Second reading of the draft law amending the Act on Handling Complaints and Requests for Information and Submitting Collective Petitions (475 SE)
Session: 15th Riigikogu, 4th session, plenary sitting
Date: 2024-11-20 23:27
Total Speeches: 3
Membership: 15
Agenda Duration: 2m
AI Summaries: 3/3 Speeches (100.0%)
Analysis: Structured Analysis
Analysis
Summary
Agenda item concerned the second reading of the draft law amending the Act on Submitting Collective Appeals in response to the letter and request for clarification initiated by the Government of the Republic and the Act on Submitting Collective Appeals. The presentation was given by the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee, Hendrik Johannes Terras. The committee had discussed the draft law at two sessions, involving stakeholder groups such as the Chancellery of the President of the Republic, the Chancellor of Justice, and the Supreme Court.
During the discussions, stakeholder groups highlighted the need to extend the deadline for responding to appeals from 15 calendar days to 15 working days, to ensure sufficient processing time, especially during holiday periods. Although the committee ultimately did not change the deadlines, attention was focused on the important problem of repeated and frivolous applications and the abuse of the right to appeal. The committee added a provision to the draft law allowing a request to be left unanswered if the recipient has already responded to a similar request from the same person within the preceding year and there is no need for new information, or if the person is clearly abusing the right to appeal. The definition of abuse was left to the official's reasoned discretion, which is subject to further inquiry. The leading committee submitted one amendment proposal, which was fully taken into account, and proposed to conclude the second reading.
Decisions Made 2
The amendment proposal submitted by the Constitutional Committee regarding bill 475 was fully considered.
Bill 475's second reading was concluded.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
The tenth item on the agenda concerns the Government-initiated draft law No. 475, the second reading of the act amending the Act on Responding to Memoranda and Requests for Explanations and the Act on Submitting a Collective Petition; and for the presentation, Hendrik Johannes Terras, the chair of the Riigikogu Constitutional Committee, was invited.
Hendrik Johannes Terras
AI Summary
The Constitutional Committee discussed the draft bill in two sittings, taking into account the views of interest groups, kept the deadlines unchanged, added the option not to respond to repetitive or indecent petitions, and if the same person had submitted a substantively identical petition last year and there is no justification for obtaining the information again, or if the use of the petition is clearly abused, the committee decided to terminate the second reading.
Aseesimees Toomas Kivimägi
AI Summary
As just stated, one amendment proposal has been submitted by the Constitutional Committee regarding the bill, and the leading committee recommends ending the bill’s second reading, after which the amendment proposals have been reviewed and the agenda item closed.