Estonia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Technology

The top court first left the matter running on Jan. 22 as Gemalto had not submitted the appeal on time. The court now decided that although the submission of the appeal was not timely, the court is to restore the deadline of submission. At the same time, the court did not admit the appeal into handling. The main dispute of the public procurement will continue in circuit court.

Gemalto and the Police and Border Guard Board are disputing over the tender agreement of the public ID-card tender that took place in 2017. Namely, the Police and Border Guard Board entered into an agreement with French company Oberthur Technologies, later named Idemia, for the manufacturing of ID-cards, residence permit cards, digital IDs and diplomatic identity cards. The estimated maximum cost of the five-year agreement is approximately 40 million euros.

After that, Gemalto AG, successor of TRUB AG that had been manufacturing ID-cards for Estonian residents and supplying them with certificates since 2001, turned to court. The representative of the company, lawyer Priit Latt, said that Gemalto AG wants that the Police and Border Guard Board's decision regarding the ID-card tender be annulled and that the nullity of the tender agreement be identified.