E-Estonia

Estonia is ready to make everyone with its "electronic resident" to attract investments

Since the beginning of December, Estonia provides everyone with their so -called electronic citizenship - although, according to the country's authorities, such a definition is inaccurate. The electronic resident project allows you to use state and private services remotely to a citizen of any country in the world who has access to the Internet. Over the first December week, more than 30 identification certificates have already been issued.

Electronic ID cards began in Estonia in 2002. Today, with their help, residents of the country can receive services of various institutions, participate in the elections, declare taxes, monitor the performance of children, go to the Internet bank, buy drugs, license for fishing and much more. Unique X-Put software provides the simultaneous use of data from a wide variety of private and state bases.

The certificate does not give the right to visa -free entry into the country, but makes it possible to certify documents with an electronic signature, remotely register the business, declare taxes and conduct paperwork

The issuance of certificates lies in the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. Its leader Hanno Pevour explained Radio Liberty that we are not talking about electronic citizenship, as many media write about it. Foreign owners of the identification card cannot take part in the elections, including on the Internet. The certificate does not give the right to visa -free entry into the country, but makes it possible to identify yourself on the Internet, certify the documents with electronic signature, remotely register the business, declare taxes and conduct paperwork, sending documents to Estonian institutions through e -mail.

“A very simple example,” the minister explains. -If you have a company whose owner is in Estonia and the other in Russia, then the Estonian citizen does not have problems: he has an ID card with which he can sign all the necessary documents, for example, in the tax department, entrepreneurial register. The owner or even a prosecutor in Moscow, in order to sign a document, must come to Estonia or send a paper document. Electronic residency makes it possible to do this remotely without leaving Moscow. You just need to inform you on the phone that there was a need for an electronic signature, and you can put it.

To obtain a personal ID card, it is not necessary to pre-register a legal entity in the country. Today it is enough to come to Estonia twice: submit an application, and then after 10 days to appear for an electronic document. There is no photograph on it, but it contains a certificate, an individual encryption key. A bill has already been submitted to the parliament, according to which the whole procedure can be held at the embassy: it will be necessary to appear only behind the card, and the application is sent by mail or the Internet.

In the early days of December, more than 30 electronic certificates were issued to foreigners. Most of their owners are Finns, since business contacts between Finland and Estonia are the closest, there are US citizens and other countries. On the E-Estonia website, more than 14 thousand people showed interest in the service, submitting a preliminary statement.

We hope that the E-Rusical program will attract investments in Estonia and facilitate our companies, scientists and other cooperation at the international level

According to the adviser to the Ministry of Economy and Communications of Mita Haydelberg , the target audience of the project is businessmen, specialists and scientists from different countries:

- It is much easier for them to use state and private services. We hope that the E-Rusical program will attract investments in Estonia and facilitate our companies, scientists and otherwise cooperation at the international level. The paperwork is in electronic form cheaper than on paper, and when our government bodies have any business with people who do not live in Estonia, these people with an electronic personality certificate receive a means of access to public services.

However, the savings of bureaucratic human hours are not the main effect of the resettlement of public services to the Internet.

“We expect more to the fact that business will move to Estonia,” says Mait Heidelberg. -We hope that over the next three years we will open five thousand new companies, and one of the factors in making businessmen of the decision is the opportunity to use Internet teshnology. There are no restrictions or special conditions for certain foreigners, if they are somehow connected with Estonia.

Citizens of the European Union and third countries, including Russia, are used in the issuance of electronic certificates in the same rights, representatives of the Estonian authorities emphasize.