In fact, the ministry had not responded to the chamber’s questions at that point, and within the 30 days it is statutorily required to.
ERR News has reproduced, together with links to the relevant documents (in Estonian) the correspondence, over a two-month period, between Minister Võrklaev and chamber of commerce chief Toomas Luman, as follows.
Tuesday, June 20, 2023. From Toomas Luman to Mart Võrklaev
“The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is concerned that there have recently been several cases where the Ministry of Finance has not responded to queries from the Chamber of Commerce over a long period of time, the query from the chamber of commerce has not reached the relevant official at the Ministry of Finance within a reasonable time-frame, or, even in the case of urgent issues, getting an immediate answer from the Ministry of Finance proved impossible, while as a general rule, it takes the ministry 30 days or even more than that to respond.”
“We will next outline these cases in more detail and request the Ministry of Finance response to the questions and comments below.”
“/…/ On April 25, 2023, the Chamber of Commerce sent the government its preliminary comments and proposals regarding the Reform Party, Eesti 200 and Social Democratic Party coalition, for the years 2023-2027.”
“/…/ Why has the Ministry of Finance not responded to the query from the Chamber of Commerce, in accordance with § 6 of the Response to Memoranda and Requests for Explanations and Submission of Collective Proposals Act, which states that a memorandum or request for clarification must be answered immediately, and no later than within 30 calendar days of its registration? Does the Ministry of Finance plan to respond to the appeal of the chamber of commerce, when and in what format?”
“/…/ On May 2, we sent the Ministry of Finance our feedback on the draft bill amending the Income Tax Act, the draft bill amending the Value-Added Tax Act and the draft law amending the Alcohol, Tobacco, Fuel and Electricity Excise Duty Act. /…/ We request that the Ministry of Finance further explain why remarks and proposals from the chamber of commerce were not included in the appendix of the explanatory letter sent to the Riigikogu. What have you already done or what are you planning to do, to avoid such incidents in the future?”
Thursday, July 13, 2023. From Mart Võrklaev to Toomas Luman.
“I confirm once again that the Ministry of Finance sees the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as a valuable partner.”
“In order for further exchange of ideas to not get mired in excessive bureaucracy, I propose initiating a regular cooperation format, for example meeting twice a year. This would give both entrepreneurs and the ministry the opportunity to express their views, future plans and proposals, as far as possible. The hope is that this will develop into a permanent and meaningful cooperation, one which will last beyond the government cycle (meaning beyond the next election in 2027 and the number of administrations, usually around two, traditionally to be expected during that time frame-ed.).”
“/…/ In addition, I will briefly deal with the individual topics you mentioned, which fall under the purview of the Minister of Finance, below.”
Monday, July 24, 2023. Toomas Luman to Mart Võrklaev
“On June 20, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent a query to the Ministry of Finance, in which we pointed out that there have been several cases recently where the Ministry of Finance has not responded to [other] appeals from the Chamber of Commerce over a lengthy period of time, or the appeal of the Chamber of Commerce has not reached the relevant official at the Ministry of Finance within a reasonable time-frame, while also it has also not proven possible to get an answer from the Ministry of Finance immediately on urgent issues, and as a general rule, it takes the ministry 30 days, or even more than that, to respond.”
“The Chamber of Commerce expected the ministry’s response to the questions and comments contained in the appeal without delay, and within 15 days at the latest, as agreed in the coalition agreement. While more than 30 days have passed since the Chamber of Commerce’s questions were sent, we still have not received a response from the Ministry of Finance to our letter.”
“We have also not been informed by the ministry of any deadline extension for responding. Such inactivity of the Ministry of Finance is contrary to § 6 of the Requests for Explanations and Submission of Collective Proposals Act, whereby a response to a memo or a request for clarification must be answered immediately, and no later than within 30 calendar days of its registration. We would like to know why the ministry has not answered the chamber’s questions within the deadline and when the ministry will stop infringing the law and respond to the letter from the chamber of commerce.”
Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Mart Võrklaev to Toomas Luman
“Dear Mr. Luman. I understand the concern of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that communication with the Ministry of Finance does not seem to be progressing. Nevertheless, I must note that the Ministry of Finance has responded to the query to which you allegedly have not received a response, via a letter dated July 13, 2023. We have also received confirmation from your staff that this response was received.”
“At the same time, I confirm that we are ready to discuss topics of concern to you also via a direct meeting.”
Monday, July 31, 2023. Luman to Võrklaev
“On July 13, 2023, we received an answer to our query from the Ministry of Finance. Thank you for this meaningful answer, but in connection with this we have had additional questions that we ask you to answer, and unfortunately we have to ask some questions once again, because we could not find answers to them [in the response of July 13].”
“/…/ In our initial appeal, we asked the Ministry of Finance to further explain why the remarks and proposals from the Chamber of Commerce had not been incorporated in the explanatory memorandum attached to the draft package of tax amendments as sent to the Riigikogu.”
“In addition, we requested an answer to the question as to what you have already done, or are planning to do, to avoid such incidents in the future. We did not find specific answers to these questions in the response letter sent to us. We are thus still awaiting answers to these questions.”
“/…/ Protecting Estonian interests with regard to EU initiatives. In your reply letter, you pointed out that more detailed feedback on the Chamber of Commerce’s concerns regarding the protection of Estonian interests in the context of EU initiatives had been given in a separate reply letter. Question from the Chamber of Commerce: When did you send us a response letter regarding the protection of Estonian interests with regard to EU initiatives? This response has not reached us as yet.”
August 21, 2023. Võrklaev to Luman
“You approached the Ministry of Finance with additional questions regarding the response to the letters submitted by the Chamber of Commerce.”
“Responding to appeals from the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: After the change of government in the spring of this year, and due to the resulting extensive changes, the number of appeals made to the Ministry of Finance was exceptionally high. The comments and proposals made by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry were not included in the explanatory letter of the draft package of tax changes sent to the Riigikogu as a result of human error. We sincerely apologize for this error. We are asking our officials to exercise greater due diligence, to avoid such a mistake happening again.”
“As to the protection of Estonian interests within the framework of EU initiatives, once again, we have to sincerely apologize, since a closer investigation revealed that the letter in question did not leave the building, for technical reasons. This is the first time a mistake of this kind has happened, and we apologize again that this transpired. The Ministry of Finance will do everything possible to prevent such a situation from reoccurring. We can furthermore discuss topics related to EU initiatives in more detail at the meeting planned for the fall.”
The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry offers consultations, issues foreign trade documents, aids in searching for cooperation partners and conducts training sessions, among other business-related activities. Tomas Luman has held the post of board chair since 1995.
