The Office of the Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has found that government agencies have been accessing account holders’ banking information through the enforcement register without a proper legal basis. State institutions have made tens of thousands of inquiries to banks over the past year.
The chancellor of justice investigated concerns that several government agencies have been accessing banking information through the Enforcement Register without the account holder’s knowledge, consent or a proper legal basis. The chancellor requested information from the Center of Registers and Information Systems (RIK), as well as from the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs.
It turned out that the Enforcement Register (formerly known as e-arest) is currently in use, providing several agencies with access to various types of banking data. This includes, among other things, access to bank account statements — that is, full transaction histories.
Since the establishment of the enforcement register, between January 1, 2024 and February 28, 2025, government agencies have submitted tens of thousands of banking inquiries.
Officials from the ministries confirmed to the chancellor of justice that a system with similar functionality, e-arest, had been in use for some time before being replaced by the Enforcement Register. When the new register was introduced on January 1, 2024, access was automatically granted to all agencies that had previously been authorized to use the earlier enforcement procedure register and the electronic freezing system.
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