ECCI news
Estonian Export Directory 2010 Estonian Export Directory 2010 presents more than 1000 Estonian exporting companies in alphabetical order and also by products and services. Additionally, you will find up-to-date overview about the constantly developing economic situation in Estonia
EUROCHAMBRES Economic Survey: Business prospects for 2010 low but realistic Businesses in Europe expect to invest and employ less in 2010 than at any time in the last decade. Also turnover and export forecasts are at their lowest level since 2000, while businesses do not anticipate any changes in domestic sales for the coming year. The findings of the latest EUROCHAMBRES Economic Survey, which polled over 69,000 businesses of all sizes and sectors in 27 countries*, show that companies are still suffering from the consequences of the crisis and that the recovery is not yet in sight.
The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has produced a book entitled Leading Brands of Estonia. The Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has produced a book entitled Leading Brands of Estonia .
Brands that were created in Estonia
Publication „Top Estonian Enterprises 2009“ In 2008 almost 45 000 companies which declared the total sales of 863 billion kroons operated actively in Estonia
Top Estonian Enterprises
Special edition Estland from norwegian largest daily newspaper Aftenposten In May 2009 norwegian largest daily newspaper issued a special edition Estland tol et norwegian readers know many interesting facts and stories about and from Estonia to promote Estonia as a very nice and great country to visit and do business with. This special edition was made in co-operation with the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Enterprise Estonia, daily newspaper Postimees and the stories written by Øyvind Rangøy, norwegian journalist living in Estonia for many years already.
Estonian economy
2008 – (the first) year of crisis in Estonian economy In the middle of the year one could hope as justified that the financial year will be poor, but the economic growth will remain though with the plus-sign. This hope fell apart in September, when the financial crisis having started from USA
Guide to doing business and investing in Estonia PricewaterhouseCoopers welcomes the opportunity through this Guide to provide relevant information for doing business and investing in Estonia. Estonia is a small country located at the heart of the Baltic Sea Region - Europe's fast growing market of more than 90 million people. Attractive location between East and West, an excellent business environment, stable government and liberal economic policy, moderate costs and the ease of doing business have already attracted numerous international companies to Estonia. Estonia was ranked 18th out of 181 countries in the Ease of Doing Business index by The World Bank Group.
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Estonian economy Estonia’s economy has experienced very strong growth in the last three years: during that time economy has expanded by more than a quarter in real terms and almost by two-thirds in nominal terms. This has been achieved at the expense of taking very high risks. Now some of these risks have materialized, bringing the economy into a recession and uncertainties surround also growth expectations in 2009.
About Estonian legal system Estonia has a continental European legal system. As in other such civil legal systems, legislative acts are the most significant sources of law, while doctrine, customary practice and precedent are of secondary importance.
Labour market At the end of the growth period, the economy reached the stage of full employment and thus slower growth was inevitable. Since a large part of the resources were employed, the labour market started to hinder growth and strong wage pressures emerged. The opportunities of working abroad caused additional pressures. In the years of rapid growth in labour demand, the employment rate grew mainly on account of those residents who would have had more difficulties in getting a job if the demand for labour were lower (e.g. the retired). In 2008, the share of the retired among the economically inactive started to grow again.
Foreign trade overview Proximity to the Nordic markets, location between Eastern and Western Europe , competitive cost structure and high-skill labour force have been the major Estonian comparative advantages since the 1990’s. As a member of the European Union, Estonia today obviously enjoys free trade within the Union, and full participation of external trade agreements signed by the Union .
Taxation Current Estonian Tax Legislation was mostly enacted during the first phase of the transition reforms. The existing Law on Taxation came into effect in 1994 and has since gone through several amendments.
ECCI Annual declaration
Membership in 2008 The year 2008 was a year of growth in members of the Chamber of Commerce – at the beginning of the year there were 3616 members and at the end of the year 3657. In total 376 new companies became members of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The number of members excluded from among the members was 336. 127 of them were excluded due to liquidation, reorganisation etc. and 209 due to failure to perform their member obligations or exclusion at their own will. Thus the net growth was +40 members.
Chamber of Commerce’s influence on the enterprise climate The year 2008 can be considered a year of changes in economy. The generally positive mood in business at the beginning of the year was replaced by a significantly more negative one in the second half of the year. General nervousness was further added by political discussions over the budget and thus the related news of possible tax increases. Fortunately they remained smaller than feared and with the pressure from the entrepreneurs the state started to review and decrease the expenses of the governmental sector. Introduction of the positions of the Chamber of Commerce in terms of economic development as well as educational policy to the big hall of the Riigikogu showed that the positions of entrepreneurs are considered important.
Chamber of Commerce as a designer of education policy In addition to the traditional topics of the Chamber of Commerce – development of the system of vocational education and professions, the year 2008 saw a more serious focus on promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial studies and several discussions were initiated for arranging the general education schools network.
Services provided to the entrepreneurs In 2008 the volume of provided services continued to by high by all service groups. Many seminars, trainings and business delegations to abroad were organised and as compared to the previous year, the number of foreign trade documents issued increased significantly.
Chamber of Commerce behind the regional development Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has regional offices in Tartu, Pärnu, Jõhvi and Kuressaare.
Publications of the Chamber of Commerce All publications aimed at informing the members as well as those directed to foreign partners continued to be published. 22 issues of the newspaper of the Chamber of Commerce Teataja and 10 issues of Vestnik in Russian were published. The members of the Chamber received regularly our weekly e-information letter. The yearbook reflecting the activity report of the year 2007 was issued.
Chamber of Commerce as a communication channel for entrepreneurs The Marketing and Member Relations Department continued its regular active organising of events in order to find new and keep the existing members.
Promoting the arbitration clause The Court of Arbitration of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is more and more contacted and asked for information and explanations regarding the arbitration proceedings before entering into a contract. The main reasons why the arbitration clause should be added to the contract are the speed and confidentiality of the arbitration proceedings. From 1 January 2009 one of the reasons for adding the arbitration clause can also be the fact that this procedure is cheaper – the state fees in regular courts were almost doubled from that date.
