Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise says that access to bank secrecy is a serious violation of rights.
It must be carefully considered and clearly formulated. The draft is the first step, but it still needs improvement.
Madise says that a bank account statement provides a lot of information about a person's activities, habits, and social circle.
It can be used to track a person or create a profile. This is similar to requesting communication data or surveillance activities.
Requesting communication data is allowed only for serious crimes and with court permission. A bank account statement requires particularly careful consideration.
Regulation must be balanced with the protection of individual rights. Access to bank secrecy must be regulated like surveillance activities.
Madise says it must be clear how authorities can use bank data and for how long.
Additionally, it must be clear when a person is notified that their bank secrecy has been accessed.
The control of requests must be clearly regulated. Oversight must be complete.
In the case of the Financial Intelligence Unit, it is important that people may not know their data is being used.
Madise says that parliament must discuss whether the tax authority should have access to all bank communications or only to the account.
Until now, authorities have had easy access to bank secrecy. In the future, the Riigikogu must carefully consider everything.
The Ministry of Finance prepared a draft in September that limits the rights of the tax authority and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
The draft was a response to the Chancellor of Justice, who found that authorities used bank secrecy without legal authority.
Until the law is changed, neither the Financial Intelligence Unit nor the tax authority will have access to bank secrecy.