As of July 8 Estonian bailiffs will operate in four regions – North, West, Viru and South – instead of the former county-based system. Bailiffs were brought under four territorial jurisdictions for the purpose of improving the quality of bailiff services in line with the division of the territorial jurisdiction of courts into four regions from the beginning of 2006.
"First and foremost, the changes increase citizens' opportunities to choose the bailiff of their liking to collect their receivables," said Margus Sarapuu, the Deputy Secretary General on Courts Matters. “Earlier you had to address the county bailiff, but now you can receive bailiff services from any bailiff in the respective region. This will increase competition between bailiffs."
The locations of bailiff offices will remain the same and there will be no changes in jurisdiction – to file a complaint against a bailiff you can, as before, turn to the court in the territorial jurisdiction where the bailiff is operating. However, by joining the territorial jurisdictions of the courts in four regions at the beginning of 2006, from next year people will be able to file complaints against bailiffs in any courthouse within the territorial jurisdiction of the bailiff. For example, a complaint filed against the decision of a bailiff in Põlva can be processed in Tartu courthouse.
For citizens the changes in the territorial jurisdiction of bailiffs will not bring about any additional expenses – according to law, debtors who fails to pay debts by the due date prescribed by the bailiff must appear before the bailiff a maximum of twice during execution proceedings. In other cases debtors are informed about the developments of the execution proceedings in writing, in the form of summonses and legal instruments.
"This change serves to reduce inequality in terms of the workload and income of bailiffs," Sarapuu explained. “At present, their workload varies greatly and this makes their work in some regions slower. For instance, in Lääne County there are three bailiffs and the average number of files per bailiff is 2797, while in Ida-Viru County the average is 16 259 per bailiff. In Võru, Jõgeva and Rapla there is only one bailiff and in Valga there is only a deputy."
There are currently 52 bailiffs in Estonia. After uniting the territorial jurisdictions the number of bailiffs will be as follows: 19 in the Harju region, 13 in the Pärnu region, 11 in the Tartu region and 9 in the Viru region.
Ave Mellik Public Relations Division Ministry of Justice Phone 620 8114 Mobile phone 56 637 086
