Child Protection Act

Land
Estonia

§ 2. Purpose of Act
This Act shall be established in order to form behaviour and way of life which value and promote the development of children in the society, to create a supporting environment for children, to set the best interests of children as primary consideration, to improve the quality of life of children, to support the comprehensive development of children and to ensure the necessary assistance and care in a timely manner for children whose health and well-being is in danger in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the optional protocols thereto (hereinafter the convention) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and other relevant legislation.
§ 3. Scope of application of Act
(1) The provisions of this Act shall be applied to state and local government agencies and the officials thereof, legal persons in public and private law and natural persons who are in contact with children and child protection in their activities.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years. If the age of a person is unknown and there is reason to believe that the person is below the age of eighteen years, the person shall be deemed to be a child until proven otherwise.