“Until now, the principles of preparing for crises have been complicated and scattered across different acts,” said Secretary of State Keit Kasemets. “In the changed security situation, we must also develop the legal space for military and non-military national defence in order to be prepared for crises. The new act means that in the future, Estonia will be better prepared for all kinds of emergencies, be it a big storm, a major power cut or a military threat, and help will get to the right place faster.”
Today, being prepared for crises and resolving them are mainly governed by three acts: the Emergency Situations Act, the State of Emergency Act and the National Defence Act. The new act replaces all of them, creating a single, broad legal framework for national defence. The draft amends a total of 98 different acts.
The new law systematically implements the lessons learned from the COVID pandemic, the full-scale war in Ukraine and other crises and training exercises. The draft increases the clarity of roles in a crisis, specifying who will do what during a crisis. This way, public authorities, local governments, vital service providers and other critically important companies know their role in preparing for and resolving crises. The principle remains that everyone prepares for their role in different crises, and that resolving the crisis starts at the same level. The Government and the Prime Minister take the lead in resolving a crisis when it is extensive and has a greater impact on society and the economy. In military defence, the freedom of action of the Defence Forces in the event of an immediate threat will increase, including in order to bring allies faster to Estonia.
Local authorities are also assigned specific crisis tasks. These include ensuring vital services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, district heating, road maintenance), preparing evacuation sites and supporting evacuation, providing essential social and educational services, and informing the local population.
In order to increase the clarity of roles, the Government of the Republic establishes a nationwide crisis plan that covers preparing for and resolving civil and defence crises, and is the basis on which other agencies prepare their plans.
Work on the act, which was initially referred to as the Preparedness Act, began in April 2021. The planned date of entry into force of the act is 1 July 2026.
Further reading:
General information on the Civil Crisis and National Defence Act | 2.81 MB | pdf
Tasks of local governments in the Civil Crisis and National Defence Act | 4.74 MB | pdf
