The Ministry of the Interior has prepared a draft bill that provides a basis for restricting the ability of citizens from countries deemed to be high-risk from becoming Estonian e-residents. The ministry hopes the bill will take effect around the turn of the year.
According to the draft law amending the Identity Documents Act and related laws, the interior minister will be authorized to establish a list of high-risk countries by regulation, as well as determine specific exceptions for issuing e-resident digital IDs to citizens of these countries, the explanatory memorandum states.
Elen Kraavik, an adviser at the Ministry of the Interior’s border guard and migration policy department, explained to ERR that the proposed restrictions are prompted by concerns raised during an evaluation by MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on the assessment of anti-money laundering measures and the financing of terrorism. MONEYVAL highlighted that Estonia grants e-residency to citizens of third countries with which Estonia does not have strong cooperation, making it difficult to thoroughly verify their backgrounds when necessary.
“For example, if there is an issue and we want to ask the relevant authorities in the person’s home country about them, we may not receive answers, meaning we don’t really know who this person is, what their background is or what they do,” she described. According to Kraavik, MONEYVAL suggested that Estonia should reassess its risks and how it ensures, as a state, that it knows to whom it is issuing its documents.
“And since the topic of high-risk countries had already come up repeatedly, especially in connection with the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia, we decided to take this matter more seriously and implement stricter measures, allowing us to refuse e-residency to citizens of certain countries based on legal grounds,” Kraavik said.
More read: ERR.EE