Secretary General Tiina Uudeberg told ERR that a comprehensive revision of the Anti-Corruption Act is currently underway and the ministry believes involving external legal experts is indispensable.

The purpose of the legal analysis is to assess the criminal law regulation governing breaches of the restriction on official acts and its possible alternatives.

The study will serve as input for the revision of the Anti-Corruption Act and a legislative intent to amend the law.

"The announced procurement aims to involve independent legal experts from outside the ministry, from whom we expect the best possible solutions to the legal problems that have arisen in the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Act," Uudeberg said.

She said the main question to be addressed is what impact removing the link between the restriction on official acts and the Penal Code would have.

"We are also asking the analysis to assess whether any acts deserving punishment would remain unpunished or whether we would need to create new criminal offences. Overall, the analysis should provide an answer as to how to ensure legal clarity in statutory provisions. To do that, however, we must assess the possible shortcomings and advantages compared with the current situation," Uudeberg said.

Secretary general: Case law alone will not provide legal clarity

Discussions in the Riigikogu and in the working group reviewing the law have produced differing views on how, and whether, the Anti-Corruption Act should be regulated and how the Penal Code should be amended.

"Relying solely on case law in matters concerning the Anti-Corruption Act is not the best approach, because creating legal clarity in Estonia is primarily the responsibility of the legislature. After all, seeking legal clarity through all three levels of the court system has also been widely criticised in the media," Uudeberg noted.

The ministry believes it is useful in such specific legal matters to also seek analytical assessments from independent experts working in the private sector.

"This input often provides a different perspective that helps move forward with the necessary amendments," Uudeberg added.

In June, the Riigikogu passed government-initiated amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act, the Penal Code and the Taxation Act, clarifying the rules governing restrictions on official acts for public officials, including the criminal offence of breaching those restrictions.

The amendments clarified the criminal offence of breaching the restriction on official acts so that criminal liability arises only in cases where the conduct of a public official creates an unequal or unjustified advantage from the perspective of the public interest.

Before these amendments, any knowing breach of the restriction on official acts automatically resulted in criminal liability under certain conditions, a system that had attracted considerable criticism because of the lack of legal clarity.

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