Estonian e-residency offers foreigners limited-rights ID-cards, to communicate with the Estonian e-state. When will an Estonian working in Finland or the UK let himself be electronically identified in the tax board, say, to check his balance of payments?
We have taken the practical approach and launched close cooperation with Finland, as there our people have the greatest need for communication. The cooperation agreement is completed and waiting to be signed. If everything goes according to plan, Estonia will adopt the new X-Road version in October, and Finland in November – for the first time in Europe, and maybe in the world, this will create a technical option for information systems of two nations to interact, and e-services to function cross-border.
For that, lots of other things need to be altered as well: laws need to be amended, the agencies accustomed to only operate within own nation need to change attitude. However, the political will exists in Finland and Estonia alike.
What new things are in pipeline regarding e-services within Estonia?
Near-term, we are planning to improve eesti.ee, so that the services therein would be easier to find and better available. The main update perhaps will be that a citizen will soon be able to click a box in eesti.ee environment defining @eesti.ee mailbox as his only option for communicating with the state. Regarding state agency proceedings, for instance, information would be sent to that address only.
The solution should vastly cut the use of paper. I hope that people will use it.
Earlier employment: legal and administrative issues vice-chancellor at Defence Ministry; defence policy advisor at Estonian Embassy in the USA; national defence teacher and lecturer on international law.
Education: graduated from University of Tartu law faculty, Master’s from US Army War College.