In its coalition agreement, the government pledges not to impose new requirements on businesses without doing away with some existing ones.

"It should still be clear-cut – one bill comes in, it includes four subsections, each subsection imposes a new requirement, and right there below them are four subsections removing four other requirements," said Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa-Ly Pakosta (Eesti 200). "Simple – anyone can see it in the same bill."

Currently, there are no plans for these requirements to come from the same field. The Ministry of Justice should be monitoring for compliance with the one-for-one principle, but for now, it will only be a guideline for other ministries.

"How exactly this will look in detail will be discussed together with the other ministries in order to achieve the best solution," Pakosta said.

Such promises have previously been made by governments in other countries as well as previous Estonian governments, but typically they have turned out to be more political rhetoric than new legislative practice.

"Promises to cut bureaucracy, to reduce administrative burdens have been in our coalition agreements for at least a couple of decades, just like in other countries, but this should signal to business owners that this time we're serious," commented public administration expert Külli Taro.

"It does sound a bit simplistic and slogan-y, but if it reflected the government's actual stance and actual desire to combat administrative burden, that would be good," said Estonian Employers' Confederation (ETKL) chief Arto Aas. "Historically, the problem has been moreso that no one is directly involved with it; no one is taking responsibility for it."

On top of that, experiments in other countries have raised several questions as well.

"One requirement isn't equivalent to another," Taro explained. "How do we even weigh them? How do we even measure them? Second, why one-for-one? Why not one-for-two? In some U.S. states it's the case that if I want to impose a new requirement, I have to repeal at least two old requirements."

This approach has been tested more broadly in legislation, but Taro cited a study commissioned by the European Parliament last year which concluded that it isn't very effective.

"We may end up with slightly fewer laws, but we won't get better laws," she noted. "I'm afraid that when it comes to administrative burden, it likewise works very well as a message, but it isn't meant to be adhered to strictly one-to-one."

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