Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Internet, Legislation, Technology

This eases, for example, the daily data exchange of national tax authorities, population registers and other institutions and enterprises.

X-Road project manager Tuuli Pärenson said that earlier versions of the X-Road were meant for national use; the new version, number 6, allows for cross-border communication.

"A new version of the X-Road software will be launched this year in Finland, which means that by the end of the year, there is technical capability of cooperation between Estonian and Finnish X-Roads," said Pärenson.

According to current plans, transmission of data between Estonian and Finnish X-Roads will be reality in 2016.

Using the common X-Road means that if someone has things to do in Finnish government institutions, they do not have to take along paper documents issued in Estonia, as those is already visible in digital form. For example, for the two countries' tax authorities it means that businesses can send their declarations electronically or tax authorities can make direct inquiries about tax debts.