Estonia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Metals Market, Technology

The companies that participate in the project start using the SelectaDNA technology, in the course of which unique DNA is synthesized for a company or its different objects, which is applied to the property. Even the smallest amount of that substance enables to prove the owner of the object and in some solutions, associate it with whoever committed the theft.

The marking is checked with special lights and that can be done by the police and companies buying scrap metal.

According to statistics, theft of metal objects has fallen by more than a half this year as compared to last year but in the first nine months of this year, still 550 cases of metal theft were registered. "Despite the fall, the amount of theft is still high, especially considering that these are vitally important objects and thefts cause wide-scale public damages," said Police and Border Guard Board lead law enforcement official Varmo Rein.

In addition to the Police and Border Guard Board, state-owned electricity grid operator Elektrilevi and scrap metal company Kuusakoski, the metal marking project participants include the Environmental Inspection, Eesti Energia, Estonian Railways Co, Estonian Water Companies Union, Järve Bio-cleaning, Paldiski City Cleaning, EMT, Elion and Tallinna Vesi, but other companies and organisations are also welcomed to join the project.