Essential Laws To Be Translated Into Russian
The Ministry of Justice launched an initiative to translate around 50 of the most important laws into Russian, which should be completed by the end of the year.
“We will translate a number of more important laws that regulate people's everyday lives,” Minister of Justice Andres Anvelt told uudised.err.ee today.
The laws will concern areas like business activities and consumer protection. “I think this is a natural move,” Anvelt said.
According to the minister, the state will eventually save money thanks to making people more legally aware and the ministry plans to improve the availability of legal aid in Russian.
Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas told uudised.err.ee that he is not against publishing materials in Russian that explain the content of laws but is sceptical about complete official translations because they would hold legal power.
Some translations could be made of laws that have since become outdated and this way, the move would do more damage than good to the people who do not understand the original text, the Prime Minister said.
He does approve of the ministry or other organizations making summaries of laws.
Anvelt's Socal Democratic Party has floated the idea before – in September last year, the Social Democrats, then in opposition in Parliament, submitted a proposal to translate 50 most important laws into Russian, but the coalition, then consisting of Rõivas's Reform Party and IRL, rejected it.