Summary

At the end of this June, the President of Estonia exercised the authority conferred upon him by § 107 of the Estonian Constitution by refusing to proclaim the Churches and Congregations Act adopted by the Riigikogu on 13 June. The President justified the refusal on the grounds that section 14 (3) of the new CCA providing that a church or a congregation is not registered if its permanent or temporary administration or management is carried out or if its decisions are approved by the head or superior body of the association of churches and congregations who operates outside Estonia, means “an intrusion of the autonomy of religious associations” which is in conflict with several provisions of the Constitution (§ 9, 11, 19, 40 and 48). In his decision, the President notes that “the autonomy of religious associations belongs to the category of collective freedom of religion” protected by the said provisions of the Constitution. Like other fundamental rights and freedoms, such autonomy may only be restricted in accordance with the Constitution provided that such restriction is necessary in a democratic society and that it does not distort the nature of the rights and freedoms restricted (Constitution § 11).

The author addresses some of the conceptual problems in the Act in force and in the unproclaimed Act, such as the disharmony between the concepts, and problems related to the legal definitions, the legal status of religious associations, church contracts and autonomy. In the author’s opinion, although the unproclaimed Act is an improvement in comparison with the former Act, it still provides several measures for potential religious prosecution and for the restriction of autonomy, which should be reviewed in the additional processing of the Act.