The Churches and Congregations Act, the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act, and the International Sanctions Act were all rejected by Karis, who said they are not in accordance with the Constitution.

The president declined to promulgate the amendments to the Churches and Congregations Act for a second time, finding the changes made by the Riigikogu insufficient.

The Riigikogu must now decide whether to amend both laws, including the Churches and Congregations Act for a second time. If the Riigikogu passes the laws again without changes, the president is likely to refer them to the Supreme Court.

"Both laws have important objectives. However, those objectives are not achieved if the law, in addition to necessary restrictions, also introduces such vague provisions that allow for excessive interpretation and ultimately lead to numerous legal disputes," the president noted.

"The Riigikogu has indeed amended the text of the Churches and Congregations Act somewhat, but not sufficiently. It still conflicts with three articles of the Constitution and disproportionately restricts freedom of association and freedom of religion," the head of state explained, referring to Articles 40, 48, and 11 of the Constitution.

"Foreign influence must be countered, but that requires a clearer definition of the foreign ties that are actually dangerous. The explanatory memorandum to the law explicitly states that beyond regulating administrative relationships, there is also an intention to regulate church teachings and religious rites. There are other effective means to combat influence activities, so such extensive interference is not necessary. Moreover, the concept of 'threat' is defined so broadly in the law that, according to its wording, it is enough if violence was justified decades or even longer ago. Thus, the law also encompasses religious organizations whose restriction would not align with the intended goals of the legislation," President Karis noted.

Regarding the amendments to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act and the International Sanctions Act, the president stated that when it comes to automated data processing, it is especially important to ensure safeguards for the protection of personal data.

"At present, the database in question would, according to the explanatory memorandum, include input such as political and religious beliefs, health data, and ethnicity."

Karis said it is particularly unacceptable in the case of such a database to leave it up to a government agency to decide whether and to what extent individuals are informed about the reasons and scope of the data processing.

"If refusing to disclose information is necessary for detecting and preventing crime, that is justified. However, the amended law would also allow rights to be restricted further on the grounds that it may hinder or interfere with the execution of the Financial Intelligence Unit's legal duties. Granting such discretion to the Financial Intelligence Unit excessively restricts individual rights. It cannot be that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution may be limited merely to ease the work of a government agency or to save money," he said, referring to Articles 26 and 44 of the Constitution.

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