In Estonia, current law does not allow publishing officials’ vacation data
Estonia’s Ministry of Justice stated that current legislation does not allow public institutions to publish on their websites information about the vacation periods of officials and the persons temporarily replacing them. The ministry considers vacation data to be personal data, and its disclosure to be an intrusion into privacy.
ERR News reports this. The Ministry of Finance asked the Ministry of Justice whether institutions may disclose such information together with the name of the official replacing an absent colleague. The stated purpose was to inform the public about the organization of government work and simplify communication with state and local authorities.
A legal basis is needed
The Ministries of Justice and Digital Affairs concluded that the Public Information Act does not contain a clear legal basis for posting online data on vacation periods. In their view, the legislator should separately define the purpose and scope of such disclosure.
If public authorities systematically publish the periods and duration of vacations, as well as data on replacements, the relevant provisions should be explicitly included in the law. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice noted that less privacy-intrusive methods can be used for effective communication.
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Contacts without stating reasons
Institutions may inform people whom to contact when the usual contact official is unavailable. In this case, the issue concerns continuity of service provision rather than disclosure of an official’s personal information. Many authorities already publish the contacts of replacements without specifying the reason for or duration of the absence.
The ministry named another option: requiring an official to indicate a replacement in an automatic email reply during vacation. This would allow those contacting an institution to obtain the necessary contact without publicly disclosing vacation dates. The Ministry of Justice considers that there is no need to amend the Public Information Act for this purpose.
At the same time, information on the vacations of certain officials and their replacements can already be found in the public RTIP document register on Estonia’s civil service portal.
