The Chancellor of Justice has turned to the Minister of Regional Affairs on the matter.

According to the Permanently Inhabited Small Islands Act, a permanent resident is an individual whose actual and registered place of residence is on a small island. The latter is defined as having an area below 100 square kilometers and a population of at least five inhabitants. Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Muhu are the only large islands in this sense.

In the understanding of the Population Register Act, a permanent resident more broadly lives permanently or mainly in a given municipality.

A concrete example of the problem came recently in the case of Osmussaar, are 5 square kilometers located off Estonia's northwestern coast, which does not pass the threshold of a minimum of five year-round dwellers. This means it does not qualify for state support, which many other islands do get.

Olari Koppel, director of the Office of the Chancellor of Justice, said while the distinction may seem merely semantic or technical, the well-being of some of Estonia's smaller islands and their residents may depend on this.

"Living in a certain place involves certain obligations, but also rights, which is why this is an area that should be precisely regulated by law. Unfortunately, this is not the case at the moment," Koppel said.

"In the case of the small islands act, the situation is rendered somewhat more specific by the fact that for an Estonian small island to qualify as a permanently inhabited small island, a certain baseline number of people must live there. If that minimum is met, then according to the law, that island has the right to receive certain state services and other benefits," he went on.

Anu Streng, a member of the Estonian islands' association and who lives year-round on Vormsi, said that if people registered themselves as living where they actually reside permanently, there would be no concern. The situation is the opposite, however.

"In the case of Vormsi, 450–460 people are registered in the population register, but fewer than 200 live here permanently. Since people living temporarily on Vormsi or other small islands have certain needs while holidaymakers here have very different needs – which do not coincide and are often in conflict – the local government, unfortunately, often no longer bases its decisions on the needs of the local residents, as we are in the minority," Streng said.

Kaie Küngas, adviser in the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture's department of local governments, stated in a written comment to ERR that, from the state's point of view, the definition of permanent resident has the same meaning under both laws, so the law should be amended so that the only condition for determining a permanent resident is them having an entry in the population register. She added that before initiating legal changes, the issue should be discussed with representatives of the small islands.

The justice chancellor also drew the attention of the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture to the fact that, according to the islands' association, there have been concerns with convening both the first general assembly of the small islands, and the small islands committee.

"Convening the assemblies and committees is the task of the minister and the ministry, and if the ministry has not fulfilled this task in a timely manner, it could be interpreted as the ministry obstructing the exercise of rights granted to the small islands by law – and in that case, it is a problem," Koppel said.

Küngas said that as of the end of June, the government approved for submission to the Riigikogu a draft of the Local Government Organisation Act. This also includes an amendment to the small islands act, so that the first general assembly will be convened by the municipal or city government instead of the council. The next small islands committee is planned to be convened in the fall.

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