The fine rate was set before Estonia adopted the euro in 2011 and can be imposed on those who do not speak Estonian in public-facing roles.

Under new amendments to the act, the fee for individuals will rise from €640 to €1,280. The upper limit for businesses would be €9,600. 

"The most important aspect of the draft Language Act is strengthening oversight of compliance with language requirements, and at the heart of that is the increase in coercive fines. Penalty amounts will also increase. The expectation is that higher enforcement measures will motivate people to make more effort to learn Estonian," said Kätlin Kõverik, adviser at the Ministry of Education and Research's Language Policy Department.

In recent years, there have been big concerns around taxi drivers not speaking Estonian, but the ministry has no plans to introduce separate legislation for this group.

It is thought that the required intermediate-level language proficiency can be achieved through enhanced oversight and cooperation with employers.

"Every time we go out, we identify drivers who do not speak Estonian with us, and we pass that information on to the Language Board," said Kristjan Haljasoks, senior specialist at Tallinn Municipal Police (Mupo).

This year, the Language Board was provided with information about 157 drivers. Of 58 taxi drivers inspected, 55 received a warning with an order to remedy their insufficient knowledge of the state language, along with a threat of a coercive fine.

Oscar Rõõm, head of ride services at Bolt, said the company has been checking drivers' language skills via a mobile app for nearly a year, and nearly 1,000 non-Estonian-speaking drivers have been removed from the platform as a result. However, Bolt does not verify who actually takes the test.

"We also conduct a lot of follow-up checks, meaning we closely monitor customer feedback. We look at comments and driver ratings. If we see a driver is consistently receiving complaints about language skills, we ask them to provide proof of their proficiency, or we eventually remove them from the platform," Rõõm said.

The Language Board also receives many complaints about sales assistants. An increasing concern is the poor state language skills of caregivers.

"Complaints are starting to come in gradually, and it seems there are problems with language skills. Recently, there was a complaint from a care home in South Estonia, saying that clients and patients have to conduct their everyday affairs in a foreign language, which is not normal at all," said Ilmar Tomusk, head of the Language Board.

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