The Ministry of Social Affairs has decided to cut back on what it considers to be outdated health and safety requirements and licensing procedures. On example cited is the Health Board's current responsibility for checking whether Elron trains have mops, rubber gloves and labelled buckets onboard. That responsibility will now be removed.

Health inspections of accommodation services, which involve the checking the number of towels or the freshness of the air in accommodation establishments, will be abolished. The overall requirements for accommodation establishments will also be reduced.

Monitoring of smoking rooms will be reduced, so that there will no longer be a need to check that they are correctly labelled and signs are the right size. Health and safety assessments for kindergartens, schools and care homes that are already in operation will also no longer be mandatory.

Municipalities will no longer be required submit noise maps to the Health Board but will have to publish that information on their websites.

On Thursday, the government also approved amendments to the Consumer Protection Act, which will give businesses the right to stop issuing paper receipts and invoices from next year. This is a change the Estonian Traders Association (Eesti Kaupmeeste Liit) has been calling for a number years, as it will save a considerable amount of paper annually. Purchasers will still have the right to receive paper receipts and invoices if they so wish.

There will be four amendments to the Waste Act. According to the first, no waste permit will be needed to recycle up to one tonne of bio-waste per year, but businesses are able to compost or otherwise recycle such waste themselves.

Waste carriers will not have to enter the quantities of waste into the waste shipment registration, as these figures can be checked in annual reports. Waste collection companies will be exempted from the obligation to register with the local authority for a specific waste collection area and will instead only need to be registered for general waste collection.

Changes are also expected to be made to the Atmospheric Air Protection Act. Holders of an environmental permit will no longer have to submit data to the government regarding small boilers, and there will be no requirement apply for an air pollution permit for the construction of a boiler house, factory chimney, grain dryer or other stationary emission source.

The Hunting Act will be amended so that hunting licenses will become digital and hunters will be able to see who else is entitled to hunt in the same area as them.

An amendment also be introduced to the General Part of the Environmental Code Act, removing the need for those applying for an environmental permit to hold a public hearing unless requested by affected parties.

A number of changes to the Nature Conservation Act have also been agreed by the government.

The construction exclusion zone to be added to coastal and riparian floodplains will be reduced, while municipalities in towns and cities will be given the right to decide for themselves how far from the protection boundary of a water body houses can be built. The state will no longer buy up land if the owner already knows it will be given protected status. If protected status is increased, the state will acquire the land for half its value.

Automatic restrictions on the protection of species will no longer be take into account for national protection, but instead they will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The Environment Agency will be responsible for ringing bats and birds, and tagging will no longer be subject to a separate permit, but a simple attestation will suffice.

Now, only the Environmental Board will be able to make proposals to the Ministry of Climate for sites to be protected. Individuals can still make proposals regarding nature protection through the board. It will also be possible in certain cases for nature conservation work to not be carried out on public land if the Environmental Board allows it.

The amendment to the Earth's Curst Act will mean ministerial approval for a mining permit will no longer be required, shortening the time needed to obtain a permit by 30 days.

The decision also includes an amendment to the Industrial Emissions Act, meaning large-scale plywood production will no longer require a complex permit. Also, large-scale producers with complex permits, of which there are around190 in Estonia, will no longer have to retain permit records for more than five years.

For amendments will also be made to The Water Act. It will no longer be necessary to apply for an environmental permit to dredge and store soil in a water body; registration will be sufficient.

For shellfish and algae farming in the sea, where production volumes do not exceed 100 tonnes, only registration will be required, while for volumes above that amount, it will be necessary to apply for a water permit.

However, farmers will have the right to stockpile livestock manure mixed with bedding immediately after submitting their e-notification, rather than after two weeks as is currently the case.

All these government decisions still need to be approved by the Riigikogu.

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