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Last week, the Estonian government approved the e-Residency 2.0 action plan that aims to make the e-Residency program more secure, more beneficial for Estonian entrepreneurs and more convenient for the e-residency community as a whole.
According to Prime Minister Jüri Ratas, this year’s results for the e-Residency program reflect its sustainability and success in involving entrepreneurs from all over the world. Despite these results, Ratas also emphasised that there is still a lot that can be done for our e-residency community in making the program even more convenient and beneficial. “The new and ambitious goals of the e-Residency 2.0 program will help us meet the constantly growing expectations of e-residents while also creating higher added value for local entrepreneurs and the Estonian state,” he states in an interview to ERR.
Headed towards greater benefits for all
One of the most important objectives of the e-Residency 2.0 action plan is to enhance security in order to minimise the risks that are linked to the use of e-services. The issuance of a digital identity document for an e-resident will now also be accompanied by a new risk-based pre- and post-control.
A more convenient user experience will be created through the development of an online platform that improves accessibility of various services offered by the state and the private sector. Additionally, alternative solutions will be considered for the current smart card-based authentication and digital signatures.
The new action plan also seeks to increase the direct and indirect value created by an e-resident for Estonian enterprises. So far, we have gained nearly 58,000 e-residents, who have established over 7,200 companies since the launch of the program. Last year, the tax revenue collected from e-residents’ businesses was €8.73 million and since the introduction of the program, we have seen a total of €25 million in direct economic gain.
Action plan implementation has already begun
e-Residency managing director Ott Vatter confirmed that the first steps have already been taken in implementing the new action plan. “Pursuant to amendments made to the Commercial Code, all entrepreneurs who are e-residents have the opportunity to contribute to the share capital of their company and own a bank account in any country in the European Economic Area (EEA),” Vatter explained. The process of obtaining the digital ID has also already been made easier for e-residents. Additional points of issue are already established in Tokyo and San Francisco and plans for further expansion are in place.
This article references an article originally published on ERR.
