For a detailed analysis of digital public participation in Estonia, particularly with regard to the strengths and needs for improvement of digital portals and the legal situation before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, see our country report. It covers four countries in addition to Estonia.
Estonia does not have a centralised EIA portal. EIA documents are published on the websites of various ministries, various local authorities and a portal for environmental permits (KOTKAS). The following good practice examples were identified in the KOTKAS portal:
Document organisation
In addition to the legally required content, the KOTKAS portal provides an overview of the purpose of the EIA procedure, the various stages of this procedure and the current status of the procedure. A diagram of the EIA procedure is included to make the process easier to understand. The overview makes the procedure clearer and more accessible for citizens.
Source: Screenshot Estonian KOTKAS portal
EIA documents are also published on the website of the Estonian Environmental Protection Agency. In some cases, minutes and recordings of the consultation meetings are also published here, which can also be seen as an example of good practice, as this allows citizens who were unable to attend the consultation meeting to obtain information.
Archive function
In Estonia, information on past EIA procedures is published in two different places. One is the government’s public announcements portal (Ametlikud Teadaanded), which is used to publish all legally required announcements. Here, a search system can be used to search for past EIA procedures by the type of notice, a keyword and the date of publication. The entries are a valuable source of information on EIA procedures in the past. However, only the official notices are available here and the entries often do not contain direct links to the documents.
Source: The homepage of the portal Ametlikud Teadaanded (English version).
In addition, information on past EIA procedures is published on the KOTKAS portal. The KOTKAS portal is the official online portal for the publication of EIA materials in the context of environmental authorisation procedures and is operated by the Estonian Ministry of the Environment. The portal provides information on most environmental impact assessments carried out in the past. A search mask can be used to search for the name of the project, the region or location (municipality), the status of the procedure (initiated/ongoing/completed), or a keyword. For each EIA procedure there is a one-page summary with all relevant data on the planned activity and the EIA as well as links to the EIA materials. In some cases there is also a link to the webpage with the documents of the actual authorisation procedure, but the documents seem to be available only for the most recent procedures (procedures dating back about 2-3 years).
Online public hearings
Another example of good practice in Estonia is the organisation of online and hybrid public hearings. In addition, some public hearings are still held on site. The practice varies from authority to authority. Minutes and recordings of some of the public hearings are published on the website of the Estonian Environment Agency.
