Supreme Court hears sides of pharmacy dispute.
Postimees Digest, Wednesday, September 18
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The Supreme Court heard statements from the proponents and opponents of the justice chancellor's proposal to abolish Estonia's current limitations on the establishment of pharmacies yesterday. The National Audit Office, Competition Board, State Agency of Medicines and the regional minister agree with the justice chancellor in that the restrictions have failed to fulfill their purpose, for example they do not guarantee continued service in certain areas, restrict entrepreneurial freedom and should therefore be abolished. Opponents, that include major wholesalers Magnum and Tamro and the Estonian Pharmacy Association, claim that pharmacies should not be subject to freedom of enterprise as pharmacy services qualify as medical ones and are heavily regulated and that abolishing restrictions would mean more urban pharmacies that would lure qualified workforce away from rural areas that have few pharmacies as it is. Current restrictions dictate that there can only be one pharmacy per 3,000 people in cities while pharmacies need to be at least one kilometer apart in rural areas. While limitations would allow more pharmacies to be opened up in rural areas, companies are reluctant to move there in fear of low profitability. The court is set to provide a date for the ruling inside the coming month.
Court prohibits IRL from using domain names with Savisaar's name.
Mayor of Tallinn and Chairman of the oppositional Center Party Edgar Savisaar has emerged victorious from his court dispute with minority coalition partner IRL as the Harju County Court's ruling prohibits the latter from registering and making use of domain names including Savisaar's name. IRL's mayoral candidate Eerik-Niiles Kross registered a domain called edgarsavisaar.ee last week the content of which criticized the mayor. Savisaar sued IRL on Friday.
Average pension to remain exempt from income tax.
The government has agreed to raise the basic exemption of pensioners by 18 euros a month, meaning that the average pension will remain exempt from income tax also after the planned 5.8 percent pension hike. Average pension is estimated at 354 euros a month for 2014. Economy minister Juhan Parts said that the average public sector salary hike estimate remained at 5.1 percent even though ministers can make additional decisions within their administrative areas. While the state budget is set to grow by 0.7 percent, it will retain a 0.4 percent deficit next year, the government's communications bureau reports.
Riigikogu rejects plan to translate laws.
The Riigikogu rejected the Social Democrat Party's proposal to start translating new legislation into Russian and English yesterday with 35 votes for and 29 against. The bill was withdrawn from legislative proceedings.