At present, anyone can use the business register's online portal to see whether a person belongs to a political party and whether they have previously been a member of another party. The Ministry of Justice initially sought to change that through amendments to the Commercial Code.

Under an earlier version of the draft legislation, anyone wishing to see which political party a person had previously belonged to would have needed to demonstrate a legitimate interest, according to the ministry, and submit a public records request.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed to ERR that the provision was indeed included in the draft bill but was later removed and that there are no plans to pursue it further.

In early June, the Ministry of Finance announced that it was preparing changes to the use of the beneficial ownership register, under which the data would no longer be freely accessible to everyone, as it is now.

At the time, Ministry of Finance Deputy Secretary General Evelyn Liivamägi said the proposed changes were intended to strike a better balance between transparency, anti-money laundering efforts and the protection of individuals' privacy.

At the end of the month, it emerged that Pakosta had not approved the Ministry of Finance's draft legislation. She also said that the regulation should more clearly specify the controller responsible for processing personal data and recommended preparing guidance for officials on how to assess whether a requester has a legitimate interest. However, she advised against including such guidance in the draft legislation itself, as it could conflict with guidance issued by the Data Protection Inspectorate or the European Data Protection Board.

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