Estonia S Open Government Partnership Action Plan: Self-Assessment Report

GOVERNMENT OFFICE

Estonia’s Open Government Partnership Action Plan: Self-Assessment Report

Tallinn 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 1. INTRODUCTION The Estonian experience proves it: a modern successful state means freedom of speech and press, the supremacy of law, eliminating corruption, the involvement of citizens - everything without which democracy and the rule of law would be unthinkable. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the President of Estonia

Estonia has been an official participant in the Open Government Partnership1 since April 2012, joining the initiative in its first group of expansion after the first eight founding countries. Becoming a member of the Open Government Partnership was initiated and coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For Estonia, the main goal when joining the Open Government Partnership was to draw the attention of the government and the entire society to the quality of state governance, learn from the experience of other countries and share Estonia's experience with other countries in the Partnership.

Each country in the Partnership follows an action plan that has been prepared in accordance with the goals and principles of the Open Government Partnership. In Estonia’s action plan for participation in the Open Government Partnership the activities of the government were focused on two of the key areas of the Partnership – the development of public services and addressing public official ethics2. The goals and activities in the Action Programme of the Government of the Republic 2011-2015 were taken into account as well as those in national development strategies. The implementation of the action plan will be evaluated annually and the plan will be amended as deemed necessary.

Estonia's action plan was prepared by the Government Office, which is the institution in charge of coordinating the implementation of the Action Programme of the government. The goals and activities in the action plan were consulted and coordinated with the civil society organisations in the Open Government Round Table3 network who represent the third sector, as well as with the ministries contributing to the implementation of the action plan. The draft action plan also went through a round of public consultation via Estonia’s public engagement website osale.ee.

The key areas of the action plan were identified on the basis of the realisation that the principles of open government can be implemented in Estonia in the most effective way if these two – the development of public services and addressing public official ethics – will be focused on. This does not imply that the principles of open government in other key areas are less important – it is the aim of the government to implement them all throughout the government sector.

The development of public services is one of the central goals of the government in the coming years. Three main fields of activity have been identified, one of them being the 1 See the overview of the Open Government Partnership at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/.

2 Descriptions of all key areas can be found at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/.

3 http://www.avatudvalitsemine.ee (in Estonian), http://translate.google.com/translate? sl=et&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=www.avatudvalitsemine.ee (in English via Google Translate)

3 development of public e-services with the aim of improving their user-friendliness and accessibility, and increasing their security level. The second field of activity is granting free use of public sector data with the aim of developing new applications, increasing the transparency of governance and creating new business opportunities for companies. The third important field of activity is a more open and predictable policy-making process, the aim being to increase the role of civil society organisations in the government policy formation and enhancing the dialogue between the government and citizens. Upon addressing public official ethics, the government will focus on preventing corruption and conflicts of interest among politicians and officials. In 2012, Estonia ranked 32 nd in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International. The fact that Estonia's rank has not improved significantly in the last few years is a motivator for efforts in this key area. The government’s goal is to achieve a situation whereby citizens actually find that corruption has decreased in Estonia. The present self-assessment report has been prepared by the Government Office about the first implementation year of the action plan. The guidelines from the Open Government Partnership and the Good Engagement Code of Practice4 have been followed in the process. The report will be supplemented by an independent evaluation from experts. The implementation of the Open Government Partnership principles is a journey. We have much to be proud of, but we also have enough things to be critical about and to improve in the future. Last year has enabled us to take some significant steps in this journey. In addition to progress in the planned activities, this period is characterised by a strong increase in the activity of citizens and in the expectations for a more open government. The People's Assembly5 is a landmark event of 2012, presented also to the Bright Spot competition of the Open Government Partnership by the Estonian Open Government Round Table, and gaining a chance to share the experience at the Open Government Partnership Annual Summit in London on 31 October 2013.

2. THE PREPARATION PROCESS OF ESTONIA'S ACTION PLAN The preparation of Estonia's action plan for participating in the Open Government Partnership started in January 2012. Coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, preliminary consultations concerning the activities and conditions of Estonia’s joining the Partnership had been held beforehand with the representatives of civil society organisations and the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership. Also, Estonian representatives from the Government Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had participated in the international Open Government Partnership conference in Brazil on 7-8 December 2011, giving the overview of Estonia's plans in preparing the Action Plan related to the goals of Open Government Partnership. By mid-January 2012, a draft action plan had been prepared by the Government Office and it was introduced to the Open Government Round Table, which comprises the representatives of Estonia's civil society organisations. The representatives of the round table presented their comments and proposals to the draft action plan by 31 January 2012. The same time frame applied for collecting input from the ministries. After incorporating the feedback from the Open Government Round Table and the ministries, a new draft of the action plan was again presented to the Open Government Round Table for input on 15 February 2012. Improved by the new proposals made by the Round Table, the

4 http://valitsus.ee/en/government/engagement-practices

5 An overview of the People's Assembly can be found in Appendix 1.

4 updated draft was then presented to the Round Table for another round of consultation on 28 February. Taking into account the proposals that had been submitted by 5 March, the Government Office prepared an amended action plan draft that was presented for public consultation for a two-week period. Public consultation was held on 13-28 March 2012 on the public engagement website osale.ee. The general public was informed of this process and its schedule through the media. The opinions obtained in the course of public consultation together with the feedback from the Government Office were published on the engagement website6. In parallel with the public consultation, the activities in the action plan were coordinated with the appropriate ministries. The action plan was completed by late March 2012 and it was made publicly available in both Estonian and English7. During the whole process of the action plan preparation, interested civil society organisations were actively engaged through the Open Government Round Table, which is a network open for everyone who would like to have a say in implementing the principles of open government. The Round Table was established in autumn 2011 so that the third sector could be a strong partner for the government in the Open Government Partnership activities. The Round Table served as a contact point, collecting the proposals of the citizens and acted as a dialogue partner. A representative of the government was present at the meetings of the Round Table.

6 The documents are available at https://www.osale.ee/konsultatsioonid/index.php?page=consults&id=210 (in Estonian).

7 https://valitsus.ee/UserFiles/valitsus/et/uudised/istungid/istungite-paevakorrad/AVP%20Eesti %20tegevuskava.pdf (in Estonian), http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/estonia/action-plan (in English).

5 3. IMPLEMENTING THE ACTION PLAN In the first implementation period, the main focus was on two key areas of the Open Government Partnership: the development of public services and addressing public ofﬁcial ethics. A total of 15 activities were planned, which were divided into four fields of activity: the development of public e-services; granting public use of the state’s information assets; greater openness and predictability of policymaking; and, avoiding corruption and conflicts of interest. The first three fields of activity contribute to the development of public services, while the fourth is for addressing public official ethics. The activities are coordinated by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and the Government Office. During the report period, 9 activities were fully implemented, i.e. 75% of all activities initially planned for this period, and 60% of all activities of the action plan. At present, 6 activities are being implemented; of those, 3 are being implemented according to the initial schedule, while in the case of the other 3 the schedule has been updated. All planned activities continue to be topical and meaningful, including the fully implemented activities – further activities have been initiated. Starting from next page, more detailed information is presented about each activity across key areas and fields of activity, following the structure of the action plan. An overview of the activities’ implementation statuses has been added to the structure.

6 The Structure of Estonia's Action Plan in Participating in the Open Government Partnership Key Area 1: Development of public services Field of Activity A: Development of public e-services Activity 1: Drawing up a green paper on organisation Fully implemented of public services Activity 2: Implementation of the eesti.ee action plan In process, updated Field of Activity B: Granting the public use of state schedule information assets Activity 1: Drawing up a green paper on making In process, updated public data available in a machine- schedule readable form Activity 2: Creating a repository of public data Fully implemented Activity 3: Launching pilot projects of public data Fully implemented services based on the cloud technology Field of Activity C: Greater openness and predictability of policymaking Activity 1: Interactive guidelines and training for In process, updated implementing the Good Practice of Public schedule Engagement Activity 2: Launch of the impact assessment system Fully implemented Activity 3: Overview of ministries’ work processes In process according to the schedule Activity 4: Integration of impact assessment into the In process according to process of public engagement the schedule

Key Area 2: Addressing public official ethics Field of Activity: Prevention of corruption and conflicts of interest Activity 1: Creation of a database of declarations of In process according to economic interests the schedule Activity 2: Adjustment of the system of funding non- Fully implemented profit organisations and establishment of a disclosure system Activity 3: Preparing the proposal for drawing up anti- Fully implemented corruption strategy Activity 4: Draft Anti-corruption Act Fully implemented Activity 5: Establishment of the Public Ethics Council Fully implemented Activity 6: Organisation of ethics training for Fully implemented employees of various public sector organisations (incl. public servants)

Key Area 1: Development of public e-services Field of Activity A: Development of public e-services

Activity 1: Drawing up a green paper on organisation of public services Status: Fully implemented.

7 Purpose: Analysis of problems relating to the organisation of public services, suggestion of possible solutions, setting the focus of development of services and drawing up and discussing the further action plans for resolution of main issues relating to the organisation of public services. In charge: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Deadline: 2012 Expected result: The green paper on the organisation of public services has been drawn up and prerequisites for drawing up the Action Plan for the resolution of problems relating to the organisation of public services have been created. Contents and By drawing up the green paper on the organisation of public services schedule: (henceforth: GPOPS), the following was achieved: • the concept of public services was verbalised, • the problems of citizens and entrepreneurs utilising public services and those of the state and local governments providing them were gathered in a generalised form, • possible solutions to the problems were presented, • the measures for solutions were identified, • the basic principles for developing the services in the future were set.

The first draft of the GPOPS was presented to almost 80 institutions and interest groups for discussion in May 2012, and it was also discussed at various round tables. After incorporating the input from the discussions, a new version of the document was made public in the Draft Information System and the public engagement website osale.ee in September 2012. This version was also separately introduced to the Open Government Round Table. The draft was improved based on the feedback received from the consultation and various meetings.

At the same time, officials in charge of preparing the green paper were also starting pilot projects developing the basic services in a new way (e.g. the project of business processes analysis within the governing area of the Ministry of Social Affairs) in order to test future development directions and, based on that experience, to improve the content of the GPOPS with good practices.

The government approved the GPOPS on 16 May 2013 and the GPOPS is publicly available8. Results and The goals were achieved: a common approach to the present situation was impact: agreed upon together with the possible solutions and the preparation of a further action plan. The focus for developing the services in the future was set. Additional Further pilot projects have grown out of the GPOPS preparation process, expected results e.g. services’ redesign in the Estonian Road Administration. The solutions and plans for identified in the GPOPS will be implemented in 2014-2015 in the their framework of the programme “Improvement of the Quality of Public implementation: Services”, which is financed by EU structural means.

GPOPS is also direct input to the Estonian Information Society

8 http://www.mkm.ee/avalike-teenuste-roheline-raamat (in Estonian)

8 Development Plan 2014-2020, which will form the basis for the development of public e-services and e-state in general in the coming years. Risks: Implementation of the planned solutions: administrative capability and the availability of sufficient resources. Challenges: Because of the complexity and the scope of the topic and the whole subject area, there were many of the stakeholders with whom numerous agreements had to be reached in substantial matters. This took longer than expected as there was a need for more discussion and consultation on the drafts. Lessons • It is a good idea to start practical pilot projects in tandem with the learned: theoretical planning of policy: this is a source of valuable experience that can be extended and passed on as a part of policy recommendations. • When dealing with complex topics, time should be allowed for discussing and agreeing on basic principles even if this means not meeting the activity deadline – the end result will be more solid. • If the subject is too large initially (e.g. the development of public services), it should be focused and narrowed down as necessary (e.g. to a part of public services – in the case of GPOPS, the focus was set on transactional services), so that the work could start from somewhere instead of endless discussions with no action and no real results. Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 2: Implementation of the eesti.ee action plan9 Status: In process according to an updated schedule. Purpose: The purpose is to improve the functionality and user friendliness of the eesti.ee portal. In charge: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Deadline: 2012 Expected result: a) By the end of 2012 Estonia’s information gateway eesti.ee will be a secure, fast, high-quality and user view-oriented public sector service and information portal that offers the citizen updated and relevant public sector information and public services. b) Eesti.ee is the common point of contact for Estonian and European entrepreneurs / citizens in Estonia where one can get information about services available to them and use services involving simpler information obligations. c) Eesti.ee is ready to render authenticated electronic services to entrepreneurs / citizens of 11 EU Member States and allow entrepreneurs / citizens of 9 EU Member States also to sign documents in addition to authentication. d) Eesti.ee is the main channel through which the citizen can subscribe to notifications to be sent to their e-mail and mobile phone. Contents and The main projects completed so far: schedule: • In August 2013, a new "My Things" view was opened at eesti.ee that

9 The story of development of the eesti.ee portal has been submitted as an inspiring example of Open Government Partnership. See Appendix 3.

9 lets the user see information and services relevant to her/him specifically when entering the portal, i.e. eesti.ee has become more personal; • The notification module has been developed further and notification services have been added (e.g. notification about the expiry of a driver's license); • Citizens / entrepreneurs of 11 EU member states can log in to eesti.ee with their eID – the required interfaces have been developed.

Additionally, a widespread eesti.ee campaign was carried out in 2012 to increase the number of people using the portal and to better acquaint the present users of eesti.ee with its features. Results and The number of users of eesti.ee has grown. A more significant orientation impact: of eesti.ee on the user view has been achieved which is expected to make the portal much easier to use. The entrepreneurs / citizens of 11 foreign countries can be authenticated and use Estonian e-services. Additional The goal for the first half of 2014 is to finish the major developments that expected results have been planned so far. The following developments are under way: and plans for • The development of the mobile version of eesti.ee (work in process, the their aim is to come up with at least a beta version by the end of 2013 – for implementation: increasing the usage, which will be a result of increased ease of access due to the possibility of using the portal on mobile devices); • Adding notification services in cooperation with various institutions, and informing users of this service; • Expanding entrepreneur-orientated functionality.

With these developments and marketing activities carried out in 2014 and beyond, additional results are expected to be achieved, including becoming the common contact point for entrepreneurs and achieving an increase in the number of users of notification services. Risks: Delays and growing expenses of IT development. Low user awareness of the features offered by eesti.ee. Challenges: • Determining the owners of services: eesti.ee is only a channel where the owners of various services from various institutions can offer their services. Today, the owners of services in institutions (responsible officials) have often not been determined, which causes deficiencies in the development and the quality of the services (e.g. not all individual services within eesti.ee are easy to use). • Finding the resources required for development – this, together with procurement procedures, is the reason for not meeting activity deadlines; the solution was found in redirecting the means within IT investment measures. Lessons In order to achieve the expected results, not only the development should learned: be concentrated upon, but also the “recruitment” of new users and informing the existing users of the new services. It is very important to ask users for feedback as this helps the development of better solutions and services, e.g. the personal view of eesti.ee "My Things" was significantly improved as a result of direct feedback received from test users. Back to Action Plan structure

10 Field of Activity B. Granting the public use of state information assets

Activity 1: Drawing up a green paper on making public data available in machine- readable form Status: In process according to an updated schedule. Purpose: The goal is to map the starting position and possibilities of making Estonia’s public data available in machine-readable form and to develop and discuss with stakeholders the conceptual solution of proceeding with making public data available in Estonia. In charge: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Deadline: 2012 Expected result: The green paper on making public data available in machine-readable form has been drawn up and specific activities for making public data accessible have been developed. Contents and In December 2012 a partial draft of the green paper was prepared on the schedule: basis of existing research and initial discussions; the draft mostly contained guidelines for state institutions on starting the process of making data publicly available.

After that, the scope was widened from being just the green paper: in 2012 a draft for changing the Public Information Act was started. The main aim of it was to adopt the provisions of the EU Directive about the re-use of public sector information, as there was a threat of infringement proceedings being started against Estonia. With the same draft, the government also proposed making data publicly available in machine- readable form. The law was passed in the Parliament on 5 December 2012, setting the deadline for data making the data publicly available by 1 January 2015. Additional The work on the preparation of the green paper will continue in 2013 so expected results that its contents will be in accordance with the law: the paper should and plans for support the implementation of Public Information Act with the relevant their workflow organisation and recommended actions. The aim is to present implementation: the green paper to the government in early 2014.

The green paper should offer the conceptual solution for moving forward with making public data available in Estonia, including the fulfilment of the obligation to make all databases freely available by 1 January 2015 – the solution that was initially sought after. Risks: Continued lack of administrative capability, i.e. delays in recruiting new specialists. Challenges: • Reaching agreements on the best policy steps – the idea that open data is necessary and valuable is not shared within all state institutions: there is a need to increase awareness and allow time for discussions. • The completion of the activity has been somewhat delayed by the departure of specialists who were leading this topic in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Lessons The movement towards open data is not accepted by default: economic learned: approach or some priority-grounded approach is needed, as various

11 administrators of databases have opposed interests on the basis of practices deployed so far (e.g. requiring a fee for making data available).

Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 2: Creating a repository of public data Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: To create a single window for citizens and entrepreneurs to access public machine-readable data. In charge: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Deadline: 2012 Expected result: A single window for accessing public data in machine-readable form has been created and it also works as a channel for exchanging information and allowing citizens and entrepreneurs to make proposals for opening new data or developing new services. Contents and As a first step in encouraging access to public data in machine-readable schedule: form, a common window, the web-based repository opendata.riik.ee was opened in January 2012 in cooperation between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the researchers of Tallinn University of Technology. This is a beta version that has all the basic functionalities for making the data available. Results and To date, five data collections have been referenced and shared through the impact: repository, including data that was shared in pilot projects. In addition to the repository, the website also includes guidelines for making databases available in machine-readable form, entrepreneurs and citizens can make proposals, the initial applications that have been created on the basis of open data are referenced and a forum is open for users. This has created the basic functionality for easy access via a common web window to open data and also to the applications that have been developed based on it. Additional Growth in the number of users of the repository and securing the addition expected results of available databases. For 2014, a renewal of the repository is also and plans for considered – for making it more user-friendly (including the design of a their new user interface). implementation: Risks: • The solution is not user-friendly enough, i.e. it is not easy to use and it is not visually attractive. • The sharers of data and potential users will not reach the repository, i.e. the solution will not become a comprehensive repository. Challenges: Creating a solution that is as simple as possible, so that adding and finding datasets would be as convenient as possible. Researchers’ help was used for this, following best practices and examples from other countries. Lessons Putting up beta versions of technical solutions is a good idea; this will learned: allow their gradual development, and not remaining waiting for major (political) steps which may take time. Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 3: Launching pilot projects of public data services based on the cloud technology Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: To lower the barriers of access to public data as much as possible using

12 new technologies and launch speciﬁc pilot projects. In charge: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Deadline: 2012 Expected result: Speciﬁc services based on public data have been launched as pilot projects – the monitoring of navigation marks, planning public transport routes and an innovative query system of the construction works register being first in line. Contents and Four pilot projects were started in 2011 to try out different solutions for schedule: opening the data and making it publicly available, and for trying out different technical solutions for developing the services on their basis (e.g. data formats, cloud solutions, etc.).

The pilot projects included the following data: • Public transport routes, • Database of the construction works register, • Financial data of local governments, • Markings of water routes and ports.

All four pilot projects were completed in 2012, reaching the stage of publication of data and starting services. Most attention was attracted by the publication of local governments' financial data in September 2012 in cooperation with the telecom company Elion. In the course of the project, the website www.riigipilv.ee was launched as well as the application LEO (Läbipaistev Eesti Omavalitsus - Transparent Estonian Local Government) based on it, which offers substantial visual overview of the financial status of various local governments, including their expenses. Results and All four pilot projects were launched. They have been the expected source impact: of knowledge and experience regarding barriers (incl. legal and technical) that hinder the process of making public data accessible, as well as solutions (incl. formats, organisational structure, etc.). This knowledge will be used in the future when preparing the green paper of making public data accessible in a machine-readable form, notably when developing guidelines and policy actions. Risks: Unsustainability of services born as pilot projects, i.e. not finding resources for maintaining them. Challenges: Certain experiments had to be made in the case of each pilot project, and a learning curve was gone through, as these were innovative initiatives in Estonia. It took somewhat longer than expected. Lessons • It may be necessary to change legal acts regulating data collections to learned: facilitate the process of making public data accessible in required volumes and ways. • The awareness of data collection administrators needs to be increased as well as the capability to move towards open data. • As demonstrated by the publication of the financial data of local governments, which was met with significant public interest, there may still not be a sustainable business model behind the publication of data of interest. Therefore, the state will have to finance the publication of important data, at least in the initial stage of the project. Back to Action Plan structure

13 Field of Activity C. Greater openness and predictability of policymaking

Activity 1: Interactive guidelines and training for implementing the Good Practice of Public Engagement Status: In process according to an updated schedule. Purpose: Smooth implementation of the Good Practice of Public Engagement approved by the Government of the Republic in 2011. In charge: Government Office Deadline: 2012 Expected result: Online guidelines on the use of the document of Good Practice of Public Engagement have been drawn up and relevant training has been carried out. Contents and The purpose of the trainings is to give officials practical experience for schedule: increasing participation in their institution.

The trainings started in March 2013. There is a plan to train 300 officials. By May 2013, the number of people who had passed the training was 115. Results and It is too early to assess the impact of this measure, but the trainings on impact: public engagement have been met with enthusiasm. The number of targeted participants for the training is approximately 15% of the whole workforce of the ministries. Additional The engagement handbook is being updated and will be ready by early expected results October 2013. The preparation of interactive guidelines has been delayed and plans for because of the delays in preparing the handbook. their implementation: A new website of the government will be launched in November 2013, which entails the unification of the content of the webpages of ministries. In the course of that, engagement will become one of the 5 main menu topics, so that information about engagement possibilities will be more accessible.

For the evaluation of the state of public engagement, a survey is planned for 2014 and a thorough overview of engagement will be based on that survey. Risks: The number of officials going through the trainings is not sufficient for the critical effect; the time frame for them to obtain the necessary skills and get acquainted with the system is too short. Challenges: Lack of suitable trainers hinders organising training courses in the required volumes. Lessons The need for training is greater and sometimes more specific than planned learned: initially. The readiness to react quickly and flexibly to arisen needs is required. Therefore, trainings have also been carried out by officials of the Government Office instead of relying on outsourced trainings only. Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 2: Launch of the impact assessment system Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: To initiate the impact assessment co-financing programme which supports the application of the impact assessment methodology (as part of the

14 Smart Decisions Fund) – through which the assessment of the impact of strategies, legislation and Estonia's positions in the European Union. In charge: Government Office Deadline: 2012 Expected result: Impact assessment of the major effect of strategies, EU positions and legislation is carried out. Contents and Starting from 2013, an initial impact analysis is required for all EU schedule: matters, for subject area development programmes as well as for 50% of legislation drafts and drafts of secondary legislation based on them. Results and To date, the system has kicked off more actively with EU-related matters, impact: less with the strategy documents and legislation drafts. Initial impact assessments are carried out in all EU-related matters every week, which is also where the initial (best) practice is being developed.

The understanding of the necessity of impact assessment has increased among officials and initial skills to implement it are developing. Assessment of the functioning of the impact assessment system is planned for 2015.

In recent years, the government has approved the need to perform a more thorough impact analysis in most important policy matters; the analyses are partially funded from central funds. Financing decisions have been made in four cases so far, and there is the experience with all three kinds of impact analysis (EU-related matters, strategy documents, draft legislation). Additional In 2014, the system will be implemented in full, which means that no expected results important legislation draft can be passed to the government for discussion and plans for unless impact analysis has been performed. their implementation: Government regulations will also be added to the list of things for which impact assessment is required, and the impact assessment requirements will apply 100% to the preparation of legislation and drafts of secondary legislation. Risks: The main risk is the chance that impact assessment will devalue, i.e. that too little added value is seen in impact assessment compared to the relatively large volume of work it requires. Challenges: • The need for training is remarkable and it is difficult to supply it quickly. There are still many officials who are not acquainted with the requirement of impact assessment. • Change in the organisation of work in ministries so that the capability of analysis would increase considerably (e.g. collaboration between policy departments and analysis units, increase in analytic skills etc.). • Change of culture in the public sector towards more open public discussion and analysis of impact. Lessons The need for training and dissemination of information is significant in learned: the starting phase of the system; satisfying this need should have begun earlier and the readiness to provide support should have been bigger (including initial feedback, e.g. in the form of good practices, guidelines and examples for working with templates etc.).

15 Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 3: Overview of ministries’ work processes Status: In process according to the schedule. Purpose: Smooth implementation of the Good Practice of Public Engagement approved by the government in 2011. In charge: Government Office Deadline: 2014 Expected result: The legislative drafting process of the ministries can be monitored at an earlier stage and at a larger scale. Contents and The minimum requirement: making sure public e-consultation of the schedule: drafts is always carried out in cases where it is required.

Through the public engagement contact persons inside ministries and through trainings10, the message that the requirements of The Good Practice of Public Engagement must be fulfilled has been constantly promoted. This will continue to be the case in the coming period. Results and In 2013 in the ministries’ public engagement related self-assessment it impact: became clear that in general the ministries have become used to planning public engagement consciously in case of the drafts that presume or require it – it is considered, who, why and when should be involved. This proves that participation has become more systematic. As a rule, clear objectives are set in the course of public engagement planning, but it is rather rare that the required public engagement plan is prepared.

The Government Office is ready to start stopping drafts and not passing them on to the Government of the Republic if the public engagement requirement has not been fulfilled. Additional There is a plan to discuss with the ministries’ public engagement contact expected results persons about how the effective practices of public engagement could be and plans for transferred to other ministries as well. It is also a question how to have their more homogeneous public engagement practices within ministries. implementation: Risks: Top-level administration will not see the need to reorganise work and to change the work planning processes towards being more open. Challenges: Raising the awareness among stakeholders outside the public sector about the benefits of a more open planning process. Lessons More time should be planned for carrying out major changes and change learned: agents found from inside as well as outside of the public sector. Back to Action Plan structure

Activity 4: Integration of impact assessment into the process of public engagement Status: In process according to the schedule. Purpose: To integrate public engagement and the impact assessment methodology that was approved by the government in 2012. In charge: Government Office Deadline: 2014

10 More information can be found on public engagement trainings at Key Area 1, Field of Activity C, Activity 1: Interactive guidelines and training for implementing the Good Practice of Public Engagement.

16 Expected result: Through impact assessment, the society and the stakeholders have better opportunities to assess whether the decisions of the government are reasoned. Contents and Impact analysis reports have become a part of public consultation schedule: materials. At the same time as there are practically no reports to this date, there is also no immediate experience as to how they should be presented in the course of a public consultation and what role do they play in the explanation of a draft act. Results and The Good Practice of Public Engagement refers to the Impact Assessment impact: Methodology and vice versa, creating the basis for integrating these processes. Whenever there is a chance to convey messages (e.g. trainings, presentations), the Government Office always refers to them together.

As there are generally different officials in a ministry who are in charge of the two different processes, the processes do not yet work together smoothly.

The awareness of ministries about each of the processes separately has improved. In practice, this means that when drafts are prepared, the need to plan time for both impact analysis and public engagement is recognised, but there are not enough skills yet to combine the two. Additional There are no additional expected results. expected results and plans for their implementation: Risks: If the awareness of the necessity of impact assessment and public engagement (as well as the development of relevant skills) does not reach each and every official in departments overseeing policies, there is a danger of having these processes being completed with either insufficient quality or in a hurry. The risks and challenges related to these topics have been highlighted earlier.11 Challenges: Continuous need to raise awareness on all levels. Lessons It is too early to point out. learned: Back to Action Plan structure

Key Area 2: Addressing public ofﬁcial ethics Field of Activity: Prevention of corruption and conﬂicts of interest

Activity 1: Creation of a database of declarations of economic interests Status: In process according to the schedule. Purpose: Prevention of conﬂicts of interests and strengthening the anti-corruption attitude of public sector employees; further cultivation of ethical behaviour. In charge: Ministry of Justice

11 More information can be found on public engagement risks and challenges at Key Area 1, Field of Activity C, Activity 1: Interactive guidelines and training for implementing the Good Practice of Public Engagement; more information can be found on impact assessment risks and challenges at Key Area 1, Field of Activity C, Activity 2: Launch of the impact assessment system.

17 Deadline: 2014 Expected result: The created database contributes to the prevention of conﬂicts of interest and corruption in the public sector. Contents and schedule: The Anti-Corruption Strategy was passed on 6 June 2012 and it became effective on 1 April 2013. Section 13, subsection 4 of the law, which will be the basis for establishing a registry of economic interests by the Government of the Republic, will become effective on 1 January 2014.

On 12 December 2013, a lead group of the development of the registry of interests was established on the basis of a directive of the Minister of Justice, with participating officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Tax and Customs Board, the Centre of Registers and Information Systems and the Information Technology Centre of the Ministry of Finance.

To date, the vision and functionality of the electronic declaration of economic interests have been developed as well as a substantial description of the form of declaration of interests. There was a public tender for the organisation of the electronic declarations. The deadline of the tender was 30 September 2013. Results and impact: Declaring interests will become significantly easier and quicker for officials with the creation of the new registry of interests; at the same time, it allows for much quicker and more efficient monitoring. Additional expected results and plans for their By the end of October 2013, the statutes and the form of the registry will be developed. Until the opening of the implementation: registry of economic interests in April 2014, technical development works will be taking place. The first round of declaring economic interests will be completed by 31 May 2014. Risks: Not adhering to the schedule because of a heightened need for coordination between the two ministries and various agencies. Challenges: The effective and fruitful organisation of work. Lessons learned: It is too early to point out.

Activity 2: Adjustment of the system of funding non-proﬁt organisations and establishment of a disclosure system

Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: Prevention of corruption in the private sector and non-profit sector. In charge: Ministry of the Interior Deadline: 2013 Expected result: A system of disclosure of non-profit organisations’ funding from the state budget and from the budgets of local authorities has been created inside the concept of the development of a common system for funding non-profit organisations from the state budget (the public has an overview of allocated support). Contents and schedule: The aim of the activity is to create a consistent system of state financing for non-profit organisations on state as well as local government level, strengthening the civil society and contributing to the sustainability and the growth of the institutional capabilities of the non-profit organisations.

For the creation of a consistent financing system, common financing principles were established by spring 2012, and by 31 March 2013, financing guidelines were prepared along with sample documents. In between, the guidelines were tested in late 2012 in the Ministry of the Interior and three local government units and the guidelines were improved based on the feedback from the test participants.

To apply the guidelines, a total of 18 trainings were organised in the period from 8 November 2012 to 27 March 2013 in towns of various counties, with the total of 379 people participating from ministries, local governments and non-profit organisations. Also, a consulting service was offered regarding the guidelines in December 2012 and January 2013. Also, a financing-related public debate was held with the representatives of public sector and civil society organisations in January 2013 and Frequently Asked Questions was drawn up along with the answers.

12 https://www.siseministeerium.ee/public/juhendmaterjal13032013.pdf (in Estonian)

18 The development and the implementation of the guidelines was supported by marketing activities that had been planned so that they would attract as much attention as possible in the local and national media. Results and impact: Guidelines’ implementation monitoring will be carried out in 2014 to evaluate the impact. To date, some ministries and institutions have already redesigned or adjusted their financing systems for non-profit organisations in accordance with the guidelines. Additional expected results and plans for their In order to ensure that all parties will start following the principles in the guidelines which are not required, but implementation: “recommended”, and that the practices of financing non-profit organisations would become homogeneous, follow- up activities are planned in the Civil Society Development Programme 2011-2014 implementation plan for 2013- 2014.

The monitoring, mentioned in the previous subsection, will be carried out in order to get an overview of the present state and the potential barriers in the implementation process of the guidelines. The everyday work of the cooperation network of financers will also continue as well as the fostering of cooperation of the units who provide state budget financing for non-profit organisations – in order to improve the financing procedures of the projects. There is a plan to organise experience-sharing round tables for the representatives of local governments.

In 2014, additional trainings will take place. The trainings are designed for the officials of ministries and local governments who work with non-profit organisatsions and allocate funds to them. Risks: Application of the recommended guidelines is a long-term process that may show real results in a couple of years' time only. The nature of the guidelines, being “recommended” may impede their implementation. Challenges: Hosting the processes of engagement and giving and collecting feedback: the guidelines have been worked out through the cooperation of approximately 300 people.

The guidelines need implementation. The closer the financing of non-profit organisations is to the processes and examples described in the guidelines, the more certain the financer can be that the financing is following the principles of good financing practice. Lessons learned: • No period of time was planned for practical application of the guidelines in the programme framework, but it would have been valuable. • The implementation of the guidelines must be strongly lead by the Ministry of the Interior and more public debate is needed.

Activity 3: Preparing the proposal for drawing up anti-corruption strategy Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: To analyse the performance of the effective anti-corruption strategy and lay down the objectives and courses of action of the new strategy that would best contribute to a decrease the corruption to a maximum extent possible in both the private and public sector. In charge: Ministry of Justice Deadline: 2012 Expected result: The objectives and courses of action of the new strategy have been widely debated and approved by the government; the drafting process of the new strategy has started. Contents and schedule: Although the current activity foresaw the preparation of the proposal for the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2013-2020, by the time of the current reporting it is also possible to give an overview of the preparation of the strategy that followed the proposal. The proposal was completed as of 3 January 2013.

More than 100 people from approximately 60 organisations (including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Estonian Cities, the Association of Municipalities of Estonia, Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations, Estonian Qualifications Authority, Estonian Service Industry Association, NGO Transparency Estonia etc.) participated in the preparation of the new strategy.

19 Both the proposal for the preparation of the new strategy as well as the strategy itself went through public consultations, the consultation documents are available for approval to the relevant authorities in May 2013 and was submitted to the government in September 2013. While preparing the strategy, the implemented and not implemented actions of the previous anti-corruption strategy were analysed and, alongside the new activities, attention was given to the issues in the previous strategy.

The Anti-Corruption Strategy 2013-2020 focuses on three main objectives: • Promoting awareness of corruption, • Increasing the transparency of decisions and actions, • Developing the investigating capabilities of investigation institutions and to prevent corruption that would threaten security.

To achieve the objectives, approximately 70 actions have been agreed upon. Results and impact: The impact of the anti-corruption strategy can be assessed over a longer period of time, primarily based on studies and international evaluations as well as recommendations given to Estonia. Criminal statistics are also analysed. Additional expected results and plans for their Actions in the anti-corruption strategy are aimed at the following measures: implementation: • Raising people’s awareness of corruption and shaping their attitudes, • Shaping attitudes towards corruption and raising awareness in the public sector, • Raising awareness in the private sector and drawing attention to corruption prevention related issues, • Increasing the transparency of the legislative process and political decision making, • Increasing the transparency of municipal financial transactions and procedures, • Increasing the transparency of public authorities and endorsing the culture of corruption prevention, • Corruption prevention and increasing the transparency of public procurements, • Increasing the transparency of financial allocation decisions, • Preventing corruption and biased decisions in law enforcement authorities and courts, • Increasing the transparency in healthcare, • Enhancing the analytical capacity for investigating corruption related crime. Risks: Potential risks may arise from the failure by the responsible authorities to carry out activities. To avoid that, the new anti-corruption strategy implementation foresees designating a person responsible for the coordination of corruption prevention in every ministry. Challenges: • As the strategy combines the authorities of different ministries, ensuring smooth cooperation between the ministries. • In ministries anti-corruption activities are considered the responsibility of the police and public prosecutor’s office and therefore they fail to realise the importance of their own actions in corruption prevention. • As the strategy is a government level development plan, the anti-corruption strategy cannot impose obligations or activities on the parliament. Lessons learned: It is too early to point out.

Activity 4: Draft Anti-corruption Act Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: For the purpose of improving prevention of corruption, the restrictions and duties of officials are clarified, the system of declaration of interests is made more efficient and liability arising from violation of law is stipulated. The draft Act decreases the administrative burden, increases transparency in the public sector and raises Anti-corruption awareness in society. In charge: Ministry of Justice

13 http://www.korruptsioon.ee/58421 (in Estonian)

20 Deadline: 2012 Expected result: The system of the restrictions and duties of officials has been clarified and the system of declaration of interests has been made more efficient for the prevention of corruption. Contents and schedule: The Draft Anti-Corruption Act was sent for consultation on 16 May 2011. On 7 November, the bill was sent for a second round of consultation.

The bill was sent to the government on 8 February 2012, and the Parliament started hearing the matter on 8 March; the Act was adopted on 6 June 2012 and took effect on 1 April 2013. Results and impact: The new Anti-Corruption Act allows for using arrangements corresponding to the nature of the functions and the corruption risk in a public entity, and does not aim to impose uniform restrictions. In practice, this may lead to a certain rise in administrative burden because corruption risks have to be analysed and appropriate legal tools must be identified to mitigate these risks. The public entity also has to ensure that public officials are aware of corruption threats and legal obligations. Additional expected results and plans for their The Ministry of Justice leads the implementation and drafting of anti-corruption policy, and will make implementation: amendments the Act when necessary.

Risks: • Problems may arise from implementing the Act due to lack of implementing practice. • As the new Act imposes the absolute obligation to declare one’s interests in a register on a certain number of people, it will be a challenge to implement the system in such a way that other officials would be subject to declaring their interests only if there are no other efficient tools for preventing the corruption risk. The implementation of such a system requires careful analysis and implementation anti-corruption measures. Challenges: It is too early to point out. Lessons learned: It is too early to point out.

Activity 5: Establishment of the Public Ethics Council Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: To create an independent Ethics Council with the aim of strengthening the core values and ethics of public official’s tenure. In charge: Ministry of Finance Deadline: 2013 Expected result: The Ethics Council has been founded and it operates on a regular basis. The Ethics Council gives advice to authorities and public officials in public service ethics matters and delivers opinions on the compatibility of behaviour with applicable public official’s ethics requirements. Content and time frame: The founding of the Ethics Council was prescribed in the Public Service Act that took effect on 1 April 2013. The Public Service Ethics Council was established by the Government regulation no 294 on 27 June 2013. The Ethics Council has nine members with the majority comprised of active public officials. The first meeting of the Ethics Council where the time frame for future actions of the Ethics Council will be set is to take place in autumn 2013. Results and impact: The founding of the Public Service Ethics Council enables the preparation of the new code of ethics of public servants, which the Ethics Council will approve and support its uniform application Expected supplementary results and plans for It is important to ensure regular operation of the Ethics Council, the engagement of public authorities in the implementation: activities of the Ethics Council and the communication of the opinions of the Ethics Council to public authorities and to the society. Risks: • Considering the limited availability of time of the members of the Ethics Council, ensuring the regular operation of the Ethics Council is critical. • It is impossible to predict the number of requests that the Ethics Council will receive. Challenges: The negations over the composition of the Ethics Council took longer than expected. Lessons learned: It is too early to point out.

21 Activity 6: Organisation of ethics training for employees of various public sector organisations (incl. public servants)

Status: Fully implemented. Purpose: Increasing the awareness of the public sector target groups of the main values of the public sector and the development of skills of ethical resolution of problematic situations. In charge: Ministry of Finance Deadline: 2012 Expected result: The target group of public ethics training has been extended to cover all public sector employees. Regular trainings are carried out under the Central training programme. Content and time frame: 18 trainings were planned for public servants and 10 to more wide ranging target groups from the public sector under the Central trainings 2012-2013 programme. The trainings received €33,909.18 of financing with 85% of the sum covered by the European Social Fund. The trainings are organised by the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences Public Service Development and Training Centre. Results and impact: The trainings took place as planned. In addition to public service target groups, the programme covers the members of municipal governments and councils and the employees of partially government or municipally owned enterprises, foundations, non-profit organisations and bodies under their administration.

In relation to the new Public Service Act and Anti-Corruption Strategy taking effect, the training programmes were updated in 2013 to increase the emphasis on explaining the operational and procedural restrictions that come along with the new legislation. Expected supplementary results and plans for The need for continuation of ethics trainings is foreseen for 2014. Since no resources have yet been allocated, implementation: actions are planned for raising the necessary resources. Risks: As of 2014, there is a risk of not finding resources for financing the activities since the current programme ends and the financing principles of the new programme may change. Challenges: To ensure the continuation of public service and public sector ethics trainings in 2014.

Lessons learned: With the new Public Service Act taking effect, changes had to be made to the content and target groups of the training programmes. As the employees of public authorities do not fall under the code of ethics of public servants, they were redirected to the public sector ethics training programme. This change needed further clarification in the months after the Public Service Act took effect.

4. SUMMARY Estonia is committed to implementing the principles of Open Government Partnership and continues to pursue the originally set objective of drawing the attention of the government and the society to the quality of governance, learning from other countries’ experience and sharing Estonia’s experience with other partnering countries. The biggest challenge lies in establishing a more open culture of governance, which presumes high expectations on the part of the society towards the political elite and civil servants. The shaping of civil servants’ attitudes and skills as well as designing new technological solutions to support a more engaging policy-making will takes place in that context. The support of the political elite is an additional resource for more effective fulfilment of the set commitments. One of the most important lessons learned from the reporting period is that besides the usual ways of engagement (including voting, making proposals to the government and expressing one’s opinions about bills) people can constructively convene to express their dissatisfaction

22 and to make suggestions regarding better governance as proven by the example of the People’s Assembly. In such cases the sensible reaction of the government is to support the citizens’ initiative and to create conditions for taking the feedback on board. The strength of the People’s Assembly process was achieved through cooperation between the leaders of civil society and public institutions (the President, the Parliament). All parties contributed to creating an appropriate environment for channelling dissatisfaction into constructive value adding proposals to the Parliament as the highest representative body, offering everyone the possibility to participate in the process. It is too early to assess the long-term impact of the People’s Assembly, but the suggestion of creating a legal basis for such a process shows the high level of confidence in the setup among the participants. From the very beginning, we have believed here in Estonia that in order to successfully participate in Open Government Partnership we need to integrate domestic endeavours with international objectives and principles. Through that, we are able to ensure that the set objectives are relevant and realistic and the progress towards their achievement is monitored and reported. The cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Office, with the Government Office coordinating the work of ministries contributing to the Open Government Partnership action plan, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs representing the Open Government Partnership initiative as a whole, can be considered rather productive, but the lack of a clear and visible leader has had a somewhat holding back effect in terms of the perception of the importance of the Open Government Partnership among both the closer circle of participants and the broader society. For the Open Government round table and the representatives of the public sector, the first year of participation in the Open Government Partnership has been a time to get to know each other. The round table has the task of generating new ideas and monitoring government actions, which has occasionally also meant expressing dissatisfaction with the relative slowness or low ambition of the developments. Constraints and opportunities related to the planning and implementation of government actions are closely linked to the provisions of the Action Programme of the government. The above-mentioned aspects should be taken into account when preparing the next action plan for Open Government Partnership participation. The levels of ambition, the willingness among parties to take responsibility and available resources should be aligned. It is time to suggest new activities; the selection of the most viable and feasible will follow in the upcoming months when the action plan will be revised. None of the actions in Estonia’s first Open Government Partnership Action Plan has lost its relevance and will continue to be implemented over the new period. We are also eager to learn from international practice and are willing to share our experience in order to globally promote open governance values.

23 Appendix 1. Open government round table: People’s Assembly in Estonia – crowdsourcing solutions for complex problems A former Estonian MP, member of the ruling Reform Party, announced in 2012 that the party’s officials gave him 7600 euros of unknown origin that he then had to donate to the party. He claimed that dozens of members had donated funds to the party this way, including MPs.

Although the party rejected the accusations and the subsequent investigation was ended due to a lack of hard evidence, the public did not find party’s denials convincing. Widespread protest yielded to the street demonstrations and petitions in autumn, demanding more transparency in party funding as well as more dialogue and openness in the political system.

How to turn this wave of activism into something constructive? Civil society activists proposed crowdsourcing as a method for finding solutions to these complex problems.

A working group of CSO and political parties’ representatives gathered in November, 2012. Five weeks later a website was opened where everyone could propose ideas for improving the situation in the areas such as elections, public participation, political parties and their funding. Within three weeks, it gained 60’000 visitors; 1’800 registered users posted nearly 6’000 ideas and comments. All these were grouped and provided with impact analysis by scholars and practitioners. These were sent to the Deliberation Day on 6th of April, where a representative sample of 314 people discussed the pros and cons of ideas and casted then their preferences. The outcomes were presented to the Parliament who has then set a timetable when these legislative changes will be discussed in the formal procedures.

The impact of this process, called People’s Assembly, is yet too early to summarize. None of the legislative changes has been done so far, but they are in the agenda. The process clearly proved that if good conditions are created, people are willing and capable to participate in the policy making. Crowd-sourcing mechanisms can provide a valuable tool for implementing the principles of open government and bridging the gap between government and the public.

24 Appendix 2. Open Government Partnership case study from Estonia – the development of the government portal eesti.ee A strong focus of the Estonian Open Government Partnership Action Plan is to develop public e-services. This means various structural changes in the administrative processes that will result in the improvement of the availability and user-centeredness of public services. A key commitment in this area is to improve the state portal eesti.ee in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. The aim is to build it into the primary e-service and government information gateway for Estonian residents and entrepreneurs – thereby making access to government easy and accessible for everybody. There are several developments ongoing with eesti.ee in this aim, but one truly key step was the creation of personal data and service view. It was launched in August 2013, although some beta versions had been out already since the beginning of the year. The idea of personal view is that after the user logs in securely with Estonian national eID (either ID-card or mobile ID)14, he/she will be able to view all of his/her core data and service statuses on one web-page. Each line of information also comes with links to related e-services in order to easily take the user to further data viewing or applications or other transactions within the portal. For example, up-to-date information bits will be listed about the person’s family, real estate or business matters; notifications about his/her documents’ validity and various due deadlines (e.g. taxes or applications); basic health insurance related information; etc. In this way there is no need for him/her to waste time on searching and navigating the portal any longer for core services, allowing desired services to be reached faster and more conveniently. After the launch of personal view, the feedback from users has been very positive as they have longed for such easy access to core data and services – most users have very basic service needs only, so they want to get things done fast. People are especially appreciating the newly added notifications service. Only very few of us regularly check and remember whether our driver’s license is about to expire or when our pet should get the next annual vaccine or when the next tax declaration is due. In all these cases, the duty to perform some steps lies with the individual. At the same time, the government does know via various e-services which deadlines are coming up and when. Thus, the government might as well take a step towards the users and provide this information as a notification service. Then it will be easier for people to avoid getting into trouble with deadlines, while legal compliance also rises and this benefits the government. The motivation behind the initiative was that a) people expect a rising level of user- friendliness from government e-services, b) private sector online services have offered similar possibilities for some time already (e.g. banks). Thus, user expectations and needs were the driving force. The initiative arose bottom-up from the state portal development team like is the case with most Estonian e-governance innovations. Building of the personal view page that combines data from a big variety of governmental databases and services was possible because of X-road: the data exchange system that Estonia has been using since 200115. X-road is the interoperability solution that carries highly

14 See http://e-estonia.com/components/electronic-id-card and http://e-estonia.com/components/mobile-id for more info on Estonian nation-wide eID system.

15 See for more information: https://ria.ee/x-road/

25 secure Internet-based data exchange between all governmental as well as some private information systems. It enables connecting of any independent datasets and systems into comprehensive e-services like the personal view page – and to do all this in a simple, uniform and cost-efficient manner. At the same time there are very high levels of accountability. Anyone accessing the system leaves a record, something that is viewable by the citizen. There is still much to do to make this personal view of state portal services even more personalized. For example, we can offer customized page views based on smart analytics on a person’s activities in the portal and other data known to service provider. Also, we are currently preparing to take the state portal to a mobile platform. This will make the personal data and service view even more conveniently accessible for all users. It’s things like these that often make a difference. They might not seem too big-of-a-deal at first glance. Yet, in the end they contribute much to the e-service user experience and thereby help to bring government closer to people. More information: Siim Sikkut, Government Office of Estonia, [email protected]