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According to the study “Trends in access to public sector information”, published by the Foresight Centre, the balance between the data protection requirements and the right to obtain public information is askew in Estonia. The implementation of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has reduced the availability of data even further.

The issue of data freedom needs clearer accountability and advocacy in Estonia, the study “Trends in Access to Public Sector Information” to be presented by the Foresight Centre this Tuesday shows. According to the study, restrictions on public information have increased during the last 20 years.

On Tuesday, 18 October, the Foresight Centre will publish the study “Trends in Access to Public Sector Information”, which gives an overview of the legal environment in Estonia in terms of using public information. The study shows that access to public information is uneven across agencies.

The brief report of the Foresight Centre “Roadmap of Targeted Automatic Subsidies in Estonia” shows that if the government used the data kept in its registers, it would be possible to pay family and energy subsidies automatically and only to those who really need them, and to make the use of finances and the activities of the state more effective. Implementation of the subsidies based on automated data analysis and automatic decisions is mainly hindered by the restrictions in place on the use of data.

Datafication of the Estonian society creates ever increasing challenges both for public and private sectors, says the Foresight Centre brief report “Pitfalls of Using Public Data in Estonia”. The crucial pitfalls highlighted in the report concern the different standards applied to national data bases and the casual setting of access restrictions.

Completely ending import of Russian and Belarus goods would have the greatest impact on the logistics, metal, and wood industries, where the replacement goods from other countries are more than 25% more expensive, shows the Foresight Centre brief report “Impact of ending import from Russia and Belarus on economic sectors”. Reshaping supply chains would increase costs for businesses and require keeping larger stocks to ground the risks.

Estonian businesses who depend on the goods and raw materials imported from Russia and Belarus should ground their business risks in good time, shows the Foresight Centre brief report “Impact of replacing imports from Russia and Belarus across categories of goods”. Completely ending import from these countries would entail a EUR 860 million additional cost to Estonian businesses in 2021 prices.