid down in Chapter 3 of these Rules insofar as it is possible at this stage of the proceedings.

(4) A legislative intent, concept and draft Act is prepared, an impact assessment is carried out, a report on the impact assessment is prepared and an ex-post impact assessment is carried out in compliance with the methodology of impact assessment approved on the basis of subsection 2 of § 5 of Regulation No 10 of the Government of the Republic of 13 January 2011 ‘Rules of the Government of the Republic.’

(4¹) Where the administrative burden of undertakings, people or non-governmental organizations increases due to the requirements proposed in the bill, changes are also provided to reduce the administrative burden.

(4²) Subsection 4¹ may be waived where a public financial obligation is imposed, a treaty is implemented or a temporary requirement is imposed, as well as where the administrative burden is increased due to essential needs of national defence or security.

(5) Interest groups and the public are involved in the preparation of a legislative intent, concept and draft Act and coordination is carried out in compliance with the provisions of the Rules of the Government of the Republic and the Good Practice of Involvement established on the basis of subsection 2 of § 4 of the Rules of the Government of the Republic. Interest groups are engaged in the ex-post impact assessment of an Act in accordance with the Good Practice of Involvement.

(6) Where a bill provides the submission of an ex-post impact assessment report in accordance with clause 7 of subsection 3 of § 46, it is prepared according to the ex-post assessment action plan, but the following is always submitted:

1) purpose of the Act and criteria for evaluation of attainment of the purpose;

2) impact assessments and evaluation of the attainment of the objectives;

3) feedback from interest groups;

4) further action plan.

(7) When the ex-post impact assessment report specified in subsection 6 has been prepared, it will be submitted to the Government of the Republic and the Riigikogu in accordance with the procedure laid down in subsection 1 of § 21 of the Rules of the Government of the Republic. The ministry that prepared the report will also send it to the representative of the interest group concerned and to the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs.

(8) The opinions and proposals of engaged interest groups, which have and have not been taken into account, are indicated in accordance with the Good Practice of Involvement established on the basis of subsection 2 of § 4 of the Rules of the Government of the Republic and submitted in an annex to the explanatory memorandum.

§ 2. Need for drafting and level of detail of draft Act

(1) A draft Act (hereinafter in this Chapter and Chapter 3 also draft) is prepared for legal regulation of social relationships of the same type if there is no legal regulation or it is insufficient or not up to date.

(2) A draft Act must clearly regulate the legal relationships of the field requiring regulation and the legislative provisions must be sufficiently detailed to allow for the direct application of the Act.

(3) Provisions that are allowed and practical to be laid down in implementing legislation are not included in a draft Act.

§ 3. Compliance of draft Act with superior legal instruments

A draft Act must comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, the generally recognised principles and rules of international law, international agreements binding on the Republic of Estonia and EU law.

§ 4. Conflict of draft Act with the law in force

A draft Act or a provision thereof may be contrary to a provision of an Act in force or an entire Act in force which, once the draft Act is passed as an Act, is amended or repealed. Differences arising from the nature of general provisions and special provisions are not deemed to be a conflict for the purposes of this section.

§ 5. Restrictions on rights and freedoms of person

The restrictions on the rights and freedoms of a person set out in a draft Act must be appropriate and proportionate to the purpose that the draft Act seeks to attain in the public interest.

§ 6. Competence and the right to self-administration of constitutional institution and local authority

(1) The functions of a constitutional institution and local authority set out in a draft Act must be in accordance with their competence and take the principles of legality, separation of powers and autonomy of local self-government into account.

(2) When planning a responsibility of a local authority, it must be specified in a draft Act whether the responsibility is, for the purposes of the Local Government Organisation Act, a state function assigned to a local authority by law, the expenses incurred in the performance of which will be covered by allocations from the state budget.

(3) When regulating the activity and administration of a constitutional institution, the right to self-administration of the institution must be taken into account.

§ 7. Expenses of implementation of draft Act as Act

(1) The provisions set out in a draft Act must be such as allow for the attainment of the established purpose and implementation of the draft Act as an Act with the optimum of costs.

(2) When planning additional expenses for the state or a local authority or if it is necessary to reduce their revenue, the sources for covering the additional expenses or loss of income must be planned upon preparation of a draft Act.

§ 8. General provisions

(1) The general provisions of a draft Act include the scope of application, the field of application (if necessary), a provision concerning the application of other Acts and general provisions of planned legal institutes, and the definitions of terms in the event specified in § 18.

(2) The provision concerning the scope is formulated in the first section. The legal institutes or the field to be regulated is listed in the provision concerning the scope. The provision concerning the scope does not need to be given if the title sufficiently unveils the scope of the draft Act and there is no need to clarify it.

(3) The persons, objects and circumstances with respect to which the planned instrument is applied or not applied are listed in the provision concerning the field of application.

(4) When grouping sections into different structural parts of a draft Act, the general provisions of the draft Act are given in the first chapter or first part if the part is not divided into chapters. The general provisions of the structural parts specified in subsection 3 of § 26 are presented in the first subdivision of a structural part.

(5) The general provisions of a draft Act may refer to EU law if the reference is significant from the point of view of the subject matter of the Act and extends to the whole scope of application of the Act.

§ 9. Ensuring enforcement of planned regulation

(1) The required regulatory provisions and, in justified cases, provisions ensuring adherence thereto and legal protection provisions are set out in a draft Act.

(2) A draft Act must explicitly and unambiguously state the rights and obligations that the draft Act will establish to persons once passed as an Act and how compliance with the provisions is ensured.

(3) Financial-economic, social or law enforcement measures and provisions stipulating liability may be planned as enforcement provisions.

§ 10. Procedural provisions

The procedural provisions set out in a draft Act, including reasoned exceptions, must comply with relevant general Acts, including procedural Acts and the Penal Code.

§ 11. Authorising provision

(1) An authorising provision grants the right or imposes an obligation to establish a regulation of the Government of the Republic, a minister or a local authority in order to implement an Act or an Act and EU legislation in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 6 of the Administrative Procedure Act.

(2) The right or obligation specified in subsection 1 may be delegated in accordance with the procedure established in § 91 of the Administrative Procedure Act.

(3) An authorising provision sets out the clear content of the regulatory authorisation and the extent to which the provisions of the Act must be specified or where it is necessary to establish a procedure for the implementation of the provisions.

(4) An authorising provision is set out in a single-sentence subsection or, in the case of a list of authorising provisions, in clauses. An authorising provision sets out the issuer and the type of the legal instrument. The objectives, content and scope of authorisation may be specified by other provisions of the draft Act.

§ 12. Fields where authorising provisions are not established due to exclusive competence of legislative authority

An authorising provision must not contain authorisation for regulating a field that, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, may be regulated only by an Act. For example, an authorising provision must not authorise to establish regulation in the following fields:

1) grounds for and conditions of restrictions of the fundamental rights and freedoms;

2) basis of the administrative division of the territory of the state, the acquisition, loss and resumption of citizenship, holding of a referendum, and the cultural autonomy of national minorities;

3) the procedure for the elections of the President of the Republic, the Riigikogu and local authority councils, the competence and official benefits of these authorities and of the Government of the Republic, the National Audit Office, Eesti Pank and the Chancellor of Justice;

4) the grounds of public finance and the state budget, foreign and domestic loans and proprietary obligations of the state, and also state taxes, excise duties, fees, duties, fines, pecuniary penalties, penalty payments, interest on taxes, late payment interest and mandatory insurance premiums;

5) courts administration, liability, convictions, rules of extrajudicial proceedings, and rules of court procedure;

6) the grounds of national defence and foreign relations;

7) imposing duties of the state on local authorities.

§ 13. Implementing provisions

(1) At the end of a draft Act, implementing provisions are set out in the following order:

1) rules containing exceptions and clarifications for the implementation of the provisions of the Act;

2) in case the legislation currently regulating the field is amended, temporary provisions valid for a fixed term for the purpose of transition from the current legislation to the new one;

3) rules by which the Acts related to the regulated field are amended or repealed;

4) the provision regulating the entry into force of the Act if the entry into force of the Act differs from the general procedure of the entry into force of Acts.

(2) If numerous implementing provisions need to be established due to large-scale amendments to legislation, a draft Implementation Act may be prepared.

§ 14. Provision regulating entry into force and retroactive application of Act

(1) When planning a provision regulating the entry into force, the time required for the examination of the new rules must be taken into account, particularly in the event of amendment of the rights and obligations of persons and for the preliminary organisational and administrative work, including for proclamation, publication of the Act and passing implementing legislation, and there must also be sufficient funds for implementing the Act.

(2) When planning a provision regulating the entry into force specified in clause 4 of subsection 1 of § 13, the following is taken into account:

1) the entry into force of an Act will not be provided before the date following the publication of the Act in Riigi Teataja;

2) a date of entry into force different from the general date of entry into force of Acts may be established for a provision of an Act if it is justified and such date of entry into force is given in a separate subsection or subsections of the section regulating the entry into force.

(3) If the entry into force of an authorising provision is to be different from the general date of entry into force of the Act, the date of entry into force of the authorising provision will be set in compliance with subsection 2 of § 93 of the Administrative Procedure Act.

(4) An Act or a provision of an Act may only be applied retroactively in the event of a justified need if, compared to the law in force, it results in the extension of the rights, an increase of the freedoms, a decrease of obligations or responsibilities of a person or other similar impact and if it does not violate the principle of legal certainty. Relevant implementing and transitional provisions concerning earlier relationships are established in order to avoid violation of the principle of legal certainty.

(5) A provision regulating the entry into force is given in the last section of a draft Act.

§ 15. Requirements for language and style

(1) The language uses in a draft Act must comply with the Estonian Literary Standard.

(2) The language of a draft Act must be clear, unambiguous and precise. The use of different expressions for rendering one and the same idea is avoided. The use of synonyms is forbidden.

(3) The present indicative of impersonal verb forms is used in the wording of a draft Act, if possible. The - da infinitive may be used in a draft Act concerning the proceedings of an international agreement.

(4) The singular form is preferred in a draft Act, unless distinguishing singular and plural has legal significance.

§ 16. Wording of provision

A provision is worded in compliance with the structure corresponding to the type of the legal provision.

§ 17. Use of terms and loanwords

(1) The terms known and widespread in the law in force and field to be regulated are used in a draft Act.

(2) A new term may be used:

1) when regulating a field for the first time;

2) when re-regulating the field if a new term complies better with the requirements for understandability as specified in subsection 2 of § 9.

(3) A loanword may only be used if the loanword is widespread in the Estonian language or there is no original equivalent to the loanword in the Estonian language.

§ 18. Definition of terms

(1) The meaning of a term consisting of one or more words is defined for the purposes of legal clarity if:

1) the draft Act is a legislative act containing terms of the field to be regulated or a legal institute and the term is of considerable legal significance from the point of view of the field to be regulated or a legal institute;

2) the term is used in a meaning that differs from its usual meaning or from the meaning provided by legislation to date;

3) the term can be interpreted in various ways or has several meanings;

4) the term is not common in Estonian.

(2) Terms used in a draft Act related to EU law are used in accordance with the terms used in EU law and usually they are not defined in the draft.

(3) The content of a term are defined by its characteristic features or by a list of subjects, objects or phenomena covered by the concept or as an explanation of an uncommon word. The provision defining a term must not contain separate provisions that have regulatory impact.

(4) One and the same term is used in a draft Act to define one concept.

(5) The content of a term is defined either after the first use of the term in the structural part of a draft where provisions related to the term have been gathered or in the general provisions of a draft Act in the section prescribed for the term. In the case of contextually related terms, the content of the term is defined in one subsection of a section.

(6) If a term is used in a meaning that differs from the meaning provided by legislation to date or the term may have several meanings, the expression ‘käesoleva seaduse tähenduses’ [for the purposes of this Act] will be added to the definition of the term. If a term is used only within a unit of division, the relevant expression will be added.

(7) If a term suitable for a draft Act has already been defined in another Act, the Act in the meaning of which the term is used may be referred to for the purpose of legal clarity.

§ 19. Use of abbreviations, brackets and symbols

(1) Use of abbreviations, brackets and symbols in a text of a draft Act is avoided.

(2) In the text of a draft, the word ‘paragrahv’ [section] is written if it is not followed by a number, it is the first word of a sentence or the first word of the amending provision of an amendment Act. In other cases, the symbol of a section is used.

(3) An appropriate case ending is added to the symbol of a section. A stem vowel is not added in singular in the possessive and partitive case.

(4) Generally recognised symbols, official abbreviations of words terms or names, or abbreviations of words, terms and names stipulated in Acts may be used in a table prepared for a draft and in annexes to a draft.

(5) In order to avoid repetition of a long word combination, for the first time the full combination is presented in the text of the draft and the reduced version to be used thereafter is indicated after the word combination in brackets in italics.

§ 20. Requisite elements of draft Act

The requisite elements of a draft Act are:

1) the notation ‘EELNÕU’ [DRAFT] on the top right corner of the first page of the draft Act;

2) the title of the Act;

3) the text of the draft;

4) the official title and name of the signatory of the Act to be passed;

5) a notation concerning the place and date of passing the Act;

6) a notation concerning the date of initiation and the initiator or representative of the initiator.

§ 21. Title of draft Act

(1) The title of a draft Act expresses the scope of the draft Act in general terms as briefly as possible.

(2) The title of a draft Act ends with the word ‘seadus’ [Act] or ‘seadustik’ [Code] in the nominative case.

(3) A draft is named a draft Code if the draft regulates a whole branch of law or most of the institutes of a branch of law.

§ 22. Structure of draft Act

(1) A draft Act consists of sections.

(2) A section containing a general provision may be followed by sections specifying the general provision or establishing exceptions to the general provision.

§ 23. Numbering and titling of sections

(1) Sections of a draft Act consisting of more than one section are prepared as a numbered list.

(2) Sections of a draft are numbered successively in Arabic numbers.

(3) A section is given a short title in the nominative case expressing the content.

(4) A section of a draft Act consisting of one or two sections may be untitled.

§ 24. Subsections of sections

(1) A section may be divided into subsections.

(2) Subsections of sections are numbered successively by marking a sequence number in Arabic numbers between two parentheses before each subsection.

(3) The first subsection of a section includes a general rule. The following subsections specify the general rule or establish exceptions to the general rule.

(4) Long subsections are avoided.

(5) Sections with numerous subsections are avoided by grouping provisions into several sections based on content.

§ 25. Clauses of sections and subsections

(1) Longer enumerations in sections and subsections are presented in clauses, which are numbered successively within a section or subsection in Arabic numbers by using the right parenthesis after it. The text of each clause starts with the first letter not capitalised and ends with a semicolon, except for the last clause of the enumeration, which ends with a full stop.

(2) No additional provisions are set out in an enumeration clause.

(3) In order to ensure unambiguity, the word ‘või’ [or] may be used upon presentation of an enumeration if an alternative is presented in the enumeration or the elements of the enumeration need not occur simultaneously and the word ‘ja’ [and] if the elements of the enumeration occur simultaneously.

§ 26. Other structural parts of draft Act

(1) In addition to a section, the following may be structural parts of a draft Act: a part, a chapter, a division, a subdivision, a sub-subdivision and a preamble.

(2) Sections of a large-scale draft are joined into chapters by content. Chapters in a draft are numbered successively in Arabic numbers.

(3) Long chapters consisting of contextually related sections may be divided into divisions, divisions into subdivisions and subdivisions into sub-subdivisions. Numbering of divisions in a chapter, numbering of subdivisions in a division and numbering of sub-subdivisions in a subdivision starts with the Arabic number 1.

(4) In a draft Code or particularly large-scale draft Act, chapters may be joined systematically into parts by preserving the successive numbering of chapters in the whole draft. General provisions are joined into the first part. Parts are numbered successively in Arabic numbers throughout the whole draft.

(5) Structural parts of a draft, except for the preamble, are titled by taking into account the provisions of subsection 3 of § 23.

§ 27. Drafting note

(1) A draft Act may, in exceptional cases, contain a text with information required for the application of the Act, which is not normatively binding and is presented as a drafting note.

(2) A drafting note is marked at the end of the title or the text of a draft, section or any other structural part by a superscript in Arabic numbers and is presented as informative text in the footnote at the end of the draft.

(3) If a draft Act is prepared for the transposition of EU law, the issuer of issuers of the EU legislation, the type, number, title and publication citation of the EU legislation are presented in a drafting note. A publication citation includes the abbreviation of the name of the place of publication ‘EÜT (Euroopa Ühenduse Teataja – ilmus kuni 31.01.2003)’ [OJ (Official Journal of the European Communities – published until 31 January 2003)] or ‘ELT (Euroopa Liidu Teataja – ilmub alates 01.02.2003)’ [OJ (Official Journal of the European Union – published since 1 February 2003)], serial identification (legislation – L, information and notices – C, annexes – E and A; serial identification is not marked for legislation published before 1968), date of publication and page numbers, e.g.: Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of biofuels or other renewable fuels for transport (OJ L 123, 17.05.2003, pp 42–46). In the case specified in this subsection, the superscript concerning the drafting note is presented after the title of the draft Act.

(4) If EU legislation has been amended later, information concerning the type, number and publication citation of the instrument constituting an amendment is presented in the drafting note, e.g.: Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community (OJ L 169, 10.07.2000, p. 1–112), as amended by Directive 2005/77/EC (OJ L 296, 12.11.2005, p 17).

(5) A drafting note does not refer to a regulation or decision of the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community or the European Union.

§ 28. References

(1) In a draft Act, a provision of another Act or a provision of the same draft Act is not reproduced, but is referred to.

(2) A direct reference means reference to a provision or any other structural part of the same draft Act, another Act or a provision or any other structural part of EU legislation.

(3) An indirect reference means reference to an applicable branch of law, legal institute, type of legislation, legal instrument, or field or legislation falling within the competence of the European Union.

(4) Reference to a referring provision and repeated reference is avoided in a direct reference.

(5) The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia may be referred to for indicating the combined impact of the Constitution and EU legislation or in the case of other similar need.

(6) A direct reference to a provision of a directive is avoided in a draft Act. Only direct references to technical provisions of EU directives, which Estonia applies one-to-one and the repetition of which in a draft Act is not rational or necessary from the point of view of legal clarity may be made.

(7) In a draft Act, no reference is made to a provision of an Act that has not entered into force and no direct reference is made to lower-ranking legislation.

(8) It is allowed to refer to an Act or a provision thereof that has not entered into force if it is to enter into force before the entry into force of the referring provision or if the referring provision and the provision referred to enter into force at the same time.

§ 29. Formulation of references

(1) In addition to the data specified in subsection 2 of § 28, direct reference to another Act must contain the title of the Act referred to with the first letter not capitalised and without inverted commas. If a title is long and it is hard to distinguish it from the rest of the text, the title may be marked with inverted commas and written with the first letter capitalised.

(2) Direct reference to another structural part of a draft is formulated by using, for instance, the following standard formulas in the relevant case:

1) in reference in a draft – ‘käesoleva seaduse § x lõike y punkt z’ [clause z of subsection y of § x of this Act];

2) in reference in a section – ‘käesoleva paragrahvi lõike x punkt y’ [clause y of subsection x of this section];

3) in reference in a subsection – ‘käesoleva lõike punkt x’ [clause x of this section];

4) in reference in a subsection – ‘käesoleva lõike esimene lause’ [the first sentence of this section].

(3) A reference to EU legislation must contain the issuer or issuers, type and number of the legislation referred to, e.g.: Council Directive 2011/85/EU. The abbreviation ‘EU’ in the number of legislation indicates that the legislation is passed based on the Treaty on European Union or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The abbreviation ‘EC’ or ‘EEC’ in the number of legislation indicates that the legislation was passed based on the Treaty establishing the European Community, previously the European Economic Community.

(4) If, in the text of a draft, EU legislation is referred to for the first time, the title of the legislation and information concerning first publication will be added to the information specified in subsection 3, e.g. ‘Council Regulation 44/2001/EC on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, (OJ L 012, 16.01.2001, pp 1–23).’

§ 30. Publication citation

(1) A publication citation in the Riigi Teataja consists of the abbreviation of the Riigi Teataja, the part number (if given), the date of publication (or year of publication and booklet number in the publication citation of the previous form) and the article number (if given), e.g.: RT I, 03.02.2011, 4.

(2) In the event of amendment or repeal of an Act or other events, publication citation of the original text of an Act may be used for distinguishing between Acts.

(3) For amendment of an amendment that has not entered into force, the publication citation of the Act containing the amending provision is set out.

(4) A publication citation has an informative meaning.

§ 31. Annexes to Act

(1) The tables, forms, samples, maps, plans, schemes of documents required for the implementation of an Act or other similar material are presented as annexes forming part of the draft Act if these are not established by authorising provisions. Tables may also be used in the text if it is necessary from the point of view of the understandability of the text of the Act.

(2) In a draft Act with an Annex, a reference to the Annex together with the title of the Annex is marked after the notation of signature. An Annex to a draft Act is titled. There must be a notation in the top right corner of an Annex containing the title in the nominative case, the notation ‘Annex’ below it and the number of the Annex if there is more than one Annex.

§ 32. Amendment and repeal of Act

(1) In order to amend an Act, the wording of its provision may be amended in whole or part, the text may be supplemented with new provisions and current provisions may be repealed.

(2) The amendment or repeal of an Act may be contemplated by:

1) an implementing provision of a draft Act regulating a field relating to the same legal relationships, or

2) a draft Act initiated separately for the amendment or repeal of the Act.

(3) A draft Act does not set out provisions amending different Acts, which are not related through a common object of regulation or through the attainment of a common goal.

(4) A draft Act does not set out provisions that would amend an amending and repealing Act which has entered into force or which would repeal such an Act.

(5) The amendment or repeal of an Act containing provisions for amending and repealing is possible only if provisions that have not entered into force are amended or repealed.

(6) General requirements for draft Acts apply to draft Acts to amend or repeal an Act, with the specifications provided for in this Division.

§ 33. Amendment or repeal of Act arising from draft Act

(1) The amendment or repeal of another Act arising from a draft Act is contemplated in the implementing provisions of the same draft Act after the transitional provisions. The Acts to be repealed or amended are presented in the alphabetical order of the titles of the Acts.

(2) If an Act concerning an international agreement needs to be amended or repealed for entry into force of a draft Act and implementation of it as an Act, a separate relevant draft Act will be initiated.

(3) If amendments to an Act requiring a majority of the members of the Riigikogu are set out in the implementing provisions of a draft Act requiring a majority of votes of the Riigikogu, it will be noted in the explanatory memorandum that a majority of the members of the Riigikogu is required to pass the draft Act.

(4) In order to amend the state budget, a separate draft will be initiated in compliance with the State Budget Act.

(5) An annual draft State Budget Act does not contain provisions to amend or repeal another Act.

(6) A draft Act concerning the proceeding of an international agreement does not contain provisions to amend or repeal another Act.

§ 34. General rules for wording of amendment of Act

(1) A provision amending an Act sets out the new wording of the entire section, subsection or clause to be amended. The successive provisions entering into force at the same time are given in one clause of the list of amendments, e.g. by using the formula ‘paragrahvi 12 punktid 21 ja 22 muudetakse ning sõnastatakse järgmiselt:’ [clauses 21 and 22 of § 12 are amended and worded as follows].

(2) If the text of a section or subsection to be amended consists of many sentences and the amendment to be made concerns only one sentence or part of the text, the amendment of only this sentence or part of the text may be provided for in the draft.

(3) If a word or part of the text is substituted in the whole text, the amendment will be given as the first amending provision of the draft. If the word or part of the text to be substituted is in different case forms in provisions, the word or the part of the text to be substituted and the word or the part of the text substituted with will be presented in the nominative case and the words ‘vastavas käändes’ [in the appropriate case form] will be added at the end of the amending formula.

(4) If one and the same amendment is to be made to several sections, subsections or clauses, all the sections, subsections and clauses will be listed and it will be marked as to which word or part of the text is substituted by another word or part of the text. If the word or part of the text to be substituted is in different case forms in provisions, the word or the part of the text to be substituted and the word or the part of the text substituted with will be presented in the nominative case and the words ‘vastavas käändes’ [in the appropriate case form] will be added at the end of the amending formula. The abovementioned amendment is given in the provisions of the draft by the number of the first section to be amended.

(5) A provision amending an Act may contain an amended wording of any other structural unit, e.g. a part, chapter, division, subdivision or sub-subdivision of the Act to be amended.

(6) In order to amend several boxes, columns or other elements of a table, form, sample, map, plan, scheme or any other document annexed to an Act, the Annex is given in full as an Annex to the Act to be amended or, as a justified exception in case of amendment of a single box, column or any other element of the Annex, as an amendment thereof. If single elements of an Annex are amended, the establishment of the Annex to be amended in full may be contemplated in addition to amending provisions.

(7) Upon amendment of an Act, the following is verified and updated, if necessary:

1) references and drafting notes in the Act;

2) publication citations given in the draft.

(8) Upon amendment of an Act, the compatibility of the amendments with the consolidated text published in the Riigi Teataja and the wordings thereof entering into force in future are verified.

§ 35. Title of draft Act to amend or repeal an Act

(1) The title of a draft Act to amend or repeal an Act must contain the title of the Act to be amended or repealed, whereto information reflecting the content of the draft may be added, if necessary.

(2) If a draft Act amending or repealing Acts contemplates the amendment or repeal of more than three Acts, the title of the Act to be amended the amendment of which arises from the main purpose of the draft and which is related to the amendment and appeal of the other Acts will be indicated in the title. In the case specified in this subsection, it must be clear from the title that an amendment Act is contemplated and more than one Act is amended.

(3) The structural parts of an Act to be amended are not indicated in the title of an amending or repealing draft Act. If only one section, subsection or clause is amended or repealed, the number of the section may be indicated in the title.

(4) If an amendment to be made to an Act lies only in the supplementation of the Act, the draft will be titled as a supplementing Act.

§ 36. Structure of draft amendment Act

(1) In a draft amendment Act, all the amending provisions are presented in the order in which the provisions of the Act to be amended occur, whereas the amendments of one Act to be amended are given in one section of the draft, which is divided into clauses.

(2) If the purpose of a draft amendment Act requires the amendment of several Acts, the Act the amendment of which arises from the main purpose of the draft will be presented first and the amendments of other Acts arising from the amendment of this Act will be listed in the alphabetical order of the titles of the Acts to be amended.

§ 37. Preservation of numbers of structural parts of Acts to be amended

(1) When sections or other structural parts are added to an Act, the numbering of the structural parts of the Act in force will not be changed. When a structural part is added in between the structural parts in force that are of the same type, the structural part will have the same number as the previous one with a superscript in Arabic numbers. When a new section or any other structural part is added, it will not be numbered after the number of the structural unit repealed earlier in the same Act.

(2) A new number may be given to a current provision if the list of provisions cannot be supplemented by a new provision with a superscript without changing the logical sequence of the provisions.

(3) The adding of a new first section, subsection or clause before the first section, first subsection of a section or first clause of a section or subsection is avoided.

(4) When a section or any other structural part of an Act is given a new wording, the former numbering of provisions in a structural unit will be preserved for the purposes of legislative economy in order to avoid additional amendments required due to the need to amend internal or external references or implementing provisions.

(5) The location of the authorising provision may only be changed in justified cases.

§ 38. Implementing provisions of draft amendment Act and amendment of drafting note

(1) Provisions concerning the implementation of the amendments planned in a draft, except the provisions amending or repealing another Act or the provision of entry into force of the draft, are contemplated as additional implementing provisions in the Act to be amended or in the implementation Act, where it exists.

(2) If an Act is amended due to amendments to EU legislation, the wording of the drafting note of the Act to be amended will be amended in the draft, and the type, number and publication citation of the EU legislation will be added to the wording.

§ 39. Purpose of explanatory memorandum

An explanatory memorandum signed by the initiator of the draft or a representative thereof is appended to a draft Act for the purpose of stating the reasons of passing the Act, the main views of the draft and the amendments arising therefrom, and to give an overview of the impact that is brought about by the entry into force of the Act.

§ 40. Structure of explanatory memorandum

(1) The explanatory memorandum to a draft Act is divided into parts that are titled as follows:

1) introduction;

2) purpose of the Act;

3) contents of the draft and a comparative analysis;

4) terminology of the draft;

5) compliance of the draft with EU law;

6) impact of the Act;

7) activities and estimated revenue and expenditure of the state and local authorities related to the implementation of the Act;

8) implementing legislation;

9) entry into force of the Act;

10) approval of the draft, involvement of interest groups and a public consultation.

(2) The structure of an explanatory memorandum of a small-scale draft Act may be changed compared to the one specified in subsection 1 or structuring may be skipped if, depending on the contents of the draft, the information required in §§ 41–50 is presented in the explanatory memorandum.

(3) An explanatory memorandum set outs the date of initiation of the draft Act.

§ 41. Introduction

(1) The part ‘Sissejuhatus’ [Introduction] consists of three subparts.

(2) The first subpart ‘Sisukokkuvõte’ [Summary] briefly describes the contents of the planned regulation or amendment without referring to a specific provision or using professional language or abbreviations and explains the need for the planned regulation or amendment, indicating the following:

1) the problem to be addressed and its relation to the law in force;

2) the purpose;

3) the proposed policy option and its impact, including the impact on the administrative burden and, in the case of its increase, an overview of by what the existing administrative burden is reduced.

(3) The second subpart ‘Eelnõu ettevalmistaja’ [Author of draft] lists the names, positions and contact details of the following persons:

1) authors of the draft and the explanatory memorandum, including the representative of the working group;

2) the language editor and if there is no Estonian original of an international agreement, the person who translated the agreement into Estonian;

3) the lawyer who verified the legal quality of the draft and the explanatory memorandum.

(4) The third subpart ‘Märkused’ [Notes] lists at least:

1) the relatedness of the draft to other pending drafts;

2) the relatedness of the draft to the implementation of EU law;

3) the relatedness of the draft to the action programme of the Government of the Republic;

4) information indicating which wording of the Act is amended;

5) the majority that is required for passing the draft as an Act and, in the case of qualified majority, the reasons for it.

§ 42. Purpose of Act

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Seaduse eesmärk’ [Purpose of Act]:

1) states the reasons for initiating the draft and words the purpose of the planned Act;

2) gives an overview of the current legal regulation of the issue and its implementation practice;

3) lists the legal, economic and administrative policy options and states the reasons for the policy options contemplated in the draft Act.

(2) If a legislative intent and concept of a draft Act have been prepared before preparation of the draft Act and explanatory memorandum, the result of approval thereof and compliance of the draft to the aforementioned will be indicated in this part. If the draft differs from the aforementioned, the difference will be indicated and its reasons will be stated. If a legislative intent and concept of the draft Act have not been prepared, the reason thereof will be indicated.

§ 43. Contents of draft and comparative analysis

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Eelnõu sisu ja võrdlev analüüs’ [Contents of draft and comparative analysis]:

1) present the structure of the draft Act and the reasons thereof;

2) gives an overview of the legal institutes addressed in the draft Act separately for each structural part;

3) explains why the relations that are the object of the draft need to be regulated or why the current legislation needs to be amended;

4) explains the contents of the planned section, subsection and clause;

5) analyses compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, other Acts, EU law and international agreements binding on the Republic of Estonia;

6) lists the sources that have served as the basis for preparation of the draft and, if possible, refers thereto by separately specifying the current legislation of the field and the legislation of other states that have been used upon preparation of the draft Act, and analyses the similarity of the draft with the specified legislation;

7) comments on the experience of other states in implementing laws if these laws have served as an example upon preparing the draft.

(2) Upon repeal or amendment of an Act or its provisions, the explanatory memorandum sets out a list of the provisions of the legislation, which contain direct reference to an Act or a provision to be repealed or amended and it is explained why the referring provision has been amended or not been amended. Indirect references are analysed in the same way.

(3) This part of the explanatory memorandum annexed a draft Act concerning proceedings regarding an international agreement introduces the contents of the international agreement and the amendments in Acts related to the performance or termination of the international agreement.

(4) If the draft to amend an Act specified in subsection 3 cannot be reasonably presented at the same time with the draft Act concerning proceedings regarding an international agreement, the author of the draft and the estimated date of completing the draft will be set out in the specified part of the explanatory memorandum.

(5) In a draft Act concerning proceedings regarding an international agreement, the specified part of the explanatory memorandum sets out the date of entry into force of the international agreement and the basis thereof.

§ 44. Terminology of draft

The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Eelnõu terminoloogia’ [Terminology of draft] introduces the new and foreign terms of the draft that have not been used in legislation earlier and states the reasons for using them.

§ 45. Compliance of draft with EU law

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Eelnõu vastavus Euroopa Liidu õigusele’ [Compliance of draft with EU law] sets out a list of EU regulations, directives and other legislation connected with the scope of application of the draft, including a list of the case-law required for the interpretation thereof. If the purpose of a draft is to bring Estonian Acts into conformity with EU law, the compliance of the draft thereto will be analysed.

(2) If, upon preparation of a draft Act, EU legislation has been implemented directly, the number and publication notation of the legislation in the Official Journal of the European Communities or Official Journal of the European Union will be presented in the explanatory memorandum and, upon bringing the draft Act into conformity with a directive, the correlation table developed by the European Commission or, in the absence thereof, the correlation table presented in the Annex to these rules will be appended to the explanatory memorandum.

(3) If an expert assessment of the draft Act has been conducted in Estonia or in a foreign country in order to verify whether the draft Act complies with EU law, the expert assessment document and the name, position and contact details of the expert will be appended to the explanatory memorandum.

(4) If a legal instrument of the EU grants to the Member State the right to specify the rules upon implementation of the legal instrument, the explanatory memorandum to the draft will state the reasons of the nature and necessity of the national legislation and indicates a possible alternative.

§ 46. Impact of Act

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Seaduse mõjud’ [Impact of Act] explains the following presumable impact arising from the implementation of the Act:

1) social, including demographic impact;

2) impact on national security and international relations;

3) impact on the economy;

4) impact on the living environment and natural environment;

5) impact on regional development;

6) impact on the organisation of state authorities and agencies of local authorities;

7) any other direct or indirect impact.

(2) If no significant impact is identified on the basis of subsection 1, it will be noted in the explanatory memorandum.

(3) If the implementation of an Act presumably causes significant impact, an impact assessment will be appended to the explanatory memorandum. An impact assessment:

1) introduces information concerning the person ordering and the person carrying out the impact assessment, the engaged experts and non-governmental institutions;

2) describes the issue to be analysed, the purpose of analysis and the issue to be examined;

3) states the reasons for the selection of the method of analysis;

4) describes the information used, the analytical activities and the results of the analysis in the fields specified in subsection 1;

5) describes the positive and negative impact of the possible policy options in the fields specified in subsection 1;

6) provides a summary and the policy option most suitable for the attainment of the purpose;

7) sets out the obligation to submit an ex-post impact assessment, the activity plan for the preparation thereof, including the estimated date for the performance thereof, the main types of impact and assessment criteria, or justifies the lack of necessity to carry out an ex-post assessment.

(4) If statistical, sociological or other studies or data is also used when analysing the impact, the used databases and documents will be referred to in or copies thereof will be appended to the explanatory memorandum.

§ 47. Activities of state and local authorities related to implementation of Act, estimated revenue and expenditure

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Seaduse rakendamisega seotud riigi ja kohaliku omavalitsuse tegevused, eeldatavad kulud ja tulud’ [Activities of state and local authorities related to implementation of Act, estimated revenue and expenditure] gives an overview of the activities of state authorities required for the implementation of the Act and the amount of all the direct one-off and annual expenses presumably required for the implementation of the Act and the sources for covering the expenses together with the relevant financial calculations and reasons.

(2) The specified part of the explanatory memorandum describes the projected impact of implementation of the Act on the budgets of local authorities and sets out a forecast of other indirect expenses.

(3) If the implementation of an Act does not require any expenses, this will be noted in the explanatory memorandum.

(4) If revenue is expected from the implementation of an Act, the prognosis of the estimated revenue together with financial calculations will be presented. If no revenue is expected, this will be noted in the explanatory memorandum.

(5) If the expenses are partially or fully covered out of the funds of the EU, the explanatory memorandum will set out the proportion of the funds of the EU.

§ 48. Implementing legislation

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Rakendusaktid’ [Implementing legislation]:

1) states the reasons for the authorising provision, the purpose, content and scope thereof in a way that facilitates making a decision concerning the compliance of the authorising provision and the implementing legislation planned on the basis thereof with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia;

2) sets out the date or term for the entry into force of the implementing legislation if it is different from the term specified in subsection 3 of § 14.

(2) The explanatory memorandum of a draft Act initiated by the Government of the Republic must, depending on the contents of the authorising provision, be accompanied by an outline of a draft regulation of the Government of the Republic or a draft regulation of a minister, which contains the initial wording of the draft. The annexed outline of the draft regulation must be prepared with such accuracy that it would be possible to assess the necessity of the implementing legislation, the scope of the authorising provision, the appropriate level and other circumstances that are necessary for assessing the wording of the authorising provision and compliance of the implementing legislation.

(3) If a draft Act contemplates the amendment or repeal of an Act, the specified part of the explanatory memorandum:

1) in the case of amendment of the authorising provision, contains the analysis required in subsection 1 and, in the case of a draft initiated by the Government of the Republic, the outline specified in subsection 2;

2) present the list of implementing legislation that also needs to be amended;

3) in the case of expiry or repeal of the authorising provision, presents a list of expired regulations together with the Riigi Teataja links to these regulations.

§ 49. Entry into force of Act

The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Seaduse jõustumine’ [Entry into Force of Act] states the reasons for the choice of the date for entry into force of the draft as an Act or its provisions and the period of validity of the Act or its provisions.

§ 50. Approval of draft, involvement of interest groups and public consultation

(1) The part of an explanatory memorandum titled ‘Eelnõu kooskõlastamine, huvirühmade kaasamine ja avalik konsultatsioon’ [Approval of draft, involvement of interest groups and public consultation] sets out:

1) the state or local authority to whom the draft was submitted for approval or for the receipt of an opinion and the public institution, interest group or expert concerned to whom the draft was submitted for the receipt of an opinion and proposals;

2) the opinions that were delivered and proposals that were made in the course of involvement and the public consultation.

3) to which extent the opinions and proposals were taken into account.

(2) The relevant explanations and reasons for taking or not taking comments or proposals into account are presented in a table that is prepared as an annex to the explanatory memorandum.

(3) The table specified in subsection 2 sets out the contents of the comments or proposals submitted upon approval, the persons who submitted the comments or proposals, the provisions of the draft whereby a comment or proposal has been taken into account and the reasons for the rejection of the comments or proposals.

(4) If a draft Act is submitted to the Riigikogu, the part specified in clause 10 of subsection 1 of § 40 only sets out the results of the involvement of non-governmental institutions and the public consultation in accordance with the procedure provided for in this section.

(5) Copies of an expert opinion or other documents may be appended to an explanatory memorandum.

§ 52. Compliance of draft regulation with law in force

(1) A draft regulation must be in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, other Acts, EU law, the generally recognised principles and rules of international law, and international agreements binding on the Republic of Estonia. A draft regulation of a minister must also be in compliance with the regulations of the Government of the Republic.

(2) A provision of a draft regulation may be contrary to the provisions of regulations in force, which are amended or repealed upon passing the draft regulation as a regulation.

§ 53. Application of authorising provision

The content of a draft regulation must comply with the limits, spirit and purpose of an authorising provision provided for in an Act or in an Act and a legal instrument of the EU. A draft regulation must not restrict or extend the provisions of an authorising Act or a legal instrument of the EU.

§ 54. Terminology of draft regulation

(1) A term in a draft regulation must comply with the terminology of an Act or a legal instrument of the EU, which serves as the basis for the regulation.

(2) A term of the field to be regulated, which is not provided for in an Act, may be used in a draft regulation if it is necessary for the implementation of the Act and not contrary to the terminology of the Act.

§ 55. Elements of draft regulation

The elements of a draft regulation are:

1) the notation ‘EELNÕU’ [DRAFT] and the date of the draft version in the top right corner of the first page of the draft regulation;

2) the issuer of the regulation;

3) the title of the legal instrument;

4) the title of the regulation;

5) the text of the regulation;

6) the first names and positions of the signatories.

§ 56. Title of draft regulation

The title of a draft regulation concisely expresses the contents of the draft.

§ 57. Structure of text of draft regulation

The text of a draft regulation consists of a preamble and sections.

§ 58. Preamble of draft regulation

(1) The preamble of a draft regulation refers to an authorising provision or provisions on the basis of which the regulation is issued. A preamble does not refer to a provision that does not contain authorisation for the establishment of the regulation.

(2) If a regulation of a minister is established on the basis of the delegation of authority contained in an authorising provision, the preamble of the draft regulation will also refer to the provision of the regulation of the Government of the Republic by which the Government of the Republic has authorised, to the extent of the authorising provision provided by law, to establish the provisions of law required for the implementation of the Act by the regulation of the minister.

(3) If a regulation is established on the basis of an authorising provision arising from EU legislation, the preamble of the draft regulation will, in addition to the corresponding provision of the EU legislation, also refer to the provision of an Act that authorises the Government of the Republic or a minister to establish the provisions of law required for the implementation of the EU legislation.

§ 59. Restating of provision of legislation

(1) In the text of a draft regulation, a provision of law or a provision of the same draft regulation is not restated, but referred to.

(2) For the purpose of the integrity of a draft regulation, a provision of an Act or EU legislation may be restated in the text of the regulation.

(3) Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia are not be restated in a draft regulation.

§ 60. References

(1) References to a regulation set out the issuer of the regulation, the date of issue of the regulation, the type of the legal instrument, the number of the regulation and the title in inverted commas and a provision, if necessary.

(2) A draft regulation does not refer to the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia.

§ 61. Amendment of regulation

If a regulation is amended or repealed, the issuer of the regulation, the date of issue of the regulation, the type of the legal instrument, the number of the regulation and the title in inverted commas are set out and a publication citation is given in brackets in the form and in accordance with the procedure set out in § 30.

§ 62. Provision regulating entry into force of regulation

(1) A provision regulating the entry into force provides for the entry into force of a regulation or a provision thereof on a date following the three-day term set out in subsection 2 of § 93 of the Administrative Procedure Act, unless an earlier date for the entry into force is provided by law. When providing for a date of entry into force in a provision regulating the entry into force, the circumstances set out in subsection 2 of § 14 and the term of seven working days prescribed for the publication of a regulation in subsection 6 of § 9 of the Riigi Teataja Act is taken into account.

(2) If a regulation is issued on the basis of an authorising provision contained in an Act that has been proclaimed by the President of the Republic but not yet entered into force, the date of entry into force of the Act will be set out in the provision regulating the entry into force of the regulation.

(3) If the regulation cannot be enforced simultaneously with the entry into force of the authorising Act, in justified case a later date may be set as the date of entry into force of the regulation.

(4) If a regulation or the provisions thereof have temporary validity, the provision regulating the entry into force the regulation must set out the date of expiry of the regulation or of provisions thereof, unless it is clear from the title or contents of the regulation.

§ 63. Explanatory memorandum to draft Regulation

Upon submission of a draft regulation for approval and submission of a draft for the establishment of a regulation, an explanatory memorandum is appended to the draft. The purpose of the explanatory memorandum is to reason the compliance of the draft with the authorising provision, the main views of the draft and the accompanying changes, and to give an overview of the impact of the regulation.

§ 64. Application of provisions regulating explanatory memorandum to draft Act

The provisions regarding the explanatory memorandum of a draft Act apply to the explanatory memorandum of a draft regulation, taking account of the specifications provided for in this Division.

§ 65. Structure of explanatory memorandum of draft regulation

(1) The explanatory memorandum of a draft regulation has the following parts:

1) introduction;

2) contents and comparative analysis of the draft;

3) compliance of the draft with EU law;

4) impact of the regulation;

5) activities related to the implementation of the regulation, the required expenses and the expected revenue from the implementation of the regulation;

6) entry into force of the regulation;

7) approval of the draft, involvement of interest groups and public consultation.

(2) In the case of significant impacts presumably accompanying the implementation of a regulation, an impact assessment is appended to the explanatory memorandum of the draft regulation.

§ 66. Implementation of regulation

(1) The requirements for legislative intent, concept, impact assessment and ex-post impact assessment will be fully implemented from 1 January 2014.

(2) In the transitional period, the requirements for legislative intent, concept, impact assessment and ex-post impact assessment will be implemented in ministries as follows:

1) in 2012 in the case of at least one quarter of the drafts;

2) in 2013 in the case of at least half of the drafts.

(3) Drafts the preparation of which was launched before the entry into force of this regulation and which are submitted for approval in 2012 and to which the provisions specified in subsection 2 do not apply may be prepared in accordance with the requirements of the previously applicable rules of legislative drafting.

§ 67. Amendment of Government of Republic Regulation No 10 of 13 January 2011 ‘Rules of Government of Republic’

[Omitted from this text].

§ 68. Repeal of regulation

[Omitted from this text].

§ 69. Entry into force of regulation

This regulation will enter into force on 1 January 2012.