18. July 07
At the meeting held today, on 18 July, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Internal Affairs decided to develop a package of law amendments aimed at improvement of the situation in traffic.
Minister of Justice <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Rein Lang said that the decision was made to create a work group whose task would be to develop the legislative package. “Just one amendment in our laws would not make much difference in the current situation; therefore, we need to develop a full package that covers different areas of law,” emphasised Lang.
The work group will consist of representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police and the Prosecutor’s Office and it is also planned to include a representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
The Minister of Justice said that the package of law amendments should cover a much wider area than just sentences for drunk driving. “For instance, we need to find a solution to the issue of how to act when leased vehicles are involved, we have to analyse how to replace impounding and to review the regulation of motor third party liability insurance,” added Lang.
Minister of Internal Affairs Jüri Pihl emphasised that the speed at which misdemeanours are processed also needs to be reviewed. “We currently lack the option of an expedited procedure, which means that processing traffic-related misdemeanours can take up to 45 days,” said Pihl. He added that this fails to follow the principle according to which the consequence has to follow an act as quickly possible.
Pihl also said that recording traffic offences should become faster. “If imposing a fine on the road takes anything between half an hour and an hour, then it is clear that the entire process is in need of urgent review,” he said.
The ministers specifically agreed in a law amendment according to which driving a vehicle with a certain degree of intoxication will be classified as a crime the first time the offender is caught. “At our meeting today, we decided that this limit will be 1.5 per mille,” said Lang.
The work group will develop the law amendment package by 15 September.
At the meeting of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Internal Affairs, the representatives of the police and the Prosecutor’s Office gave a traditional overview of the fulfilment of Laulasmaa priorities and the policy for punishment of drunk drivers was another main subject of today’s meeting.
Presentations were made at the meeting by the Chief Public Prosecutor Norman Aas, Public Prosecutor Margus Kurm, Director-General of Police Raivo Aeg, National Security Police Commissioner Aldis Aus and Chief of Central Criminal Police Elmar Vaher.
Laulasmaa Declaration, which specifies common activity priorities and objectives, was signed on 22 August 2005 at the meeting of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the chiefs of police and the Prosecutor’s Office.
These goals include the fight against juvenile delinquency and crimes against minors, especially violent and sexual crimes, and organised crime, mainly related to narcotics, money laundering and human trafficking.
Yours faithfully,
Mart Siilivask
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Public Relations Division
Ministry of Justice
tel 6 208 118
mobile +372 5 342 6784
