The Child Protection Act sets out restrictions on persons who are prohibited from working with children. This restriction is intended to ensure that persons who have been punished or sentenced to coercive treatment for offences specified in § 20 of this Act are prevented from working in professions involving contact with children.
The purpose of monitoring restrictions on working with children is to protect children from abuse in nursery schools, schools, sports clubs, hobby groups, camps, when in contact with child protection workers, and in other similar settings.
The obligation to verify compliance lies with a person who enables working with children or the issuer of the relevant activity licence, whilst the obligation to verify compliance on a regular basis lies with the employer or another person who enables working with children – for example, an internship provider, a volunteer coordinator, or others in similar roles.
Read more about the restrictions on working with children at just.ee/kontrollitausta.
Who is a person working with children?
- A person who comes into direct contact with a child in the course of their work or professional activities.
- A person who comes into direct contact with children whilst volunteering, performing alternative service, providing employment services, or working as an intern.
- A person who comes into direct contact with children due to their job description or the nature of their work in other institutions – not exclusively those intended for children – such as a social worker in a hospital, or an employee of a youth work organisation or youth camp.
The restriction does not apply to people who, in the course of their duties, serve children among others (sales assistants, bus drivers, etc.).
To ensure compliance with the restriction on working with children, an organisation working with children must:
- Ensure that the person they wish to employ has not been punished or sentenced to coercive treatment for the offences specified in § 20 of the Child Protection Act (both in Estonia and in other countries).
- Also check, on the same basis, those employees who started work before the restriction was introduced, i.e. before 2007.
- Under the Act, regular checks must be carried out at least once a year, from 1 January 2023.
- The obligation to verify compliance lies with a person who enables working with children or the issuer of a relevant activity licence, whilst the obligation to verify compliance on a regular basis lies with the employer or another person who enables working with children.
- It is recommended that employers carry out background checks on existing staff every six (6) months to ensure that no punishments have been added during the period of employment.
Under this provision, the responsible person is the individual who hired or employed the person, who otherwise enabled the person to work with children, and who issued the relevant activity licence to work with children. An organisation that illegally enables working with children is subject to a fine (§ 179¹ of the Penal Code).
How can an organisation working with children obtain information about a person?
Queries are free of charge for children’s institutions. A children’s institution may also make a free query regarding a person who has already started working at the institution. There are three ways to make queries.
Via the e-File environment
An query can be made on behalf of an institution by logging in under the role of a legal person with the right of representation. The basis for the right of representation is the legal right of representation entered in the commercial register or an authorisation granted in Pääsuke, the central authorisations management information system, located in the State Portal (eesti.ee).
- To make a query regarding an individual, you need to know the personal identification code of the person being checked, their field of activity, and specify the organisation on whose behalf the query is being made. The response to the query is displayed immediately to the person submitting the query within the same environment.
- Bulk queries, i.e. queries concerning several persons at once, may be made by a person who has been granted authorisation by the legal representative of a legal person within the Pääsuke environment to make free queries of the Criminal Records Database.
In addition, to access the service, the legal representative of the legal person must submit an application to Criminal Records Database user support, stating the legal basis provided for by law for submitting mass queries.
In the e-File, you can make a query by uploading a file containing the personal identification codes of the persons to be checked via the Query Details form. The file format must be .csv or .txt. Further details on bulk queries and submitting applications to user support are provided in the Exemption of institutions from the payment of state fees.
The query response is displayed in the e-File application and no digitally stamped extract is issued. If you require a digitally signed or paper-based official document, you must complete an application and submit it to Criminal Records Database user support.
Application to Criminal Records Database user support
[email protected] To submit a query via email, you will need the person’s given name, surname, and personal identification number. To obtain the information, the child care institution’s representative should send a digitally signed application to [email protected], stating that the query is being made regarding a person working with children, and citing subsections 20 (1) and (2) of the Child Protection Act as the basis for the release of the data.
If the person is taking up employment in the civil service, clauses 15 1)–3) of the Civil Service Act must also be specified as the basis for the background check. In such cases, the person’s background is checked against the restrictions arising from both the Child Protection Act and the Civil Service Act.
A child care institution may submit a query for several people at once, presenting their details in a table, for example. It is also possible to submit repeat queries for the same person free of charge.
A response to the query will be provided within two (2) working days. The response time may be longer if the query concerns several people.
Via the X-tee service
Database owners may start using the e-File X-tee service LasteKaitseParing and submit automated queries individually or as bulk queries. To start using the service, you must first submit an application by email to [email protected] to open the service in the X-tee development environment, and, once the software development is complete, a justified application from the head of the institution/company.
What is the response to a query if a person is barred from working with children?
Depending on the offence, the restriction on working with children may be either lifelong or temporary until the expiry of the punishment. The grounds for entry into the Criminal Records Database are set out in § 24 of the Criminal Records Database Act.
If the person being verified has spent a longer period of time in a third country, they must personally contact the corresponding criminal records database of that country to obtain the information. Read more: Query regarding a person who has worked or resided in a European Union country.
When submitting a query via www.e-toimik.ee, the response to the query will be, depending on the restriction:
- The person has no restrictions on working with children (subsections 20 (1), (1¹), (2) of the Child Protection Act).
- The person is permanently prohibited from working with children (subsections 20 (1), (1¹) of the Child Protection Act).
The result indicates a person who is not permitted to work with children. - The person is temporarily prohibited from working with children (subsection 20 (2) of the Child Protection Act).
The result indicates a person who is not permitted to work with children. - European punishment
The result shows a person who may have punishments in other European Union Member States. For more information on making queries about punishments in European Union Member States, see: Query regarding a person who has worked or resided in a European Union country.
If the result shows a person who is prohibited from working with children and you have information that they are working in a position that involves contact with children, then:
- the employer must ensure that a person subject to a prohibition on working with children does not work with children (for example, by terminating their contract);
- please notify the Social Insurance Board of this: [email protected].
If it is known that the person also works with children in other institutions, please also inform the Social Insurance Board of this.
Criminal Records Database user support:
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +372 663 6359
Mon–Fri 10:00–14:00