Currently, private parking lots from nearby countries can inquire about Estonian car owner data in isolated cases and even then they cannot be sure if their request is granted as data protection differs from country to country.

Karin Kuuskemaa, head of the legal department of the Transport Administration, told ERR that the institution is currently working on a joint database with Helsinki and Riga, where many Estonians pay no mind to their parking fines. In the future, the administration hopes to further extend the database network.

Kuuskemaa added that Estonia does not have an overview of how many people leave their parking fines unpaid since private parking lots do not publish this data, but the most common signals come from Finland and Latvia.

Concurrently, the Estonian vehicle owner database was also opened to Estonia's private parking lots after several years of discussions and litigation.

Until now, the Transport Administration was not allowed to provide private parking lots with vehicle owner information. Europark CEO Karol Kovanen has said this legal solution will remove an issue that has bothered private lots for years.

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