Decisions or actions of state institutions may be appealed to the court. Generally there are three stages of appeal in court.
In general, human rights do not provide for a right to appeal in all cases and all disputes. However, if Estonian law allows you to appeal a lower court’s decision, which it does in the majority of cases, higher courts at all stages of appeal have to follow the requirements and guarantees of a fair trial.
Stages of appeal:
Appeal to the court of first instance. Most of the decisions taken by state or public institutions have to be appealed before a higher institution or official before they can be appealed to the court of first instance.
example If you want to appeal the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) decision on your tax audit, you must first appeal it before the head of the ETCB. Only after this can you appeal the decision of the Head of the ETCB to the Court.
Appealing a decision of the court of first instance. You can also appeal the decisions and judgments of the Administrative court. In Estonia, the majority of decisions and judgements of a lower court dealing with disputes between private persons and the State can be appealed before a higher court – a court of appeal (Ringkonnakohus). In the review process, the court of appeal has the same power to examine your case as the lower court (including all disagreements about the facts and law in your case).
Appealing the decision of a court of appeal.
In most cases, the judgements of a court of appeal can be appealed further before a court of cassation (Riigikohus).
This court will only examine your complaints about the mistakes of a lower court, which are related to an incorrect interpretation of law or violations of procedural rules. These mistakes must be serious enough to lead to an incorrect decision.
A court of cassation will not examine your complaints about the facts of your case. Since a court of cassation only deals with complaints about potential violations of law in court procedure, the requirements for your access to the court (such as arguments on which you base your cassation claim or court fee) can be stricter than in lower courts. Generally, a court of cassation examines cases in a written procedure, that is, without a public court hearing.