Minister: Enforcement register bank account inquiries will be logged on eesti.ee

Inquiries from government agencies using the enforcement register will be visible on the eesti.ee portal and the state app from next February, said Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta (Eesti 200).
Last month, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise said government agencies have been able to access residents' bank account information via the register without a proper legal basis.
Pakosta, as the responsible minister, has taken steps to rectify the situation.
The register will now become part of the datatracker. This will allow people to check their own data, similar to patients being able to see why medical professionals have accessed their health data.
"I consider it very important that every individual can personally check who, when, and why someone is viewing their data. This is essential for transparency, security, and trust. At my initiative, the government has already decided in the coalition agreement that the data tracker will become mandatory for all databases; currently, only some databases have joined voluntarily," Pakosta explained at Thursday's weekly government press conference.
"This draft legislation is already in the works as a general requirement. I simply decided to bring forward the enforcement register's integration, so that part would already be taken care of," she added.
The minister said all inquiries will appear in the tracker, except those restricted under security laws, with a delay.
"They will see it after the conclusion of the specific investigation by law enforcement agencies, so as not to compromise the investigation itself," Pakosta said.
The minister added that rules around banks verifying inquiries could also be clarified.
"The system was created a long time ago, and there's one poorly worded sentence in the Credit Institutions Act which states that banks are not obligated to verify the accuracy of the data entered into the inquiry fields submitted via the enforcement register. But they may do so. That provision should be clarified. That's my opinion, but it's up to the Ministry of Finance and the Riigikogu to act and decide," Pakosta said.
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Helen Wright










