Education and Science, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Legislation, Technology

Photo: e-estonia.ee

At its meeting on Tuesday, the e-Estonia Council examined the vision and main directions of the Estonian digital state and cyber security development plan until 2030, government spokespeople said.

"The development plan sees Estonia as the world's digital nest, the prerequisites and services of which move safely with Estonians to every corner of the homeland and around the world, and foreigners come here to do their business digitally and learn from our experience. It is important that this document has both ambition and concrete actions and that it encompasses the whole of society," Prime Minister Juri Ratas said in a press release.

The focus of the plan is on the transition to proactive services that bring state support to the person namely when they need it. The necessary data will be requested from the citizen only once in the future and each user, be it a person or a company, will be able to monitor what data the state has collected about them and who is using it and for what purposes.

Among other things, the secondary use of data takes place through the consent service. In addition, the plan provides for more efficient administration of public services, the development of key infrastructure components of the digital state, and the systematic testing of new solutions, involving academia and the private sector, including startups.

In order to make communication of the citizen and the entrepreneur with the state easier and more convenient, the #burokratt concept is being implemented, which envisages the creation of a virtual assistant. This assistant, who understands and speaks Estonian, facilitates the use of state services, as it is integrated with the most important e-services of all administrative areas.

At that, a person must be able to consume all public services without special knowledge, using the method and device suitable for them, and increasingly also across borders, in the Nordic countries and the European Union.

At the meeting of the e-Estonia Council, the current state of development of legal norms regulating the implementation of artificial intelligence or kratt was also introduced. The application of artificial intelligence can lead to problems related to, for example, stereotypes or misconceptions about the previous practice from which kratt has learned, errors already programmed into the code, or the opacity of the decision algorithm.

A number of recommendations have been issued at EU and European Council level to ensure that artificial intelligence is compatible with fundamental rights and transparent. At present, the provisions concerning artificial intelligence in Estonia are scattered across different laws. The intention to draft a so-called kratt law has been sent for approval and the council will return to this issue in October. Relevant EU legislation is also planned for next year.

The e-Estonia Council also discussed ways to facilitate communication between the deaf and hard of hearing and the alarm center. Currently, deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people can communicate with the alarm center via text message. It is planned to introduce more modern solutions to facilitate communication.

"It is very important that people with hearing impairments can communicate their concerns in the fastest, most convenient and safest way for them. This is where every wrong button press can literally cost a life," Ratas said.

It was agreed at the meeting that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs will analyze the situation and, if necessary, discuss with the alarm center and the Estonian Association of the Deaf whether the best alternative to text message is a smart app, video call or some other solution.