Riigikogu committee questions plan to drop taxi driver photo requirement
A proposal to remove the photo requirement for taxi driver IDs in Estonia is facing opposition from the Riigikogu's Economic Affairs Committee.
At a recent meeting, Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Hendrik Terras (Eesti 200) and ministry Public Transport Department director Andres Ruubas presented the government's bill of amendments to the Public Transport Act.
The proposed change would allow taxi drivers to apply for a service provider card (teenindajakaart) without submitting a photo.
Ruubas said the goal is to ensure taxi services are safe for clients, which depends on both vehicle safety and the driver's reputation.
"Obtaining a service provider card is a relatively simple process, but inspections show that cases where the [ID] doesn't match the driver are very rare," he said.
He added that the ministry sees little benefit in collecting and storing photos. Doing so could lead to privacy violations, and making images publicly accessible in a register could lead to misuse.
"This issue has also been highlighted by the Data Protection Inspectorate (AKI)," Ruubas noted.
Even so, the plan drew sharp criticism from committee members. MP Mart Maastik (Isamaa) said the taxi driver ID plays a crucial role, confirming that drivers are properly licensed and meet all requirements.
"If a photo is no longer required on the service provider card," he warned, "anyone could potentially use the same [ID] to offer taxi services."
Ruubas said adding a driver photo via Estonia's centralized business register would require a dedicated technical solution that wasn't part of the original plan and would involve new software development. He noted that currently, there's no way to do this in the system.
"It requires creating a separate X-Road query that must also be included in the printed output," he explained.
MP Mario Kadastik (Reform) noted that the system already generates photos from uploaded files and argued that it doesn't matter whether the image comes from an X-Road query or a file. He said adding a query shouldn't be technically difficult and likely wouldn't significantly raise costs.
Terras said the committee's suggestion to retain the photo requirement makes sense, adding that the Ministry of Regional Affairs will review it and may propose an update when the bill is up for its second reading in the Riigikogu.
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Aili Vahtla
