General Organization
Estonia, 15th of September 2023
I. Historical Development
1) When was the registration service established in your country?
On 01.07.1926
2) Which authorities were empowered before this date and what is the evidential value of documents drawn up by them?
Before 01.07.1926 vital statistics events were registered at church. The documents are stored in the The National Archives, not in the (digital) population register.
The evidental value of clerical vital statistics entries is the same as that of later vital statistics acts drawn up at the registry office.
3) Can you cite the major texts marking the development of civil status in your country?
- 1865 Baltic Private Law Act
- 1926 Civil Status Act of Republic of Estonia
- 1941 Civil Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
- 1952 Marriage and Family Code of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
- 1995 Family Law Act of Republic of Estonia
- 2010 Vital Statistics Registration Act + Family Law Act
4) Can you cite the major judgments that have marked the development of civil status in your country?
- Regime changes (Republic of Estonia, Soviet Union, German occupation of Estonia during World War II) have had an impact on registering vital statistics events.
- 2002 - the digital population register. The documents were still on paper but were entered to the digital register by a data acquisition entry.
- 01.07.2010 - Vital statistics entries are made only electronically in the digital population register, no more documents (e.g birth acts, marriage acts etc.) on paper. Printouts of entries were forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior for storage (as a backup of digital register).
- 01.01.2023 – only printouts of marriage and divorce entries are forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior for storage. Other entries (e.g birth, death) are only in the digital register, no printouts for backup on paper.
II. Characteristics of the System
1) Is the registration service secular ou religious in your country?
Secular
2) If secular:
a) Do any acts of religious authorities have any effect on civil status and, if so, which?
In Estonia the clergymen may certify the contraction of marriages if they are entitled to do so (at the moment 108 clergymen entitled).
b) Must an act drawn up by a national religious authority be transcribed or registered by a civil authority and what are the consequences of a failure to transcribe or register?
No, a marriage is contracted from the moment both parties have answered « Yes » to the clergyman’s question whether they want to contract marriage with each other.
The civil authority only has to transfer the data of the marriage entry on paper to the digital population register by a data acquisition entry.
3) Which of your national authorities are authorised to register events?
- All local governments (79 in Estonia) register births.
- 16 bigger ones of these 79 local governments (in the county centers) register births and deaths, certify the contraction of marriages and divorces, register data changes in the population register due to reassignment of sex.
- Ministers of religion of a church, congregation or association of congregations perform the functions of a vital statistics office which are related to the contraction of marriage if the minister in charge of the policy sector has granted such right to the minister of religion (108 in Estonia at the moment).
- Notaries (87 in Estonia) perform the functions of a vital statistics office which are related to the contraction of marriage or divorce.
4) Which authorities hold and keep the registers?
The population register is the property of the state.
The Ministry of the Interior exercises the rights of the chief processor of the population register.
5) Is there a national authority responsible for civil status in your country?
The policy about civil status is shaped and implemented at the Ministry of the Interior.
If the civil status data was created or changed in Estonia, the data is entered to the population register by vital statistics official during registering the vital statistics event or during correcting data entered in the population register.
If the civil status data was created or changed in a foreign country the person him/herself is required to submit to an Estonian vital statistics office the necessary documents for the registration of the data in the population register.
6) Can you give details of who performs the duties of a civil registrar? Are they elected officials? Are they people who have passed an administrative competition or examination? Is this a profession as such in your country?
They are officials of local governments who have passed an administrative competition and examination.
7) In which language(s) are documents drawn up?
The entries in the Estonian population register are in Estonian. A vital statistics entry is a set of data entered in the population register on vital statistics events – there are no paper documents.
Based on the population register data, a certificate of a vital statistics event can be issued in Estonian, English, German or French and an extract from the population register can be issued in Estonian or English.
8) What are the different categories of documents and registers used in your country?
In Estonia there is only one register - the population register. The population register is maintained as an electronic database.
Vital statistics entries in the register are electronic, there are no vital statistics documents on paper.
Based on the population register data, the following is issued upon person’s request on paper or electronically:
- certificates of vital statistics events and certificates of marital capacity;
- extracts from the population register;
- notices and certified copies of vital statistics documents from the archives.
9) What is the role of computer technology?
a) Are civil status registers drawn up or reproduced by computer?
Yes.
b) Can information available in electronic form be consulted by third parties?
Only if there is legitimate interest assessed by the official and only on the conditions established by law.
c) Can interested parties and/or third parties obtain copies of or extracts from civil status records via the Internet?
Via the Internet through the self-service portal of the e-population register it is possible to request and to receive a vital statistics event certificate or an extract from the population register for yourself, your minor child and ward.
If you need a certificate or extract of data of deceased spouse or if there is a legitimate interest to receive data of other people, the request can’t be requested via the Internet.
Institutions that have a right to get data from the population register get it via X-tee. X-tee, the data exchange layer for information systems, is a technological and organizational environment enabling a secure Internet-based data exchange between information systems. E.g when the Estonian Social Insurance Board needs birth data to pay childbith allowance or some other family allowance to a family, they get all the data about the family from the population register via x-tee. The family only has to register the birth and doesn’t have to certify it anywhere else for state or local services.
III. Consular Registration
1) Do your laws prohibit foreign diplomatic agents or consular officers from exercising, in your territory, the functions of a registrar with regard to their nationals?
Yes.
2) Do your laws give your diplomatic agents or consular officers the right to exercise abroad the functions of a registrar with regard to your nationals?
No.
3) Is there a central service for consular records?
Estonian foreign missions make entries on the basis of foreign vital statistics documents to the Estonian population register. There is no separate central service for consular records in the field of vital statistics data.
4) Would you like to expand on your answers in order to mention an essential element not covered by the previous questions?
Estonian foreign missions only make entries on the basis of foreign vital statistics documents and issue extracts of vital statistics data.
Ministry of the Interior of Estonia
Population Facts Department