Third Quarter Brought the Climate Package and Excise Duty Topics
In the third quarter, the Chamber expressed written opinion on 37 draft acts, intents to draft or other policy formation documents. The most impactful topics were the European Union climate package, fuel and electricity excise duty increase, but also amendments to the Building Code and Employment Contracts Act. Since the beginning of the year, the Chamber has submitted in total 140 opinions.
The third quarter did not bring significant calming down of the legislative drafting process. High-impact topics, such as the European Union climate package, which was in total approximately 3,500 pages, were discussed. In the Chamber’s opinion to the ministries we emphasised the importance of inclusion and impact analysis and the fact that Estonia must have the opportunity to set its measures for attaining the goals. Furthermore, the plan of the OECD to carry out the corporate income tax reform, which would bring along change in our currently favourable tax environment, rose to the foreground. The Chamber is of the opinion that Estonia must have the opportunity to continue with the current corporate income tax system.
The biggest win of the quarter can be considered the postponing of the increase of the excise duties for fuels and electricity planned for next year. The Chamber highlighted the need to postpone the increase of the excise duties also at the beginning of the year, and this time the letter together with the Estonian Employers’ Confederation was further amplified through the drastic increase of the electricity prices. Another work victory was the stricter conditions for the regulation of the extension of the collective agreements. We stood for not allowing the law to enable a small group of employees and employers to extend the conditions of a collective agreement to their entire sector. In order to make the business environment more transparent, we proposed highlighting better in the Commercial Register the companies who have not submitted the Annual Report. The Ministry of Justice allowed realising this proposal in the nearest future. Furthermore, from now on it is possible to share the tax behaviour assessment from the Tax and Customs Board, which shows a company’s credibility, and collect valuable information on potential business partners.
As a representative of the Chamber, Mait Palts continues to participate in the discussions of the working group for the Adult Training Acy, which take place weekly. As a member of the KredEx council, Mait Palts also participates in the lead committee for the merger of Enterprise Estonia (EAS) and KredEx. In order to promote international business relations of Estonian entrepreneurs, Director General of the Chamber met various ambassadors, including from India, United Kingdom, El Salvador and Romania. There were also several meetings with representatives of ministries and interest groups.
The representatives of the Chamber also participated in the work of the Constitution Committee of the Parliament discussing the deposit requirement, which is currently applied in a manner that is hostile towards entrepreneurs. Various meetings took place also in relation to the analysis of national databases, energy taxation directive, use of e-invoices, single-use plastics directive, OECD income tax reform, draft Commercial Register Act, draft Common Water Supply and Sewerage Act, occupational health and safety topics, but also many other topics.
In the third quarter we also recognised, together with a member Instar, the most attractive employers in Estonia and opened the Business Season at the Estonian Open-Air Museum, where the President of the Chamber, Toomas Luman held his traditional Business Season opening speech. At the end of the third quarter, President Kersti Kaljulaid had her state visit to Kenya where we organised the business delegation’s programme. Furthermore, we are glad to announce that over 3,500 member companies are contributing to the development of the business environment through their membership in the Chamber.
MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS IN THE THIRD QUARTER
We expressed our opinion regarding the European Union climate package
In our feedback we found that the European Union climate and energy legislation package must allow realising activities related to achieving climate goals at a pace that does not decrease the living standards of people, is not detrimental to the competitiveness of companies and takes into account actual technological developments. In the Chamber’s opinion, at the moment, not all the requirements included in the climate package are realistic or doable in the suggested timeframe. Read the opinion
We proposed to the Government of the Republic to abandon increasing of the excise duty rates
The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Estonian Employers’ Confederation made a proposal to the Government of the Republic to leave the excise duty rate of diesel fuel, natural gas and other fuels as well as electricity on the current level, i.e. abandon the idea of increasing the excise duties from 01.05.2022. In the letter sent to Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, the business organisations proposed postponing increasing of the fuel and electricity excise duties by at least a couple of years. The organisations representing employers proposed that the Estonian government wait until the amendments of the legal acts related to the excise duties are passed on the European Union level and only then discuss the further excise duty policy strategy together with entrepreneurs. The Government decided on 28 September to extend the validity of the decreased excise duty rates by a year so that they would be valid until 30 April 2023. Read about the work victory
Chamber’s work victory: regulation on extending the conditions of collective agreements to become stricter
On 13 September, the Parliament passed the amendments to the Collective Agreements Act, which foresee stricter rules for extending the conditions of collective agreements. The amendments took into account several proposals of the Chamber. For example, the Chamber proposed to increase the representation criterion for the federation of employers from the initial 20 percent to 40 percent and a representation criterion was also set for trade unions. Read about the work victory
Failure to submit annual reports in due time to become more visible
At the beginning of July, the Chamber proposed the Ministry of Justice to highlight better in the Commercial Register that an organisation has not submitted their annual report in due time. The Ministry replied to the Chamber that the respective amendment will become applicable in the new e-Commercial Register from the end of the third quarter. Read about the work victory
Requirement for the deposit of temporary agency workers broker should become more lenient or abolished
In order for an alien to be able to work in Estonia as a temporary agency worker, a broker of temporary agency workers registered in Estonia must keep a deposit of a certain sum. The Chamber is actively working in the name of the state abolishing the deposit requirement or making it clearer and more lenient for entrepreneurs. Read about the goal
Several unreasonable obligations among the planned Packaging Act amendments
The Ministry of the Environment has prepared a Draft Waste Act, Packaging Act and Tobacco Act Amendment Act the main aim of which is to decrease the use of single-use food packaging and drinking cups, and promote the use of reusable packaging. The Chamber supports the main goal of the draft, but at the same time we see several problems among the amendments.
We made 18 proposals on the draft Commercial Register Act
The Ministry of Justice sent for approval the amendments related to the Commercial Code, one of the aims of which is to distinguish more clearly between data. The draft act regulates several different topics related to the activities of companies. The Chamber highlighted amendments that are useful, but also made several proposals for amendments. Read about the proposals
We supported several amendments planned for the Building Code
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication has prepared the intent to draft the amendments to the Building Code, which contains several dozen proposals for the amendment of the Building Code. The Chamber expressed its support for several proposals, such as for example digitalisation of construction. At the same time, we drew the Ministry’s attention to several problems in construction that were not mentioned in the document and which require a solution. Read about the opinions
New law means over-regulation
The Ministry of Justice lead the draft act on the protection of persons who notify of violations that offers protection against work-related discrimination to the people who notify of violations that have become known to them as a result of work-related activities. In the Chamber’s opinion, it is over-regulation, because already now, the Estonian law has sufficient protective measures for persons who notify of violations. Read about the opinion
Several changes to the Employment Contracts Act
The Ministry of Social Affairs has drawn up a draft of the Employment Contracts Act, the main aim of which is to transpose to Estonian law Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable employment conditions. For example, according to the draft act, an employer is required to notify an employee of the benefits for the employee of different taxes, additionally, there is a plan to change the rules for probation periods and requesting suitable working conditions. Read about the amendments
Which additional obligations arise from the new Consumer Credits Directive?
The European Commission published the new draft Consumer Credit Directive, which will impose additional obligations to the creditors and extends the requirements of the directive to regular traders who offer free payment in instalments. The Chamber sees several problems in the draft. Read the Chamber’s opinion