Latvia

Country score (EU Average*)

86(72) Political Financing
88(57) Financial Disclosure
86(49) Conflict of Interest
49(59) Freedom of Information
57(63) Public Procurement
84(66) Anti Money Laundering
67(71) Asset Recovery

Country Facts

Income	High
GNI per capita (2011 PPP $)	23670.30
Population, total	1960424.00
Urban population (% of total)	67.36
Internet users (per 100 people)	79.89
Life expectancy at birth (years)	74.12
Mean years of schooling (years)	11.7
Global Competitiveness Index	4.4

Sources: World Bank, UNDP, WEF.

Political Financing

The Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties) (1995, amended 2014) and the law on Pre-election Campaign (2013) Before the Saeima Elections and Elections to the European Parliament (2004, amended 2009) are the main laws regulating the funding of political parties in Latvia.

There are comprehensive limits on the private income of political parties. Donations from foreign entities, corporations, trade unions and anonymous donors are prohibited as well as others specified in the law. There are also limits on the amount that can be donated.

Public funding is available for political parties and is allocated according to the votes received in the previous election. There are specific rules regarding what the public funding may be utilized for and those roles include pre-election campaigns and ongoing party activities. Indirect forms of funding include subsidized media access, premises for campaign meetings and space for campaign materials.

For regulations on spending, there are bans on vote buying and on some state resources being used in favour or against a political party or candidate. There are also limits on the amount a political party or candidate can spend.

Parties are required to provide accounts annually which must be made public and reveal the identity of donors. The accounts are overseen by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. Sanctions for breaches of provisions include fines, the loss of public funding, deregistration of the party, suspension of the political party and criminal law sanction.

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024
Bans and limits on private income	28	36	36	36	69	94
Public funding	100	62	62	62	62	75
Regulations on spending	100	100	100	100	100	100
Reporting, oversight and sanctions	75	83	83	83	83	75

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Bans and limits on private income
Is there a ban on donations from foreign interests to political parties?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on donations from foreign interests to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on corporate donations to political parties?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on corporate donations to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on donations from corporations with government contracts to political parties?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on donations from corporations of partial government ownership to political parties?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on donations from corporations with government contracts to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on donations from corporations of partial government ownership to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on donations from Trade Unions to political parties?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on donations from Trade Unions to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on anonymous donations to political parties?	Yes. (1) Financing of political organisations (parties) in the form of anonymous gifts (donations) is prohibited. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7)
Is there a ban on anonymous donations to candidates?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Is there a ban on state resources being given to or received by political parties or candidates (excluding regulated public funding)?	Yes. (1) In accordance with the restrictions referred to in Section 6 of this Law, political organisations (parties) may accept gifts (donations) from: 1) Latvian citizens; 2) persons who in accordance with law have the right to receive an Aliens passport of the Republic of Latvia; (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4)
Is there a ban on any other form of donation?	Yes. (1) Natural persons are prohibited to finance political organisations (parties) from gifts and loans of other persons. Natural persons, who have been sentenced with a prohibition to candidate for elections of the Saeima, European Parliament or local government, except for rehabilitated persons or whose conviction has been extinguished or set aside, are prohibited to finance political organisations (parties) by gifts or donations. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 6(1))
Is there a limit on the amount a donor can contribute to a political party over a time period (not election specific)?	Yes. The total payments of membership fee, joining fee and gifts (donations) performed by a member for one political organisation (party) may not exceed 50 minimum monthly salaries within a period of one calendar year. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 3)
Is there a limit on the amount a donor can contribute to a political party in relation to an election?	No. Annual donation from a physical person limited to 20 x minimum monthly salary both in election and non-election years. In other words, the same donation limits apply to election and non-election years. (Section 4. Gifts (Donations) Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties))
Is there a limit on the amount a donor can contribute to a candidate?	Yes. The pre-election expenses of a candidate are considered as the expenses of the party. This means that they are subject to the same rules on donations. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌4(4))
Public funding
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties	Yes. See sub-indicators
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Share of votes in previous election	Yes. (1) State budget financing shall be granted to a political organisation (party) for which more than two percent of voters have voted in the previous Saeima elections, in the amount of 0.71 euros in a calendar year for each vote acquired. ( Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌1(1))
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Representation in elected body	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Participation in election	Yes. Eligibility is tied to the votes acquired in the last elections of the Saeima, local government councils, and the European Parliament. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌1(1))
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Number of candidates	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Share of seats in previous election	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Share of votes in next election	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Registration as a political party	Yes. The law applies specifically to a "political organisation (party)" (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌1(1))
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Share of seats in next election	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Number of members	No. Absent from legal framework
Eligibility criteria for direct public funding to political parties: Other	Yes. funding for local elections is not granted for votes given to a list submitted by associations of voters or parties that have not joined a registered alliance (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌1(1))
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties	Yes. See sub-indicators
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Proportional to votes received	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Equal	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Proportional to seats received	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Flat rate by votes received	Yes. (1) State budget financing shall be granted to a political organisation (party) for which more than two percent of voters have voted in the previous Saeima elections, in the amount of 0.71 euros in a calendar year for each vote acquired. ( Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌1(1))
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Share of expenses reimbursed	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Proportional to candidates fielded	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Number of members	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation calculations for direct public funding to political parties: Other	No. Absent from legal framework
Earmarking provisions for direct public funding to political parties	Yes. See sub-indicators
Earmarking provisions for direct public funding to political parties: Campaign spending	Yes. (1) A political organisation (party) is entitled to spend State budget financing on: 7) pre-election campaigns. ( Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌4(1))
Earmarking provisions for direct public funding to political parties: Ongoing party activities	Yes. (1) A political organisation (party) is entitled to spend State budget financing on: 3) work remuneration and other payments to natural persons connected with the operations of the relevant political organisation (party) or the operations of the association of the relevant political organisation (party); ( Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌4(1))
Earmarking provisions for direct public funding to political parties: Intra-party institution	No. Absent from legal framework
Earmarking provisions for direct public funding to political parties: Other	Yes. (1) A political organisation (party) is entitled to spend State budget financing on: 1) premise hire and services connected to premise hire, including the organisation of meetings; 2) communication and Internet services; 4) sworn auditor services; 5) research work; 6) the organisation of educational events intended for inhabitants, including public events, seminars, charity events, and the publication and distribution of books, booklets, excluding the ensuring of catering services; and (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.‌4(1))
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties	Yes. See sub-indicators
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties: Equal	Yes. 6(1) Deputy candidates who are on the list of deputy candidates of the same title have rights to use the State ensured free of charge broadcasting time for the pre-election campaign in the first television and radio programme of the public electronic mass media in cases, in accordance with the procedures and within the amount set out in this Chapter. 7(1) Deputy candidates who are in the list of deputy candidates of the same title have the right before the elections of the Saeima, the European Parliament and the elections of local governments to use the State ensured free of charge broadcasting time for pre-election campaign in the first television and radio programme of the public electronic mass media four times for five minutes in the period from the 25th day until the penultimate day before the election day. 7(2) If the Saeima is dissolved or recalled, deputy candidates who are in the list of deputy candidates of the same title have the right to use the State ensured free of charge broadcasting time for pre-election campaign in the first television and radio programme of the public electronic mass media two times for five minutes in the period from the seventh day until the penultimate day beofre the election day. (Law on Pre-Election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014, Sections 6(1) and 7, )
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties: Number of candidates	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties: Share of seats	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties: Share of votes in preceding election	No. Absent from legal framework
Allocation criteria for free or subsidized access to media for political parties: Other	No. Absent from legal framework ( )
Are there provisions for free or subsidized access to media for candidates?	Yes. 6(1) Deputy candidates who are on the list of deputy candidates of the same title have rights to use the State ensured free of charge broadcasting time for the pre-election campaign in the first television and radio programme of the public electronic mass media in cases, in accordance with the procedures and within the amount set out in this Chapter. (Law on Pre-Election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014, Section 6(1), )
Are there provisions for any other form of indirect public funding?	Yes. See sub-indicators
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Premises for campaign meetings	Yes. 25. State authorities and authorities of derived public persons and capital companies, in which more than 50 per cent of capital shares (stocks) belong to the State or derived public persons, may grant premises to the campaigner where to organise meetings with voters free of charge or for payment which does not exceed the actual maintenance expenses of such premises. (Law on Pre-Election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014, Section 25)
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Space for campaign materials	Yes. 24(1). It is prohibited to place and distribute the materials of pre-election campaign in the premises of the buildings where State authorities and authorities of derived public persons and capital companies, in which more than 50 per cent of capital shares (stocks) belong to the State or derived public persons, are located, as well as in the shared-use facilities of such buildings. 24(2). This restriction shall not apply to the materials of informative nature by the Central Election Commission on the elections of the Saeima, elections to the European Parliament and the elections of local governments, as well as to the cases referred to in Section 25 of this Law. (Law on Pre-Election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014, Section 24)
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Tax relief	Yes. 5. Natural persons who have, in compliance with the provisions of this Law, given (donated) financial resources or property to a political organisation (party) shall be exempted from payment of the relevant State fees. (Law on financing of political organisations (parties), 1995, amended in 2014, Section 5)
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Free or subsidised transport	No. Absent from legal framework
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Free or subsidised postage cost	No. Absent from legal framework
Provisions for any other form of indirect public funding: Other	No. Absent from legal framework
Is the provision of direct public funding to political parties related to gender equality among candidates?	No. Absent from legal framework
Are there provisions for other financial advantages to encourage gender equality in political parties?	No. Absent from legal framework
Regulations on spending
Is there a ban on vote buying?	Yes. For a person who knowingly commits hindrance of the right to freely elect members of the parliament and to be elected or to freely participate in a national referendum organised in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Latvia, by the use of violence, fraud, threats, payoffs, or other unlawful means, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding three years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine. (Criminal Law, 1998, amended 2013. Section 90(2))
Are there bans on state resources being used in favour or against a political party or candidate?	Yes. 24(1). It is prohibited to place and distribute the materials of pre-election campaign in the premises of the buildings where State authorities and authorities of derived public persons and capital companies, in which more than 50 per cent of capital shares (stocks) belong to the State or derived public persons, are located, as well as in the shared-use facilities of such buildings. 24(2). This restriction shall not apply to the materials of informative nature by the Central Election Commission on the elections of the Saeima, elections to the European Parliament and the elections of local governments, as well as to the cases referred to in Section 25 of this Law. 1. The purpose of this Law is to ensure that the financial resources and property of the State and local governments is utilised lawfully and in conformity with the public interest, to prevent the squandering and ineffective utilisation of such financial resources and property, as well as to restrict corruption of State officials.‌ ( Law on Pre-Election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014, Section 24 Law On Prevention of Squandering of the Financial Resources and Property of the State and Local Governments, 1995, amended 2001, Section 1)
Are there limits on the amount a political party can spend?	Yes. There are different limits for Parliamentary, Local Government and European Parliament election expenses. Section 8.4 provides comprehensive detail too long to include in this table. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014,Section 8.‌4)
Are there limits on the amount a candidate can spend?	Yes. (4) If a list of candidates is submitted by a registered or unregistered association of political organisations (parties), the expenses borne for the purpose by the political organisations (parties) that have formed such association, shall also be considered as pre-election expenses thereof. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.4(4))
Reporting, oversight and sanctions
Do political parties have to report regularly on their finances?	Yes. (1) A political organisation (party) shall prepare annual report regarding each reporting year in accordance with the Law on Accounting and other regulatory enactments. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.‌5(1))
Do political parties have to report on their finances in relation to election campaigns?	Yes. (1) The political organisations (parties) which have submitted their lists of candidates for the election to the Saeima, local government councils (parish councils) or the European Parliament, shall submit to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau a declaration of income and expenses of elections signed by the board of the relevant political organisation (party) or authorised person thereof in accordance with the procedures specified by the Cabinet within a period of 30 days after the election of the Saeima, local government councils (parish councils) or the European Parliament. ( Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.2(1))
Do candidates have to report on their campaign finances?	No. No individual reporting by candidates as individual candidates do not stand in elections and all donations are directly transferred to political parties. (Law on the Election of the Saeima, Article 9 (1) (2).)
Is information in reports from political parties and/or candidates to be made public?	Yes. (3) Within 15 days after the receipt of a gift (donation) the political organisation (party) shall inform the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau thereof. The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall publish information on its Internet homepage regarding gifts (donations) received by a political organisation (party). The information to be indicated in the report of a political organisation (party) and the procedures for the submission thereof, as well as the procedures by which information shall be published regarding the gifts (donations) received by a political organisation (party) and the content of this information shall be determined by the Cabinet. Also: (1) The financial and economic activities of political organisations (parties) shall be transparent and publicly available. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 4(3) & 9(1) )
Must reports from political parties and/or candidates reveal the identity of donors?	Yes. (1) Financing of political organisations (parties) in the form of anonymous gifts (donations) is prohibited. (2) Within the meaning of this Law a gift (donation) is anonymous if in the accounting documents of the political organisation (party) the given name, surname, personal identification number and place of residence in respect of the giver (donor) – a natural person – are not indicated. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7(1) & (2))
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Electoral Management Board	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Auditing agency	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Ministry	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Special institution	Yes. (1) The political organisations (parties) which have submitted their lists of candidates for the election to the Saeima, local government councils (parish councils) or the European Parliament, shall submit to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau a declaration (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.2(1))
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Court	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates: Other	No. Absent from legal framework
Is it specified that a particular institution(s) is responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations?
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Court	No. Absent from legal framework
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Ministry	No. Absent from legal framework
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Auditing agency	No. Absent from legal framework
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Electoral Management Body	No. Absent from legal framework
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Institution for this purpose	No. Absent from legal framework
Institution responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations: Other	Yes. (3) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall perform an audit of declarations of income and expenses of elections and shall, within six months from the closing date of the period for submitting the declarations, inform at once the public regarding all breaches of the provisions for the financing of political organisations (parties) identified in all those declarations submitted, as well as regarding the measures carried out for the prevention thereof. (10) If the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau identifies a violation of the provisions of Section 2, Paragraph three, Section 4, Paragraph one and Section 6, Paragraph one, the Head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has a duty to (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 8.2(3) & 10(1.1))
Other institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: Court	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: Ministry	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: Auditing agency	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: EMB	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: Institution for this purpose	No. Absent from legal framework
Institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight: Other	No. Absent from legal framework
Sanctions for political finance infractions
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Fines	Yes. For the illegal financing of political organisations (parties) or associations of political organisations (associations) on a large scale, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding two years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine. (Criminal Law, 1998, amended 2013. Section 288.2 (1))
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Loss of public funding	Yes. (4) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall take a decision regarding the suspension of the disbursement of State budget financing, if: 1) the operations of a political organisation (party) are suspended – for the period of the suspension of the operations of the political organisation (party); 2) the political organisation (party) has not submitted its annual report or declaration of income and expenses of elections for the previous year – for the next calendar year; or 3) violation of the provisions of Section 7.4 of this Law is determined and the decision regarding the application of a punishment has come into effect – for one year. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 7.3(4))
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Penal/Criminal	Yes. (1) For the illegal financing of political organisations (parties) or associations of political organisations (associations) on a large scale, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding two years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine. (2) For the activities provided for in Paragraph one of this Section, if they have been committed by a group of persons pursuant to prior agreement, the applicable punishment is deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding four years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine. (Criminal Law, 1998, amended 2013. Section 288.‌2)
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Forfeiture	Yes. (1.1) If the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau identifies a violation of the first paragraph of Section 4, the Head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has a duty to charge the relevant political organisation (party) to repay the illegally acquired financial assets to the payer within 30 days, but to return the property to the giver thereof. If the political organisation (party) fails to repay the illegally acquired financial assets to the payer or to return the property to the giver thereof within 30 days after the time of the notification of the relevant decision, the Head of the Bureau for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption has the duty to charge the relevant political organisation (party) to include the illegally acquired financial assets into the State budget within 30 days, and to transfer the property to the State property. Upon a motivated request from the relevant political organisation (party) the Head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau may divide the repayment of the financial assets into periods or extend the period of repayment of financial assets, but not longer than for 90 days. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 10 (1.1))
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Deregistration of party	Yes. (6) If the political organisation (party) fails to comply with the court judgment on suspension of activity or fails to prevent the breach of law in the period appointed by the court, the Head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has the duty to initiate termination of the activity of the relevant political organisation (party) through court. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 10 (6))
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Loss of elected office	No. Absent from legal framework
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Suspension of political party	Yes. (5) If a political organisation (party) fails to fulfil the obligation determined in Paragraphs 1.1, two, 2.1 and three of this Section within the term period determined by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau or within a month after forwarding of a warning fails to submit the declaration of income and expenses of elections referred to in this Law or the annual report, the Head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has a duty to initiate suspension of the activity of the relevant political organisation (party) through court within a month. (Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2014, Section 10 (5))
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Loss of nomination of candidate	No. Absent from legal framework
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Loss of political rights	No. Absent from legal framework
Sanctions for political finance infractions: Other	No. Absent from legal framework

Legislation

Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2011 (English)	pdf
Law on Pre-election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014 (Latvian)	pdf
Criminal Law, 1998, amended 201 (English)	pdf
Law On Prevention of Squandering of the Financial Resources and Property of the State and Local Governments, 1995, amended 2001 (English)	pdf

*Last update: 2017

Financial Disclosure

The Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest (2002, last amended 2016) sets down the same disclosure requirements for all Latvian public officials, namely Head of State, Ministers, Members of Parliament, and Civil Servants. These include declaring real estate, movable assets, cash, debt, and gifts that exceed the value of the minimum wage. Additionally, income from outside employment, all other positions held, firm ownership, and shares in public or private companies must be disclosed. Ministers and MPs are additionally required to disclose participation in government contracts. Only the Head of State and Civil Servants are required to disclose any positions that would constitute a conflict of interests for two years after ending tenure.

The law requires all public officials to make declarations upon taking and leaving office, and to update them annually. The Administrative Violations Code (1985, amended 2016) and the Criminal Law (1998, amended 2016) specify sanctions for late filling, non-filling, and making false disclosure. These include fines and imprisonment. The State Revenue Service functions as depository body for all public officials. Additionally, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau is tasked with verifying the accuracy of declarations and enforcing financial disclosure legislation. All public officials’ declarations are made publicly available electronically. However, only those parts of declarations which do not harm the protection of personal data are published.

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Disclosure items	44	38	38	39	39	89
Filing frequency	44	56	56	56	56	75
Sanctions	50	58	58	58	58	100
Monitoring and Oversight	50	56	56	56	56	100
Public access to declarations	25	50	50	50	50	75
Alternative Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Head of State	0	0	0	0	0	88
Ministers	71	89	89	89	89	88
Members of Parliament	65	76	76	76	76	88
Civil servants	34	42	42	43	43	88

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Head of State
Disclosure items
Spouses and children included in disclosure	Yes. Name of the spouse is included in the declaration; property of dependents is included (Article 24 (1.1) (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income and Assets
Real estate	Yes. Real estate must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Movable assets	Yes. Movable assets must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cash	Yes. The President is required to disclose cash savings if it exceeds twenty months’ wages. (Article 24 (1.7) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Loans and Debts	Yes. The President is required to disclose loans and debts if the amount exceeds 20 minimum monthly wages. (Article 24 (1.10) (1.11) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income from outside employment/assets	Yes. The President is required to disclose all income earned in the period covered by the asset declaration. (Article 24 (1.8) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Incompatibilities
Gifts received as a public official	No. Absent from legal framework.
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. The Head of State is required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The President may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. The Head of State is required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The President may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Holding government contracts	No. Absent from legal framework.
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. The Head of state is required to disclose all other positions held. The president may not be a partner in a company that receives orders for public produrement (Article 10 (1) and Article 24 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Post-employment	Yes. The Head of state is required to disclose all other positions held that would violate public/public incompatibilities within 2 years of leaving office. (Articles 24 (1.3) and 25 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. The Head of state is required to disclose all other positions held. (Article 24 (1.3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Article 11 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Concurrent employment of family members in public sector	No. Absent from legal framework.
Filing frequency
Filing required upon taking office	Yes. A person, upon assuming office, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law within one month from the day when a decision was taken regarding his or her the appointment, election or approval in the office of the public official or from the day the term of office of members of the Saeima or the councillors of local government city councils (parish or district councils) has begun in accordance with law. (Article 25 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required upon leaving office	Yes. If a person has held the office of a public official for more than three months, he or she, upon ending the duties of office of the public official, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 3 of this Law within a time period of one month after the last day of the performance of the duties of the office. (Article 25 (3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required annually	Yes. A public official shall submit each year by 1 April the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law. (Article 25 (2) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ad hoc filing required upon change in assets or conflicts of interest	No. Absent from legal framework.
Sanctions
Sanctions stipulated for late filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. Public officials are subject to fines and administrative sanctions (dismissal, forfeiture of right to hold office) for late filing of declarations. Public officials are also subject to penal sanctions for violations of disclosure requirements. ( Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 298 of Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for non-filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied for violations of disclosure requirements. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 219 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for false disclosure (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied to the Head of State for declaration or specification of false statements in the declaration. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. According to Article 299 of The Criminal Law, public officials are subject to deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding fifty times the minimum monthly wage, for knowingly submitting a false report. A public official has a duty to compensate for the caused losses (Article 30 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020) Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Articles 219 and 299 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Monitoring and Oversight
Depository body explicitly identified	Yes. State Revenue Service (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Enforcement body explicitly identified	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying submission	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person verify submissions. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying accuracy	Yes. According to Sections 27 and 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, the Constitution Protection Bureau and the Prime Minister are assigned the legal responsibility to verify if the declarations contain any violations of the Law. However, the Law is not clear regarding which body is assigned the authority for content verification, as it assigns it to a general "competent autorithy" in case a wrongdoing is assessed. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Public access to declarations
Public availability	Yes. In order to ensure the protection of personal data, the declarations shall contain a part that is publicly accessible and a part that is not publicly accessible. (Article 26 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Timing of information release specified	Yes. (6) The data to be published indicated in the declarations of the President, members of the Saeima, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ministers for Special Assignments, Parliamentary Secretaries and councillors of city councils shall be published electronically not later than within one month, but the data to be published indicated in the declarations of other public officials not later than within three months after the submission thereof to the State Revenue Service. (Article 26 (6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Location(s) of access specified	Yes. Declaration will be published electronically. (Article 26 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cost of access specified	No. Absent from legal framework.
Ministers
Disclosure items
Spouses and children included in disclosure	Yes. Name of the spouse is included in the declaration; property of dependents is included (Article 24 (1.1) (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income and Assets
Real estate	Yes. Real estate must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Movable assets	Yes. Movable assets must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cash	Yes. The President is required to disclose cash savings if it exceeds twenty months’ wages. (Article 24 (1.7) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Loans and Debts	Yes. The President is required to disclose loans and debts if the amount exceeds 20 minimum monthly wages. (Article 24 (1.10) (1.11) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income from outside employment/assets	Yes. The President is required to disclose all income earned in the period covered by the asset declaration. (Article 24 (1.8) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Incompatibilities
Gifts received as a public official	No. Absent from legal framework.
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. The ministers are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The ministers may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. The ministers are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The ministers may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Holding government contracts	No. Absent from legal framework.
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. The ministers are required to disclose all other positions held. A minister may not be a partner in a company that receives orders for public produrement (Article 10 (1) and Article 24 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Post-employment	Yes. The ministers are required to disclose all other positions held that would violate public/public incompatibilities within 2 years of leaving office. (Articles 24 (1.3) and 25 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. The Head of state is required to disclose all other positions held. (Article 24 (1.3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Article 11 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Concurrent employment of family members in public sector	No. Absent from legal framework.
Filing frequency
Filing required upon taking office	Yes. A person, upon assuming office, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law within one month from the day when a decision was taken regarding his or her the appointment, election or approval in the office of the public official or from the day the term of office of members of the Saeima or the councillors of local government city councils (parish or district councils) has begun in accordance with law. (Article 25 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required upon leaving office	Yes. If a person has held the office of a public official for more than three months, he or she, upon ending the duties of office of the public official, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 3 of this Law within a time period of one month after the last day of the performance of the duties of the office. (Article 25 (3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required annually	Yes. A public official shall submit each year by 1 April the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law. (Article 25 (2) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ad hoc filing required upon change in assets or conflicts of interest	No. Absent from legal framework.
Sanctions
Sanctions stipulated for late filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. Public officials are subject to fines and administrative sanctions (dismissal, forfeiture of right to hold office) for late filing of declarations. Public officials are also subject to penal sanctions for violations of disclosure requirements. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 298 of Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for non-filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied for violations of disclosure requirements. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 219 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for false disclosure (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied to the Head of State for declaration or specification of false statements in the declaration. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. According to Article 299 of The Criminal Law, public officials are subject to deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding fifty times the minimum monthly wage, for knowingly submitting a false report. A public official has a duty to compensate for the caused losses (Article 30 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020) Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Articles 219 and 299 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Monitoring and Oversight
Depository body explicitly identified	Yes. State Revenue Service (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Enforcement body explicitly identified	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying submission	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person verify submissions. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying accuracy	Yes. According to Sections 27 and 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, the Constitution Protection Bureau and the Prime Minister are assigned the legal responsibility to verify if the declarations contain any violations of the Law. However, the Law is not clear regarding which body is assigned the authority for content verification, as it assigns it to a general "competent autorithy" in case a wrongdoing is assessed. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Public access to declarations
Public availability	Yes. In order to ensure the protection of personal data, the declarations shall contain a part that is publicly accessible and a part that is not publicly accessible. (Article 26 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Timing of information release specified	Yes. (6) The data to be published indicated in the declarations of the President, members of the Saeima, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ministers for Special Assignments, Parliamentary Secretaries and councillors of city councils shall be published electronically not later than within one month, but the data to be published indicated in the declarations of other public officials not later than within three months after the submission thereof to the State Revenue Service. (Article 26 (6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Location(s) of access specified	Yes. Declaration will be published electronically. (Article 26 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cost of access specified	No. Absent from legal framework.
Members of Parliament
Disclosure items
Spouses and children included in disclosure	Yes. Name of the spouse is included in the declaration; property of dependents is included (Article 24 (1.1) (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income and Assets
Real estate	Yes. Real estate must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Movable assets	Yes. Movable assets must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cash	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose cash savings if it exceeds twenty months’ wages. (Article 24 (1.7) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Loans and Debts	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose loans and debts if the amount exceeds 20 minimum monthly wages. (Article 24 (1.10) (1.11) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income from outside employment/assets	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose all income earned in the period covered by the asset declaration. (Article 24 (1.8) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Incompatibilities
Gifts received as a public official	No. Absent from legal framework.
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The MEPs may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. The MEPs may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Holding government contracts	No. Absent from legal framework.
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose all other positions held. The president may not be a partner in a company that receives orders for public produrement (Article 10 (1) and Article 24 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Post-employment	Yes. The MEPs are required to disclose all other positions held that would violate public/public incompatibilities within 2 years of leaving office. (Articles 24 (1.3) and 25 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. The Head of state is required to disclose all other positions held. (Article 24 (1.3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Article 11 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Concurrent employment of family members in public sector	No. Absent from legal framework.
Filing frequency
Filing required upon taking office	Yes. A person, upon assuming office, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law within one month from the day when a decision was taken regarding his or her the appointment, election or approval in the office of the public official or from the day the term of office of members of the Saeima or the councillors of local government city councils (parish or district councils) has begun in accordance with law. (Article 25 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required upon leaving office	Yes. If a person has held the office of a public official for more than three months, he or she, upon ending the duties of office of the public official, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 3 of this Law within a time period of one month after the last day of the performance of the duties of the office. (Article 25 (3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required annually	Yes. A public official shall submit each year by 1 April the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law. (Article 25 (2) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ad hoc filing required upon change in assets or conflicts of interest	No. Absent from legal framework.
Sanctions
Sanctions stipulated for late filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. Public officials are subject to fines and administrative sanctions (dismissal, forfeiture of right to hold office) for late filing of declarations. Public officials are also subject to penal sanctions for violations of disclosure requirements. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 298 of Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for non-filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied for violations of disclosure requirements. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 219 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for false disclosure (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied to the Head of State for declaration or specification of false statements in the declaration. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. According to Article 299 of The Criminal Law, public officials are subject to deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding fifty times the minimum monthly wage, for knowingly submitting a false report. A public official has a duty to compensate for the caused losses (Article 30 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020) Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Articles 219 and 299 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Monitoring and Oversight
Depository body explicitly identified	Yes. State Revenue Service (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Enforcement body explicitly identified	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying submission	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person verify submissions. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying accuracy	Yes. According to Sections 27 and 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, the Constitution Protection Bureau and the Prime Minister are assigned the legal responsibility to verify if the declarations contain any violations of the Law. However, the Law is not clear regarding which body is assigned the authority for content verification, as it assigns it to a general "competent autorithy" in case a wrongdoing is assessed.. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Public access to declarations
Public availability	Yes. In order to ensure the protection of personal data, the declarations shall contain a part that is publicly accessible and a part that is not publicly accessible. (Article 26 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Timing of information release specified	Yes. (6) The data to be published indicated in the declarations of the President, members of the Saeima, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ministers for Special Assignments, Parliamentary Secretaries and councillors of city councils shall be published electronically not later than within one month, but the data to be published indicated in the declarations of other public officials not later than within three months after the submission thereof to the State Revenue Service. (Article 26 (6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Location(s) of access specified	Yes. Declaration will be published electronically. (Article 26 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cost of access specified	No. Absent from legal framework.
Civil servants
Disclosure items
Spouses and children included in disclosure	Yes. Name of the spouse is included in the declaration; property of dependents is included (Article 24 (1.1) (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income and Assets
Real estate	Yes. Real estate must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.4) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Movable assets	Yes. Movable assets must be disclosed. (Article 24 (1.6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cash	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose cash savings if it exceeds twenty months’ wages. (Article 24 (1.7) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Loans and Debts	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose loans and debts if the amount exceeds 20 minimum monthly wages. (Article 24 (1.10) (1.11) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Income from outside employment/assets	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose all income earned in the period covered by the asset declaration. (Article 24 (1.8) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Incompatibilities
Gifts received as a public official	No. Absent from legal framework.
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. A civil servant may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose private firm ownership and sources of unearned income, such as capital shares, stock and securities. A civil servant may not be among the shareholders of companies that receive orders for public procurement. (Article 24 (1.5) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Holding government contracts	No. Absent from legal framework.
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose all other positions held. The president may not be a partner in a company that receives orders for public produrement (Article 10 (1) and Article 24 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Post-employment	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose all other positions held that would violate public/public incompatibilities within 2 years of leaving office. (Articles 24 (1.3) and 25 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. The civil servants are required to disclose all other positions held. (Article 24 (1.3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Article 11 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Concurrent employment of family members in public sector	No. Absent from legal framework.
Filing frequency
Filing required upon taking office	Yes. A person, upon assuming office, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law within one month from the day when a decision was taken regarding his or her the appointment, election or approval in the office of the public official or from the day the term of office of members of the Saeima or the councillors of local government city councils (parish or district councils) has begun in accordance with law. (Article 25 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required upon leaving office	Yes. If a person has held the office of a public official for more than three months, he or she, upon ending the duties of office of the public official, shall submit the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 3 of this Law within a time period of one month after the last day of the performance of the duties of the office. (Article 25 (3) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Filing required annually	Yes. A public official shall submit each year by 1 April the declaration referred to in Section 23, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law. (Article 25 (2) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Ad hoc filing required upon change in assets or conflicts of interest	No. Absent from legal framework.
Sanctions
Sanctions stipulated for late filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. Public officials are subject to fines and administrative sanctions (dismissal, forfeiture of right to hold office) for late filing of declarations. Public officials are also subject to penal sanctions for violations of disclosure requirements. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 298 of Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for non-filing (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied for violations of disclosure requirements. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. (Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Article 219 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020))
Sanctions stipulated for false disclosure (fines, administrative, and/or criminal)	Yes. According to Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code, fines are applied to the Head of State for declaration or specification of false statements in the declaration. Article 219 (2). The false data in the statutory income, property, business or other property nature in the declaration if the false statements listed on the property or other income on a large scale, shall be punished by temporary imprisonment or community service, or a fine. (3) The statutory declarable assets or other income the source failure or for giving false information about the declared property or other income source, if the following information as provided by law requested by an authorized state body and if false information indicated on the property or other income a largescale, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a shortterm imprisonment or community service, or a fine, confiscation of property or without confiscation of property. According to Article 299 of The Criminal Law, public officials are subject to deprivation of liberty for a term not exceeding one year, or a fine not exceeding fifty times the minimum monthly wage, for knowingly submitting a false report. A public official has a duty to compensate for the caused losses (Article 30 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020) Article 166.27 of Administrative Violations Code (adopted in 1985, as in force in 2020) Articles 219 and 299 Criminal Law (adopted in 1998, amended in 2020)
Monitoring and Oversight
Depository body explicitly identified	Yes. State Revenue Service (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Enforcement body explicitly identified	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying submission	Yes. The State Revenue Service, Constitution Protection Bureau, the Prime Minister or his or her authorised person verify submissions. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Some agency assigned responsibility for verifying accuracy	Yes. According to Sections 27 and 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau, the Constitution Protection Bureau and the Prime Minister are assigned the legal responsibility to verify if the declarations contain any violations of the Law. However, the Law is not clear regarding which body is assigned the authority for content verification, as it assigns it to a general "competent autorithy" in case a wrongdoing is assessed. (Article 28 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Public access to declarations
Public availability	Yes. In order to ensure the protection of personal data, the declarations shall contain a part that is publicly accessible and a part that is not publicly accessible. (Article 26 (1) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Timing of information release specified	Yes. The data to be published indicated in the declarations of the President, members of the Saeima, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ministers for Special Assignments, Parliamentary Secretaries and councillors of city councils shall be published electronically not later than within one month, but the data to be published indicated in the declarations of other public officials not later than within three months after the submission thereof to the State Revenue Service. (Article 26 (6) of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Location(s) of access specified	Yes. Declaration will be published electronically. (Article 26 of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (adopted in 2002, amended in 2020))
Cost of access specified	No. Absent from legal framework.

Legislation

Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Administrative Violations Code of 1985_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Administrative Liability of 2020_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Criminal Law of 1998_LAT (Latvian)	pdf

*Last update: 2017

Conflict of Interest

The Latvian Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in activities of Public Officials (2002, last amended in 2016) includes a general clause for all public officials to avoid conflicts of interests. Further limitations regarding conflicts of interests are very similar for all public officials. The Head of State, Ministers, and Members of Parliament may not accept gifts, hold shares in private or public companies, or hold government contracts. Meanwhile, Civil Servants are only hindered from accepting gifts or participating in a private company. Furthermore, no public official may become employed or acquire shares of an actor that was previously under their supervision for two years after ending tenure. No laws exist that prevent public officials from participating in a decision which affects private interests.

Should public officials violate regulations on conflicts of interests, they may face fines, removal from office or prison sentences. The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau functions as monitoring and enforcement body for Head of State, Ministers, MPs, and Civil Servants.

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Restrictions	45	48	48	48	55	92
Sanctions	58	0	0	0	8	67
Monitoring and Oversight	12	62	62	62	75	100
Alternative Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Head of State	10	23	23	23	27	89
Ministers	59	57	57	57	64	89
Members of Parliament	26	23	23	23	50	89
Civil servants	60	43	43	43	43	79

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Head of State
Restrictions
General restriction on conflict of interest	Yes. The purpose of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials is to ensure that the actions of public officials (here included the President) are in the public interests by preventing the influence of a personal or financial interest of any public official, his or her relatives or counterparties on the actions of the public official, to promote openness of the actions of the public officials and their public accountability, as well as the public confidence in the actions of public officials. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (5), 2 and 4 (1) 1.)
Accepting gifts	Yes. The President, the Chairperson of the Saeima, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon fulfilling the duties of the office, as well as the spouses of the abovementioned officials are permitted to accept diplomatic gifts within the framework of State, official or work visits in Latvia or abroad with which heads of states, chairpersons of parliaments, heads of governments or ministers for foreign affairs exchange upon prior co-ordination in accordance with the procedures provided for in the diplomatic protocol. A public official is prohibited from accepting gifts outside the fulfilment of the duties of office if in relation to the donor the public official has, within two years prior to receipt of the gift, prepared or issued an administrative act or performed supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, and also entered into contracts or performed other activities associated with the fulfilment of the duties of office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 13^1 (1) and 13^2 (1))
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. A public official shall not obtain income from capital shares and stock, as well as from any kind of securities in commercial companies that are registered in tax-free or low-tax countries and territories in accordance with Cabinet regulations. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (3) (4))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (4) )
Holding government contracts	Yes. The President, members of the Saeima, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers, and Ministers for Special Assignments may not be the shareholders, stockholders, partners of such commercial company or such individual merchants who receive orders for public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, State financial resources or State-guaranteed credits. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 10 (1))
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. The office of the President shall not be held concurrently with any other office. (Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (as of 2024), Section 38 Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (1) and 7 (1))
Post-employment	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. A public official, for two years after he or she has taken a decision or participated in taking of a decision to grant public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, to grant financial resources to a public person, or has performed monitoring, control or punishment functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, is prohibited to obtain the property of such merchant, and also to become a shareholder, stockholder, partner or hold offices in such commercial company. Additionally, a public official shall not issue administrative acts, perform supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in relation to his or her counterparties also for two years after termination of contractual relationship. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 9 (4), 10 (7) and 11 (2))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. The office of the President shall not be held concurrently with any other office. If the person elected as President is a member of the Saeima, he or she shall resign his or her mandate as a member of the Saeima. (Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (as of 2024), Section 38 Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (1), 6 (1) and 7 (1))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. This restriction does not apply in cases where the President participate in the adoption of external laws and regulations or political decisions. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Assisting family or friends in obtaining employment in public sector	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Sanctions
Fines are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Different fines apply to different violations of COI restrictions. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 32)
Administrative sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Generally, a fine of up to seventy fine units shall be imposed for non-fulfillment of the obligations specified in the Law in relation to the prevention of a conflict of interests, establishing a prohibition on the exercise of the rights of a public official for up to two years or without it. Additionally, a person shall be held liable for violations of the Law on Prevential of Conflict of Interest as laid down in separate legislation. A public official has an obligation to compensate the caused losses, which shall be requested in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 30 (1) (4) and 32)
Penal sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	No. The Constitution stipulates that the President may be subject to criminal liability if the Saeima consents thereto by a majority vote of not less than two-thirds. There is no further specification on the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest concerning penal sanctions. (Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (as of 2024), Section 54)
Monitoring and Oversight
Monitoring body specified (guidance, training, data tracking)	Yes. Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. (Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7)
Enforcement body specified (sanctions, hearings)	Yes. The State Revenue Service conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (1) (2) (3) of the Law, and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (4) (5). (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 33)
Ministers
Restrictions
General restriction on conflict of interest	Yes. The purpose of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials is to ensure that the actions of public officials (here included Ministers) are in the public interests by preventing the influence of a personal or financial interest of any public official, his or her relatives or counterparties on the actions of the public official, to promote openness of the actions of the public officials and their public accountability, as well as the public confidence in the actions of public officials. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (5), 2 and 4 (1) 3.)
Accepting gifts	Yes. A public official is prohibited from accepting gifts outside the fulfilment of the duties of office if in relation to the donor the public official has, within two years prior to receipt of the gift, prepared or issued an administrative act or performed supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, and also entered into contracts or performed other activities associated with the fulfilment of the duties of office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 13^2 (1))
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. A public official shall not obtain income from capital shares and stock, as well as from any kind of securities in commercial companies that are registered in tax-free or low-tax countries and territories in accordance with Cabinet regulations. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (3) (4))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (4) )
Holding government contracts	Yes. Ministers may not, either personally or in the name of another person, receive government contracts or concessions. Additionally, they may not be the shareholders, stockholders, partners of such commercial company or such individual merchants who receive orders for public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, State financial resources or State-guaranteed credits. (Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (as of 2024), Section 32 Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 10 (1))
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. A Minister may only combine the office of a public official with: 1) the offices in a trade union, an association or foundation, a political party, a political party alliance, or a religious organisation; and 2) another office or work in the Saeima or the Cabinet, or an office held by him or her in international organisations and authorities if it is determined by decisions of the Saeima and its authorities, regulations or orders of the Cabinet. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7 (2))
Post-employment	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. A public official, for two years after he or she has taken a decision or participated in taking of a decision to grant public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, to grant financial resources to a public person, or has performed monitoring, control or punishment functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, is prohibited to obtain the property of such merchant, and also to become a shareholder, stockholder, partner or hold offices in such commercial company. Additionally, a public official shall not issue administrative acts, perform supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in relation to his or her counterparties also for two years after termination of contractual relationship. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 9 (4), 10 (7) and 11 (2))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. A Minister may only combine the office of a public official with: 1) the offices in a trade union, an association or foundation, a political party, a political party alliance, or a religious organisation; and 2) another office or work in the Saeima or the Cabinet, or an office held by him or her in international organisations and authorities if it is determined by decisions of the Saeima and its authorities, regulations or orders of the Cabinet. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7 (2))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. This restriction does not apply in cases where the Minister participates in the adoption of external laws and regulations or political decisions, or where s/he participates in the adoption of the decisions of the Cabinet on the specification of their own remuneration or the appointment, election or approval of themselves to office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Assisting family or friends in obtaining employment in public sector	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Sanctions
Fines are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Different fines apply to different violations of COI restrictions. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 32)
Administrative sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Generally, a fine of up to seventy fine units shall be imposed for non-fulfillment of the obligations specified in the Law in relation to the prevention of a conflict of interests, establishing a prohibition on the exercise of the rights of a public official for up to two years or without it. Additionally, a person shall be held liable for violations of the Law on Prevential of Conflict of Interest as laid down in separate legislation. A public official has an obligation to compensate the caused losses, which shall be requested in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 30 (1) (4) and 32)
Penal sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	No. There is no further specification on the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest concerning penal sanctions.
Monitoring and Oversight
Monitoring body specified (guidance, training, data tracking)	Yes. Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. (Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7)
Enforcement body specified (sanctions, hearings)	Yes. The State Revenue Service conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (1) (2) (3) of the Law, and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (4) (5). (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 33)
Members of Parliament
Restrictions
General restriction on conflict of interest	Yes. The purpose of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials is to ensure that the actions of public officials (here included Members of the Saeima) are in the public interests by preventing the influence of a personal or financial interest of any public official, his or her relatives or counterparties on the actions of the public official, to promote openness of the actions of the public officials and their public accountability, as well as the public confidence in the actions of public officials. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (5), 2 and 4 (1) 2.)
Accepting gifts	Yes. The President, the Chairperson of the Saeima, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, upon fulfilling the duties of the office, as well as the spouses of the abovementioned officials are permitted to accept diplomatic gifts within the framework of State, official or work visits in Latvia or abroad with which heads of states, chairpersons of parliaments, heads of governments or ministers for foreign affairs exchange upon prior co-ordination in accordance with the procedures provided for in the diplomatic protocol. A public official is prohibited from accepting gifts outside the fulfilment of the duties of office if in relation to the donor the public official has, within two years prior to receipt of the gift, prepared or issued an administrative act or performed supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, and also entered into contracts or performed other activities associated with the fulfilment of the duties of office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 13^1 (1) and 13^2 (1))
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. A public official shall not obtain income from capital shares and stock, as well as from any kind of securities in commercial companies that are registered in tax-free or low-tax countries and territories in accordance with Cabinet regulations. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (3) (4))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (4) )
Holding government contracts	Yes. Members of the Saeima may not, either personally or in the name of another person, receive government contracts or concessions. Additionally, they may not be the shareholders, stockholders, partners of such commercial company or such individual merchants who receive orders for public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, State financial resources or State-guaranteed credits. (Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (as of 2024), Section 32 Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 10 (1))
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	Yes. A Member of the Saeima may only combine the office of a public official with: 1) the offices in a trade union, an association or foundation, a political party, a political party alliance, or a religious organisation; and 2) another office or work in the Saeima or the Cabinet, or an office held by him or her in international organisations and authorities if it is determined by decisions of the Saeima and its authorities, regulations or orders of the Cabinet. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7 (2))
Post-employment	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. A public official, for two years after he or she has taken a decision or participated in taking of a decision to grant public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, to grant financial resources to a public person, or has performed monitoring, control or punishment functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, is prohibited to obtain the property of such merchant, and also to become a shareholder, stockholder, partner or hold offices in such commercial company. Additionally, a public official shall not issue administrative acts, perform supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in relation to his or her counterparties also for two years after termination of contractual relationship. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 9 (4), 10 (7) and 11 (2))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	Yes. A Member of the Saeima may only combine the office of a public official with: 1) the offices in a trade union, an association or foundation, a political party, a political party alliance, or a religious organisation; and 2) another office or work in the Saeima or the Cabinet, or an office held by him or her in international organisations and authorities if it is determined by decisions of the Saeima and its authorities, regulations or orders of the Cabinet. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7 (2))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. This restriction does not apply in cases where the Member of the Saeima participates in the adoption of external laws and regulations or political decisions, or where s/he participates in the adoption of the decisions of the Saeima on the specification of their own remuneration or the appointment, election or approval of themselves to office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Assisting family or friends in obtaining employment in public sector	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Sanctions
Fines are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Different fines apply to different violations of COI restrictions. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 32)
Administrative sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Generally, a fine of up to seventy fine units shall be imposed for non-fulfillment of the obligations specified in the Law in relation to the prevention of a conflict of interests, establishing a prohibition on the exercise of the rights of a public official for up to two years or without it. Additionally, a person shall be held liable for violations of the Law on Prevential of Conflict of Interest as laid down in separate legislation. A public official has an obligation to compensate the caused losses, which shall be requested in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 30 (1) (4) and 32)
Penal sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	No. There is no further specification on the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest concerning penal sanctions.
Monitoring and Oversight
Monitoring body specified (guidance, training, data tracking)	Yes. Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. (Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7)
Enforcement body specified (sanctions, hearings)	Yes. The State Revenue Service conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (1) (2) (3) of the Law, and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (4) (5). (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 33)
Civil servants
Restrictions
General restriction on conflict of interest	Yes. The purpose of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials is to ensure that the actions of public officials (here included civil servants) are in the public interests by preventing the influence of a personal or financial interest of any public official, his or her relatives or counterparties on the actions of the public official, to promote openness of the actions of the public officials and their public accountability, as well as the public confidence in the actions of public officials. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 1 (5), 2 and 4 (1) 17.)
Accepting gifts	Yes. A public official is prohibited from accepting gifts outside the fulfilment of the duties of office if in relation to the donor the public official has, within two years prior to receipt of the gift, prepared or issued an administrative act or performed supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, and also entered into contracts or performed other activities associated with the fulfilment of the duties of office. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 13^2 (1))
Private firm ownership and/or stock holdings	Yes. A public official shall not obtain income from capital shares and stock, as well as from any kind of securities in commercial companies that are registered in tax-free or low-tax countries and territories in accordance with Cabinet regulations. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (3) (4))
Ownership of state-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 9 (4) )
Holding government contracts	No. Absent from legal framework.
Board member, advisor, or company officer of private firm	No. Absent from legal framework.
Post-employment	Yes. A public official while he or she is a representative of the holder of capital shares of a public person, as well as three years after the fulfilment of these duties, is prohibited to acquire capital shares, stocks or property of the relevant capital company. A public official, for two years after he or she has taken a decision or participated in taking of a decision to grant public procurements, partnership procurements, procurements of public service providers or concessions, to grant financial resources to a public person, or has performed monitoring, control or punishment functions, or has administered insolvency proceedings, is prohibited to obtain the property of such merchant, and also to become a shareholder, stockholder, partner or hold offices in such commercial company. Additionally, a public official shall not issue administrative acts, perform supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in relation to his or her counterparties also for two years after termination of contractual relationship. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 9 (4), 10 (7) and 11 (2))
Simultaneously holding policy-making position and policy-executing position	No. A public official is permitted to combine his or her office of the public official with another office in such authority of a public person in which he or she is fulfilling the official duties of a public official, if such combining of offices does not entail a conflict of interest and if restrictions for combining the office of a public official are not provided for in the Law or another regulatory enactment. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 6 (3))
Participating in official decision-making processes that affect private interests	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Assisting family or friends in obtaining employment in public sector	Yes. A public official is prohibited, in the performance of the duties of the public official, to prepare or issue administrative acts, perform the supervision, control, inquiry or punitive functions, enter into contracts or perform other activities in which such public officials, their relatives or counterparties are personally or financially interested. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 11 (1) (6))
Sanctions
Fines are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Different fines apply to different violations of COI restrictions. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 32)
Administrative sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	Yes. Generally, a fine of up to seventy fine units shall be imposed for non-fulfillment of the obligations specified in the Law in relation to the prevention of a conflict of interests, establishing a prohibition on the exercise of the rights of a public official for up to two years or without it. Additionally, a person shall be held liable for violations of the Law on Prevential of Conflict of Interest as laid down in separate legislation. A public official has an obligation to compensate the caused losses, which shall be requested in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law. (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Sections 30 (1) (4) and 32)
Penal sanctions are stipulated for violations of COI regulations restricting behavior	No. There is no further specification on the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest concerning penal sanctions.
Monitoring and Oversight
Monitoring body specified (guidance, training, data tracking)	Yes. Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. (Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 7)
Enforcement body specified (sanctions, hearings)	Yes. The State Revenue Service conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (1) (2) (3) of the Law, and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau conducts administrative violation proceedings regarding the violations referred to in Section 32 (4) (5). (Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002, as amended in 2024, Section 33)

Legislation

Constitution of the Republic of Latvia of 1922 (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials of 2002 (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of 2002 (Latvian)	pdf

*Last update: 2017

Freedom of Information

Latvia's legal freedom of information framework is primarily governed by its Constitution (1922) and Freedom of Information Law (1998, amended 2015). The purpose of the Law is to ensure that the public has access to information, which is at the disposal of institutions or which an institution has a duty to create. An institution is defined as every institution, as well as persons who implement administrative functions.

Specific exemptions to disclosure are outlined in the aforementioned FOI law, Law on Official Secrets (1996), and Personal Data Protection Law (2000). No public interest test exists whereby exemptions to disclosure may be overridden in cases where disclosure of information benefits the public interest.

Appeals may be filed with public authorities and with the courts. There is no appeals process through an independent non-judicial mechanism, such as an information commissioner.

There are no sanctions specified in the law for violations of FOI provisions, nor are there any enforcement or oversight bodies tasked with managing implementation.

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024
Scope and Coverage	64	93	93	93	93	93
Information access and release	42	54	54	54	54	88
Exceptions and Overrides	50	33	33	33	33	67
Sanctions for non-compliance	0	67	67	67	67	0
Monitoring and Oversight	50	50	50	50	50	0

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Scope and Coverage
Scope of disclosure
Existence of legal right to access	Yes. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression which includes the right to freely receive, keep and distribute information and to express their views. Censorship is prohibited (Article 100, Constitution of Latvia, 1922)
"Information" or "Documents" is defined	Yes. 1) information – information or compilations of information, in any technically possible form of fixation, storage or transfer; (Article 1 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Proactive disclosure is specified	Yes. 1. These Regulations prescribe the procedures, by which institutions shall place information on the Internet in order to ensure availability thereof. 2. These Regulations shall apply to institutions of direct administration and to derived public persons, except for local government institutions. (Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 445 Procedures for Institutions to Post Information on the Internet, 2020)
Coverage of public and private sectors
Executive branch	Yes. The purpose of the law is to ensure that the public has access to information which is held by an institution or a body under its jurisdiction are obliged to. This Act provides for a single procedure in which individuals are entitled to obtain information and authority to use it. This Law applies to documented information that the institutions of information circulation. An institution is defined as every institution, as well as persons who implement administration functions and tasks if such person in the circulation of information is associated with the implementation of the relevant functions and tasks. (Articles 1 and 2 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Legislative branch	Yes. The purpose of the law is to ensure that the public has access to information which is held by an institution or a body under its jurisdiction are obliged to. This Act provides for a single procedure in which individuals are entitled to obtain information and authority to use it. This Law applies to documented information that the institutions of information circulation. An institution is defined as every institution, as well as persons who implement administration functions and tasks if such person in the circulation of information is associated with the implementation of the relevant functions and tasks. (Articles 1 and 2 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Judicial branch	Yes. The purpose of the law is to ensure that the public has access to information which is held by an institution or a body under its jurisdiction are obliged to. This Act provides for a single procedure in which individuals are entitled to obtain information and authority to use it. This Law applies to documented information that the institutions of information circulation. An institution is defined as every institution, as well as persons who implement administration functions and tasks if such person in the circulation of information is associated with the implementation of the relevant functions and tasks. (Articles 1 and 2 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Other public bodies	Yes. The purpose of the law is to ensure that the public has access to information which is held by an institution or a body under its jurisdiction are obliged to. This Act provides for a single procedure in which individuals are entitled to obtain information and authority to use it. This Law applies to documented information that the institutions of information circulation. An institution is defined as every institution, as well as persons who implement administration functions and tasks if such person in the circulation of information is associated with the implementation of the relevant functions and tasks. (Articles 1 and 2 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Private sector	No. Absent from legal framework.
Access to specific documents (subject to reactive and/or proactive disclosure)
Draft legal instruments	Yes. The government has to inform the society of its actions. The meetings of the Cabinet are open and their agenda, minutes, and drafts of regulatory enactments must be published on the webpage of the Cabinet. The ministries are responsible for informing the society of drafts of legal enactments. The procedure is further governed by the Cabinet's internal instructions. (Article 29 of the Cabinet Structure Law, 2008, amended 2016 Section IV and V of the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 445, Procedures for Institutions to Post Information on the Internet (2020))
Enacted legal instruments	Yes. Every law and Cabinet Regulation and President act must be published in the official newspaper.Cabinet decisions and Prime Minister's orders must be published in the official newspaper unless otherwise provided therein. (Official Publications and legal information law, 2012, amended 2021)
Annual budgets	Yes. The state budget has to be regularly published in a comprehensible and easily understandable form. Every institution has to publish its budget on their reggaes a month after the adoption of the state's annual one. Local governments have to make their budgets available. (Article 14 of the Law on Budget and Financial Management, 1994 (amended 2021))
Annual chart of accounts (actual expenditures)	Yes. Institutions prepare public reports regarding their activities and use of budget resources Government institutions prepare annual public reports on aims and results of the activities of the institution and its use of budget funding until 1 July of the year following the financial year and afterwards publish them on their webpages in a month's time. (Article 94 of the State Administration Structure law, 2002, amended 2021 Article 14 of the Law on Budget and Financial Management, 1994 (amended 2021), amended 2020 )
Annual reports of public entities and programs	Yes. Institutions prepare public reports regarding their activities and use of budget resources Government institutions prepare annual public reports on aims and results of the activities of the institution and its use of budget funding until 1 July of the year following the financial year and afterwards publish them on their webpages in one month period. (Article 94 of the State Administration Structure law, 2002, amended 2021 Article 14 of the Law on Budget and Financial Management, 1994 (amended 2021), amended 2020 )
Information access and release
Procedural access
Universal access (agencies, citizens and non-citizens)	Yes. (1) The purpose of this Law is to ensure that the public has access to information, which is at the disposal of institutions or which an institution in conformity with its competence has a duty to create. This Law determines uniform procedures by which private persons are entitled to obtain information from an institution and to utilise it. (Article 2 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Type of request is specified (written, electronic, oral)	Yes. Information may be requested in writing, orally or electronically. (Article 11 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Assistance to requesters must be provided by law (includes barriers due to language differences, illiteracy, complexity of requests, etc.)	No. Absent from legal framework.
Cost of access is specified (free, request fees, photocopying costs, other administrative costs)	Yes. The fee for the provision of information should not exceed the document or information search, additional processing and reproduction costs. Do not include any other costs incurred in dealing with legal and political issues related to reply to the request for information. Every applicant for information may request exemption from the fee for the service. The Cabinet shall determine the cases in which an individual is reduced fees for the provision of information or remitted. The procedures by which pays for the provision of information, as well as paid services and the amount determined by the Cabinet. Fees for requested information are mandated only if additional processing is required (searching, copying, etc.). The paid services for providing information, their prices and persons who are exempted of payments or pay at a reduced rate, are specified in Cabinet Regulations. (Article 13 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023 Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Cabinet Regulation No. 940, Regulations regarding Paid Services for the Provision of Information, 2006 (amended 2014))
Deadlines for release of information
20-day response deadline	Yes. A person has to receive the information requested in 7 or 10 days time (based on the volume of the requested information) or receive a notice of extension of the period in 15 days' time. (Article 14 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Agency granted right to extend response time	Yes. Response time can be extended for a period that would lead to an overall response time of 30 days. (Article 14 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Maximum total response time of no more than 40 days	Yes. Response time can be extended for a period that would lead to an overall response time of 30 days. (Article 14 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023)
Exceptions and Overrides
Exemptions to disclosure
Existence of secrecy/states secrets law	Yes. Law on Official Secrets, 1996 (Law on Official Secrets, 1996, amended 2021)
Existence of personal privacy/data law	Yes. Personal Data Processing Law, 2018 (Personal Data Processing Law, 2018, amended 2019)
Specific exemptions to disclosure	Yes. Information exemptions are categorized as information of restricted access and generally accessible information. Restricted access information is exempt from coverage. Information regarding private secrets and private life are also exempt of generally accessible information. State secrets are also exempt from generally accessible information. (Articles 5-8 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023 Articles 9 and 12 of the Law on Official Secrets, 1996, amended 2020)
Public Interest test: Specified exemptions to disclosure may be overridden in cases where disclosure of information benefits the public interest.	No. Absent from legal framework.
Appeals
Appeals allowed within public entities	Yes. There is a right of internal appeal to the head of the institution. (Article 15 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023 Administrative Procedure Law, 2001, amended 2017)
Independent, non-judicial appeals mechanism, e.g., information commissioner. Does not include Ombudsman unless appeals decisions are binding.	No. Absent from legal framework.
Judicial appeals mechanism	Yes. Administrative District Court decisios can be appealed in cassation to the Supreme Court Senate's Department of Administrative Cases. (Article 15 of the Freedom of Information Law, 1998, amended 2023 Administrative Procedure Law, 2001, amended 2017)
Sanctions for non-compliance
Administrative sanctions are specified for violations of disclosure requirements	No. Absent from legal framework.
Fines are specified for violations of disclosure requirements	No. Absent from legal framework.
Criminal sanctions are specified for violations of disclosure requirements	No. Absent from legal framework.
Monitoring and Oversight
Information officers must be appointed in public agencies	No. Absent from legal framework.
Public body that is responsible for applying sanctions	No. Absent from legal framework.
Public body that is responsible for public outreach (raising public awareness)	No. Absent from legal framework.
Nodal agency for RTI (implementation support/compliance within public sector). Does not include Ombudsman.	No. Absent from legal framework.
Ombudsman involvement in implementation is specified by law	No. Absent from legal framework.
Reporting of data and/or implementation is required	No. Absent from legal framework.

Legislation

Constitution of the Republic of Latvia of 1922_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Official Secrets of 1996_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Personal Data Protection Law of 2018_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Administrative Procedure Law of 2001_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Freedom of Information Law of 1998_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Cabinet Regulation No. 445 of 2020_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Law on the Structure of the Cabinet of Ministers of 2008_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Official Publications and Legal Information of 2012_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Budget and Financial Management of 1994_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
State Administration Structure Law of 2002_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Cabinet Regulation No. 940 of 2006_LAT (Latvian)	pdf
Rules of Procedure of the Cabinet of Ministers of 2009_LAT (Latvian)	pdf

*Last update: 2017

Public Procurement

The Latvian public procurement system is regulated primarily by the Public Procurement Law and the Law on Procurement for the Needs of Public Utilities Providers. The public procurement body is the Procurement Monitoring Bureau which is an organization under the Ministry of Finance.

The lowest minimum thresholds for conducting a public procurement tender are:

▪         LVL 4,000 (ca. EUR 5,500) for goods

▪         LVL 14,000 (ca. EUR 20,000) for works

▪         LVL 4,000 (ca. EUR 5,500) for services

The minimum number of bidders is 2-3 for restricted procedures and 2-3 for negotiated and competitive dialog procedures. The minimum submission period is 30 days for open procedures, 25 days for restricted procedures and 25 for negotiated procedures from dispatch date. The final beneficial owners do not have to be disclosed when placing a bid.

There is no case for preferential treatment, but contracting authorities can prescribe environmental considerations through the evaluation criteria.

There are several options for bid exclusion: corruption, violation of environmental enactments, bankruptcy, liquidation, false information, outstanding tax or social security contribution. Bids can be also excluded because of abnormally low bid prices.

In the bid evaluation phase, there are conflict of interest restrictions on the composition of the evaluation committee. However, no form of independence of the contracting authority is mandated for the evaluation committee.

There is a payable fee in case of an arbitration procedure, which depends on the object of the case. There is a standard court fee of EUR 28.46. Court decisions are publicly released.

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024
Scope	80	78	86	87	79
Information availability	82	32	82	44	46
Evaluation	75	75	81	75	69
Open competition	61	61	86	75	56
Institutional arrangements	43	43	43	36	36

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Scope
Threshold - lowest PP
What is the minimum contract value above which the public procurement law is applied? (Product type GOODS)	EUR 42,000. Supply contracts from EUR 42,000 are subject to the full procurement procedures of the PPL; contracts from EUR 4,000 to EUR 42,000 follow the simplified procedure in Section 8˛; below EUR 4,000, no formal procedure applies. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
What is the minimum contract value above which the public procurement law is applied? (Product type WORKS)	EUR 170,000. Works contracts from EUR 170,000 are subject to full PPL procedures; contracts from EUR 14,000 to EUR 170,000 follow the simplified procedure; below EUR 14,000, no formal procedure applies. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
What is the minimum contract value above which the public procurement law is applied? (Product type SERVICES)	EUR 42,000. Service contracts follow the same threshold as goods: full procedures from EUR 42,000; simplified procedure from EUR 4,000 to EUR 42,000; direct purchase below EUR 4,000. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
Threshold - by PP type
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Entity: PUBLIC SECTOR)	EUR 42,000. Contracting authorities subject to the PPL must apply full procedures for supply and service contracts from EUR 42,000 and works contracts from EUR 170,000; below these, simplified or direct procedures apply; above EU thresholds, additional EU‑level obligations apply. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(1)–(2), 8²(1))
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Entity: UTILITIES)	EUR 443,000. Utilities procurement under the LPPSP applies the EU thresholds from the Utilities Directive, updated for 2024: EUR 443,000 for supply and service contracts and EUR 5,538,000 for works contracts; below these values, simplified national rules apply. (Law on Procurements of Public Service Providers 2017, Arts. 6–8; Cabinet Regulation No. 105/2017, paras. 1–3)
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Entity: DEFENCE)	EUR 443,000. Defence and security procurement under the LDSP applies EU‑aligned thresholds equivalent to those of the classic sectors for supplies and services (EUR 443,000) and works (EUR 5,538,000); below these, the PPL's national thresholds and simplified procedures apply. (Law on Defence and Security Procurement 2011, Arts. 5–6; Cabinet Regulation No. 107/2017, paras. 1–3)
Threshold - by product type
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Product type GOODS)	EUR 42,000. Supply contracts of EUR 42,000 or more must follow the full procurement procedures of the PPL; below this, simplified or direct procedures apply. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Product type WORKS)	EUR 170,000. Works contracts of EUR 170,000 or more must follow full PPL procedures; from EUR 14,000 to EUR 170,000, simplified procedures apply. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
What are the minimum application thresholds for the procurement type? (Product type SERVICES)	EUR 42,000. Service contracts of EUR 42,000 or more must follow full PPL procedures; from EUR 4,000 to EUR 42,000, simplified procedures apply. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8(2), 8˛(1))
Information availability
Publishing and record keeping
Is there a requirement that tender documents must published in full?	Yes. Contracting authorities must ensure unrestricted electronic access to procurement documents from the date of notice publication; this is facilitated through the official EPS portal, with exceptions only for confidentiality or security reasons. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 19(2), 23(1)–(3))
Are any of these documents published online at a central place?	Yes. All contract notices above national and EU thresholds must be published on Latvia's central Electronic Procurement System (EPS) at iub.gov.lv; notices above EU thresholds must additionally be published in the OJEU (TED). (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 19, 23; Cabinet Regulation No. 353/2017, paras. 8–10)
Is it mandatory to keep all of these records? -Public notices of bidding opportunities, -Bidding documents and addenda, -Bid opening records, -Bid evaluation reports, -Formal appeals by bidders and outcomes, -Final signed contract documents and addenda and amendments, -Claims and dispute resolutions, -Final payments, -Disbursement data (as required by the country’s financial management system)	Yes. Contracting authorities must keep documentation on the entire procurement procedure for at least 10 years from contract completion, ensuring it is available for audit and review by the Procurement Monitoring Bureau and State Audit Office. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 25, 29; Administrative Procedure Law 2004)
Are contracts awarded within a framework agreement published (ie mini contracts)?	Yes. Contracts concluded through call‑off competitions under framework agreements must be published on the EPS when their value meets or exceeds the applicable national thresholds, ensuring transparency for all stages of framework use. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 9(4), 19, 23)
Sub-contracting
Is it mandatory to publish information on subcontractors (ie names) in some cases?	No. While tenderers must submit information on intended subcontractors and winning tenderers must publish information on subcontractor substitutions on their buyer profile, there is no general obligation to publicly publish the names of all subcontractors for all contracts. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 40(1)–(3), 48(1)(10), 63)
If yes, what is the threshold for publication (i.e. the % of total contract value subcontracted)? For example, if the threshold is 75%, and you have subcontracted out only 40% of your contract, no disclosure is required. Consultant will insert 75% in the short answer column.	No percentage or value threshold exists above which subcontractor identity must be publicly disclosed; the obligation runs only towards the contracting authority, not the general public. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 40(1)–(3), 63)
Evaluation
Preferential treatment
Is there a ban on mentioning specific companies or brands in tender specification/call for tender?	Yes. Technical specifications may not refer to a specific make, source, patent, trade mark, type or origin in a way that favours or eliminates certain operators, unless justified by the contract's subject matter; where unavoidable, references must be accompanied by "or equivalent". (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 30(6))
Is there a preferential treatment for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs)?	Yes. The PPL requires contracting authorities to consider dividing contracts into lots, setting proportionate financial and technical capacity requirements, and using open procedures to facilitate SME participation; Procurement Monitoring Bureau guidance also promotes SME access. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 19(5), 24(2); Cabinet Regulation No. 353/2017, paras. 5–7)
Is there a preferential treatment for local/national companies? (companies from other EU MS are considered foreign companies)	No. The law requires equal treatment and non‑discrimination for all economic operators, irrespective of nationality, and prohibits unjustified restrictions on competition; no local or national preference is permitted. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 2(1)–(2))
Is there a specific set of rules for green/sustainable procurement?	Yes. Cabinet Regulation No. 353/2017 on green public procurement sets detailed technical specifications, award criteria and contract performance requirements for specific product groups and service categories; compliance with minimum green criteria is mandatory for certain public purchases. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 30; Cabinet Regulation No. 353/2017 (consolidated, last amended July 2023)vvc.gov)
Bid evaluation
Are there restrictions on allowable grounds for tenderer exclusion?	Yes. The PPL lists both mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds; mandatory grounds include criminal convictions for corruption, fraud, organised crime, terrorist offences, money laundering and trafficking; discretionary grounds include bankruptcy, grave professional misconduct, anti‑competitive conduct, conflicts of interest and misrepresentation; new exclusion grounds for competition law violations were added in force at end-2024. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 42; Law on Defence and Security Procurement 2011, Art. 44)
Are some bids automatically excluded? e.g., lowest/highest price; unusually low price, etc.	Yes. Contracting authorities must request clarification from tenderers who have submitted abnormally low offers; if the explanation is unsatisfactory, they must reject the offer. Additionally, the contracting authority may reject all offers if it concludes that procurement will not serve the public interest. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 50(1))
Is scoring criteria published?	Yes. Contracting authorities must include in procurement documents the award criteria and their weightings or, where weighting is not possible, their ranking by importance; criteria must be defined before the procedure begins and may not be changed during evaluation. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 28, 57)
Are decisions always made by a committee?	Yes. The PPL requires that a procurement commission (evaluation committee) be established for each procurement or for a period; it must comprise at least three members who are competent in the subject matter and represent the contracting authority. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 23, 95 (Law on Public Service Providers Procurement, Art. 24))
Are there regulations on evaluation committee composition to prevent conflict of interest?	Yes. Members of the procurement commission must declare any conflicts of interest and are prohibited from participating in evaluation if they have personal interests; the contracting authority must take measures to prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest throughout the procedure. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 23, 29, 74)
Is some part of evaluation committee mandatorily independent of contracting authority?	No. The law requires the commission to be competent and impartial but does not mandate that any portion of its members be independent of the contracting authority; external experts may be used but are not compulsory. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 23, 29)
Are scoring results publicly available?	No. Award decisions and general results must be published, but detailed individual scoring results for each tender are not required to be made publicly available; unsuccessful tenderers are entitled to debrief information on the winning bid's characteristics. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 38, 34(1)–(2))
Does the law specify under which conditions the tender can be cancelled?	Yes. The PPL explicitly allows cancellation of a procurement procedure if the contracting authority determines that the procurement will not serve the public interest or if no bids meeting requirements are received; the authority must notify all participants of the cancellation and its grounds within three working days. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 43(1), 51(5))
Open competition
CFT publication
Does the law specify the location for publicizing open calls for tenders?	Yes. Notices for open procedures above national thresholds must be published on the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's website (iub.gov.lv); above EU thresholds, notices must also be sent to the OJEU (TED); the bureau operates the Electronic Procurement System (EPS) as the official publication channel. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 32–34)
Does the law specify the location for publicizing restricted calls for tenders?	Yes. Restricted procedure notices must be published on the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's EPS portal; above EU thresholds, publication in the OJEU (TED) is additionally required. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 32, 35)
Does the law specify the location for publicizing negotiated calls for tenders?	Yes. Notices for competitive procedures with negotiation must be published on the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's Electronic Procurement System (EPS) portal; above EU thresholds, simultaneous publication in the OJEU (TED) is required; negotiated procedure without prior publication does not require a prior notice but a contract award notice must be published within 10 days of contract conclusion. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 32–36)
Minimum # of bidders
What is the minimum number of bidders for restricted procedures?	5. The contracting authority must invite at least 5 qualified candidates to submit tenders in a restricted procedure; where fewer than 5 qualified candidates exist, the procedure may continue with those available. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 37(2)(28); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(28))
What is the minimum number of bidders for negotiated procedures?	3. For competitive procedures with negotiation, the contracting authority must invite at least 3 qualified candidates; where fewer qualify, the procedure may continue with those available. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 37(2)(18); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(18))
What is the minimum number of bidders for competitive dialogue procedures?	3. In competitive dialogue, the contracting authority must invite at least 3 qualified candidates to participate in the dialogue; the law permits continuation with fewer if an insufficient number of suitable candidates exists. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 37(2)(18); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(18))
Bidding period length
What are the minimum number of days for open procedures?	20. For open procedures below EU thresholds, the deadline for submission of tenders must be at least 20 calendar days from notice publication; above EU thresholds, the EU minimum of 35 days applies; for simplified open procedures below national thresholds, the minimum is 10 days excluding public holidays. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 2(1), 37(2)(71); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(3))
What are the minimum number of days for restricted procedures?	20. For restricted procedures below EU thresholds, at least 20 calendar days must be allowed for submission of tenders from the dispatch of the invitation; above EU thresholds, the minimum is 30 days. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 37(2)(43); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(43))
What are the minimum number of days for competitive negotiated procedures?	20. For competitive procedures with negotiation, the minimum time for submission of initial tenders is 20 days below EU thresholds and 30 days above EU thresholds, from the dispatch of the invitation to submit tenders. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 37(2)(86); Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 107/2017, Art. 2(86))
Institutional arrangements
Institutions and regulations
Does the law specify the main EXCEPTIONS preventing the application of the public procurement law for tenders/organisations?	Yes. The main exceptions from the PPL include: certain mixed contracts, contracts in the field of defence and security, contracts based on international agreements, specific utilities sector contracts, contracts related to electronic communications networks, real estate, broadcasting, arbitration and legal services, financial services, employment contracts, certain R&D contracts and contracts between contracting authorities (in‑house and cooperation contracts). (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 3–9, 11–19)
Does the law specify the main types of institutions that must apply the public procurement law?	Yes. The PPL defines "contracting authority" as state and municipal institutions, legal persons governed by public law established to meet general‑interest needs and predominantly financed or controlled by public authorities, and associations of such entities. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 1(1), 3(1))
Does the law specify the main procedure types or procurement methods permitted?	Yes. The PPL provides for: open procedure, restricted procedure, competitive procedure with negotiation, competitive dialogue, innovation partnership, negotiated procedure without prior publication and design contest; simplified procedures apply below national thresholds. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 8–10, 37–40)
Is there a procurement arbitration court dedicated to public procurement cases?	Yes. The Procurement Monitoring Bureau (Iepirkumu uzraudzības birojs, IUB) acts as the first‑instance review body for procurement complaints; its decisions can be appealed to the Administrative District Court. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 80–86; Administrative Procedure Law 2004)
Is there a procurement regulatory body dedicated to public procurement?	Yes. The Procurement Monitoring Bureau also serves as the regulatory and oversight authority for all public procurement in Latvia, maintaining the EPS portal, issuing guidance, conducting supervision and publishing decisions. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 80, 85–88)
Does the law specify procurement advisors' profession (i.e. degree to be obtained, official list of members of the professional association) and its role in the tendering process (e.g. right to draft tender documentations, conduct market research identifying bidders)?	No. The PPL does not establish a regulated profession of procurement advisers; requirements for commission members relate to competence in the subject matter but do not prescribe formal qualifications or professional registration. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 23, 29)
Is disclosure of final, beneficial owners required for placing a bid?	No. The PPL does not expressly require tenderers to disclose ultimate beneficial owners as a general condition to participate; however, tenderers must confirm absence of exclusion grounds, which may indirectly address certain ownership‑related risks. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 42, 48(1)(10))
Complaints
Is there a fee for arbitration procedure?	Yes. A complaint security (fee) must be paid when lodging a complaint with the Procurement Monitoring Bureau; the fee is calculated as a percentage of the estimated contract value, subject to a minimum and maximum; it is not required for complaints about suspension justification. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 70(1), 83(1)–(3))
Is there a ban on contract signature until arbitration court decision (first instance court)?	Yes. Where a complaint is submitted to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau, the contracting authority may not conclude the contract until the Bureau has issued its decision; automatic standstill applies upon submission of a complaint, though it can be lifted by the Bureau in defined circumstances. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 68–72; Law on Defence and Security Procurement 2011, Arts. 54(2)–(3))
What is the maximum number of days until arbitration court decision from filing a complaint in the case of awarded contracts?	30. The Procurement Monitoring Bureau must examine a complaint and issue a decision within one month (approximately 30 days) of receipt; for objective reasons this period may be extended, but the Bureau must notify the parties. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Art. 84(1))
Is there a requirement to publicly release arbitration court decisions ?	Yes. The Procurement Monitoring Bureau is required to publish its decisions on the IUB website; decisions are searchable and publicly accessible free of charge without registration. (Public Procurement Law 2016, Arts. 85, 88; IUB website iub.gov.lv)

Legislation

Administrative Procedure Law	missing file:
Cabinet Regulation No. 105/2017 on Public Electronic Procurement System (Latvian)	pdf
Cabinet Regulation No. 107/2017 on Threshold Contract Prices for Public Procurement (Latvian)	pdf
Cabinet Regulation No. 353/2017 on the Activities of Procurement Monitoring Bureau (Latvian)	pdf
Law on Procurement for Defence and Security Needs	missing file:
Public Procurement Law	missing file:

*Last update: 2017

Anti Money Laundering

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Risk-based approach						67
Sanctions for natural persons						100
Sanctions for legal persons						100
Pecuniary sanctions for obliged entities						60
Beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements						76
Supervision of obliged entities						100
Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)						100
Mutual legal assistance (MLA) and International Cooperation						100

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Country score
Risk-based approach
Each Member State shall be legally required to prepare a national risk assessment that outlines appropriate steps to identify, assess, understand and mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing affecting it.	Yes. Latvia is legally required to conduct a National Risk Assessment (NRA). The framework is established under the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended), which mandates identification, assessment, and mitigation of ML/TF risks at the national level. The NRA is coordinated by competent authorities and informs policy and supervisory priorities. (Section 6, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Member states shall be legally required to keep the national risk assessment up to date and review it at least every 4 years.	No. The law requires regular updating of the national risk assessment, but no explicit fixed 4-year review cycle is specified in primary legislation. (Section 6, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Member states should legally designate an authority or mechanism to co-ordinate actions to assess risks.	Yes. A coordination mechanism exists: competent authorities (including the Financial Intelligence Unit and other state bodies) are involved in coordinating national AML/CFT risk assessment activities. (Sections 6 and 50, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Sanctions for natural persons
The following conduct, when committed intentionally, is punishable as a criminal offence: the conversion or transfer of property, knowing that such property is derived from criminal activity, for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property or of assisting any person who is involved in the commission of such an activity to evade the legal consequences of that person’s action;	Yes. The intentional conversion or transfer of property derived from criminal activity, for the purpose of concealing its illicit origin or assisting offenders, is explicitly criminalized as money laundering under Latvian criminal law. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
The following conduct, when committed intentionally, is punishable as a criminal offence: the concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement, rights with respect to, or ownership of, property, knowing that such property is derived from criminal activity;	Yes. Latvian law criminalizes the concealment or disguise of the true nature, origin, location, or ownership of property derived from criminal activity, reflecting core elements of money laundering offences. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
The following conduct, when committed intentionally, is punishable as a criminal offence: the acquisition, possession or use of property, knowing at the time of receipt, that such property was derived from criminal activity.	Yes. The acquisition, possession, or use of property, knowing that it originates from criminal activity at the time of receipt, is expressly criminalized. This ensures coverage of passive forms of money laundering. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Aiding and abetting, inciting and attempting a money laundering offence is punishable as a criminal offence.	Yes. General provisions of Latvian criminal law establish that aiding, abetting, incitement, and attempts to commit criminal offences—including money laundering—are punishable. These provisions apply automatically to ML offences. (Sections 15–20, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Money laundering offences are punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least four years.	Yes. Money laundering offences are punishable by imprisonment exceeding four years, particularly in aggravated circumstances, thereby meeting international minimum thresholds for effective criminal sanctions. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
A prior or simultaneous conviction for the criminal activity from which the property was derived is not a prerequisite for a conviction for money laundering offences	Yes. Latvia’s framework substantively allows autonomous money laundering cases without requiring a prior or simultaneous conviction for the predicate offence. Official FIU materials expressly report autonomous money-laundering proceedings, which confirms the offence can be pursued without a separate predicate conviction. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended); FIU Latvia, “102 criminal proceedings initiated based on the information provided by FIU Latvia”)
A conviction for money laundering offences is possible where it is established that the property was derived from a criminal activity, without it being necessary to establish all the factual elements or all circumstances relating to that criminal activity, including the identity of the perpetrator;	Yes. Latvian practice and framework substantively allow a money-laundering conviction once the property is shown to be criminal proceeds, without needing to establish all facts of the predicate offence or identify the predicate offender in the formal way described in the indicator. The system recognises autonomous money laundering. (Section 195, Criminal Law (1998, as amended); FIU Latvia, “102 criminal proceedings initiated based on the information provided by FIU Latvia”)
Sanctions for legal persons
Legal persons can be held liable for the breaches of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 or Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 committed on their behalf or for their benefit by any person, acting individually or as part of a body of that legal person and having a leading position within that legal person, based on any of the following: a power to represent the legal person; an authority to take decisions on behalf of the legal person; an authority to exercise control within the legal person.	Yes. Legal persons can be held liable where offences are committed on their behalf or for their benefit by individuals in leading positions (e.g., decision-makers or representatives), as explicitly provided by Latvian criminal law. (Sections 70.1–70.8, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Legal persons can be held liable where the lack of supervision or control has made possible the commission of any money laundering offences for the benefit of that legal person by a person under its authority.	Yes. Liability of legal persons also arises where insufficient supervision or control by management enables the commission of money laundering offences by subordinate persons. (Section 70.1, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Legal persons held liable are punishable by criminal or non-criminal fines.	Yes. Legal persons found liable are subject to financial penalties, including fines, which are expressly предусмотрены under the criminal law framework. (Section 70.2, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Legal persons held liable are punishable by other sanctions, such as: exclusion from entitlement to public benefits or aid; temporary or permanent exclusion from access to public funding, including tender procedures, grants and concessions; temporary or permanent disqualification from the practice of commercial activities; placing under judicial supervision; a judicial winding-up order; temporary or permanent closure of establishments which have been used for committing the offence.	Yes. Additional sanctions include confiscation of property, restrictions on commercial activities, and even liquidation of the legal entity, ensuring a broad range of dissuasive measures. (Sections 70.2–70.5, Criminal Law (1998, as amended))
Pecuniary sanctions for obliged entities
In the event of a breach of Regulations (EU) 2024/1624 and (EU) 2023/1113, where obligations apply to legal persons, pecuniary sanctions can be imposed and administrative measures can be applied not only to the legal person, but also to the senior management and to other natural persons who under national law are responsible for the breach.	Yes. Administrative sanctions may be imposed not only on legal entities but also on responsible natural persons, including members of senior management, where breaches of AML obligations occur. (Sections 77-79, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Pecuniary sanctions shall be imposed on obliged entities for serious, repeated or systematic breaches, whether committed intentionally or negligently, of the requirements laid down in the following provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624: Chapter II (Internal policies, procedures and controls of obliged entities); Chapter III (Customer due diligence); Chapter V (Reporting obligations); Article 77 (Record retention).	Yes. The law provides for pecuniary sanctions in cases of serious, repeated, or systematic violations of AML requirements, including failures related to customer due diligence, reporting obligations, internal controls, and record-keeping. (Section 78, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Supervisors are able to apply administrative measures to an obliged entity, where they identify: breaches of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 or Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, either in combination with pecuniary sanctions for serious, repeated and systematic breaches, or on their own; weaknesses in the internal policies, procedures and controls of the obliged entity that are likely to result in breaches of the requirements; that the obliged entity has internal policies, procedures and controls that are not commensurate with the risks of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing to which the entity is exposed.	Yes. Supervisory authorities are empowered to impose a range of administrative measures where breaches or deficiencies in AML compliance frameworks are identified, including corrective actions and sanctions. (Sections 77-79, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Where obliged entities fail to comply with administrative measures applied by the supervisor within the applicable deadlines, supervisors are able to impose periodic penalty payments in order to compel compliance with those administrative measures.	No. While supervisors may impose sanctions and corrective measures, the legal framework does not explicitly establish a structured system of periodic penalty payments specifically designed to compel ongoing compliance with supervisory decisions. (Sections 77-79, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Supervisors are required to publish on their website, in an accessible format, decisions imposing pecuniary sanctions, applying administrative measures or imposing periodic penalty payments.	No. The law предусматривает the possibility of publishing information on sanctions; however, it does not clearly establish a comprehensive and systematic obligation to publish all decisions in an accessible and standardized format as required by the criterion. (Section 80, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements
Beneficial ownership information must be held in a central register in the Member State where the legal entity is created or where the trustee of an express trust or person holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement is established or resides, or from where the legal arrangement is administered.	Yes. Latvian law explicitly requires legal entities to register beneficial ownership information in a central register maintained by the Register of Enterprises. (Section 18. 1, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Member States shall ensure that the entities in charge of the central registers are empowered to request from legal entities, trustees of any express trust and persons holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement, and their legal and beneficial owners, any information necessary to identify and verify their beneficial owners, including resolutions of the board of directors and minutes of their meetings, partnership agreements, trust deeds, power of attorney or other contractual agreements and documentation.	Yes. The register authority is explicitly empowered to request information and documentation necessary to identify and verify beneficial owners. (Section 18. 2, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Where no person is identified as the beneficial owner, the central register shall include: (a) a statement that there is no beneficial owner or that the beneficial owners could not be determined, accompanied by a corresponding justification (b) the details of all natural persons who hold the position of senior managing officials in the legal entity equivalent to the following information: all names and surnames, place and full date of birth, residential address, country of residence and nationality or nationalities of the beneficial owner, number of identity document, such as passport or national identity document, and, where it exists, unique personal identification number assigned to the person by his or her country of usual residence, and general description of the source of such number	Yes. Latvia’s framework substantively covers this fallback. Where all possible means have been used and no beneficial owner can be identified, that fact and the reasons must be indicated, and the register records that it is not possible to identify the beneficial owner. The register guidance also shows that the standard identifying details for the relevant natural persons are recorded in principle. (Section 18.2, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended); Register of Enterprises guidance on beneficial owners)
Entities in charge of the central registers are required to verify, within a reasonable time upon submission of the beneficial ownership information, and on a regular basis thereafter, that such information is adequate, accurate and up to date.	Yes. Latvia’s framework substantively satisfies AML-23. The Enterprise Register examines submitted beneficial-ownership documents within fixed working-day deadlines, may request supporting documents to verify reliability, and beneficial-owner information must be updated without delay and no later than 14 days after the information or change becomes known. (Sections 18.2, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended); Sections 18.28B-18.28C, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia; Register of Enterprises guidance on beneficial owners)
Competent authorities, if appropriate and to the extent that such requirement does not interfere unnecessarily with their functions, are required to report to the entities in charge of the central registers any discrepancies they find between information available in the central registers and the information available to them.	Yes. Latvia’s framework in substance provides for discrepancy reporting. Official Register of Enterprises guidelines are addressed to subjects of the AML law and to control and supervisory authorities for reporting potentially false beneficial-owner information to the register. (Register of Enterprises, “Guidelines for reporting potentially false information about the beneficial owner to the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia” (approved 30.05.2024))
The information contained in the central registers must include any change to the beneficial ownership of legal entities and legal arrangements and to nominee arrangements, following their first recording in the central register.	Yes. The Latvian register system keeps the latest data while saving previously registered historical data concurrently, so changes to beneficial ownership are retained after first registration in substance. (Section 4.8 and Section 4.9, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
The entity in charge of the central register is empowered, whether directly or by application to another authority, including judicial authorities, to carry out checks, including on-site inspections at the business premises or registered office of legal entities, in order to establish the current beneficial ownership of the entity and to verify that the information submitted to the central register is accurate, adequate and up-to-date.	No. Absent from legal framework
Where verification leads an entity in charge of a central register to conclude that there are inconsistencies or errors in the beneficial ownership information, the entity in charge of a central register is able to withhold or refuse to issue a valid certificate of proof of registration, or to suspend the validity of an existing certification of proof of registration.	No. Authorities may refuse registration or request corrections, but no explicit legal provision allowing suspension or refusal of certificates exactly as described. (Section 18. 2, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
The entity in charge of the central register is empowered to, whether directly or by application to another authority, including judicial authorities, apply effective, proportionate and dissuasive measures or impose such pecuniary sanctions for failures, including of a repeated nature, to provide the central register with accurate, adequate and up-to-date information about their beneficial ownership.	Yes. Sanctions, including pecuniary penalties, are explicitly предусмотрены for failure to provide accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information. (Sections 77-79, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Competent authorities have immediate, unfiltered, direct and free access to the information held in the interconnected central registers without alerting the legal entity or legal arrangement concerned. These competent authorities include: self-regulatory bodies in the performance of supervisory functions of AML rules; tax authorities; national authorities with designated responsibilities for the implementation of Union restrictive measures; AMLA for the purposes of joint analyses; EPPO; OLAF; Europol and Eurojust when providing operational support to the competent authorities of Member States.	No. Competent authorities have access to beneficial ownership information, but the law does not explicitly guarantee “immediate, unfiltered, direct and free access” in the precise terms of the criterion. (Section 18. 3, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Beneficial ownership information held in central registers may be made available to obliged entities upon payment of a fee, which shall be limited to what is strictly necessary to cover the costs of ensuring the quality of the information held in the central registers and of making the information available. Those fees shall be established in such a way as not to undermine effective access to the information held in the central registers.	Yes. Latvia is at least as favourable as the indicator requires. Beneficial-ownership information is made publicly available on the Enterprise Register website, including to unidentified users and in some cases free of charge, so access is broader than a capped-fee model for obliged entities. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
Any natural or legal person that can demonstrate a legitimate interest in the prevention and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences and terrorist financing has access to the following information on beneficial owners of legal entities and legal arrangements held in the interconnected central registers, without alerting the legal entity or legal arrangement concerned: the name of the beneficial owner; the month and year of birth of the beneficial owner; the country of residence and nationality or nationalities of the beneficial owner; for beneficial owners of legal entities, the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held; for beneficial owners of express trusts or similar legal arrangements, the nature of the beneficial interest.	Yes. Latvia allows broader access than the indicator minimum. The Enterprise Register must ensure public availability of beneficial-owner data, so persons who can show a legitimate interest are necessarily covered as well. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
The following natural or legal persons shall be deemed to have a legitimate interest to access the information listed above: persons acting for the purpose of journalism, reporting or any other form of expression in the media, that are connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;	Yes. Latvia provides broader access than the indicator minimum because beneficial-owner information is publicly available; journalists and media actors therefore do not need a special deemed-legitimate-interest rule to be covered in substance. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
The following natural or legal persons shall be deemed to have a legitimate interest to access the information listed above: civil society organisations, including non-governmental organisations and academia, that are connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;	Yes. Latvia provides broader access than the indicator minimum because beneficial-owner information is publicly available; civil society organisations and academia are therefore covered in substance without a separate express deeming rule. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
The following natural or legal persons shall be deemed to have a legitimate interest to access the information listed above: natural or legal persons likely to enter into a transaction with a legal entity or legal arrangement and who wish to prevent any link between such a transaction and money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;	Yes. Latvia provides broader access than the indicator minimum because beneficial-owner information is publicly available; persons considering a transaction with a legal entity can access the information without needing a separate deemed-legitimate-interest rule. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
The following natural or legal persons shall be deemed to have a legitimate interest to access the information listed above: Member States’ public authorities in the context of public procurement procedures, in respect of the tenderers and operators being awarded the contract under the public procurement procedure;	Yes. Latvia provides broader access than the indicator minimum because beneficial-owner information is publicly available; public authorities involved in procurement are therefore covered in substance without needing a separate express category rule. (Sections 4.10, 4.11 and 18.34, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
Member States shall ensure that the information provided by central registers does not lead to the identification of any person consulting the register where such persons are: persons acting for the purpose of journalism, reporting or any other form of expression in the media, that are connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing;	Yes. Latvia’s framework is substantively stronger than the indicator minimum because the Enterprise Register website provides public access to relevant register information to an unidentified user, so consulting the register does not identify the requester. (Section 4.11, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
Member States shall ensure that the information provided by central registers does not lead to the identification of any person consulting the register where such persons are: civil society organisations that are connected with the prevention or combating of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing.	Yes. Latvia’s framework is substantively stronger than the indicator minimum because the Enterprise Register website provides public access to relevant register information to an unidentified user, so consulting the register does not identify the requester. (Section 4.11, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
Where entities in charge of central registers decide to grant access to beneficial ownership information, they shall issue a certificate granting access for 3 years. Entities in charge of central registers shall respond to any subsequent request to access beneficial ownership information by the same person within 7 working days.	No. Absent from legal framework
Member States shall ensure that entities in charge of central registers shall only refuse a request to access beneficial ownership information on one of the following grounds: the applicant has not provided the necessary information or documents pursuant to paragraph 1; a legitimate interest to access beneficial ownership information has not been demonstrated; where on the basis of information in its possession, the entity in charge of the central register has a reasonable concern that the information will not be used for the purposes for which it was requested or that the information will be used for purposes that are not connected to the prevention of money laundering, its predicate offences or terrorist financing; one or more of the situations referred to in Article 15 applies; the legitimate interest to access beneficial ownership information granted by the central register of another Member State does not extend to the purposes for which the information is sought; where the applicant is in a third country and responding to the request to access information would not comply with the provisions of Chapter V of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.	Yes. At least one operative ground for refusal exists. Where restricted-access information is requested, the applicant must state the grounds and intended use, and the authority may refuse a request that does not meet those requirements. That is enough under the AML-39 methodology. (Section 11(4)-(5), Freedom of Information Law; Sections 4.10-4.11, Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia)
In exceptional circumstances to be laid down in national law, where the access to beneficial ownership information would expose the beneficial owner to disproportionate risk of fraud, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, harassment, violence or intimidation, or where the beneficial owner is a minor or otherwise legally incapable, Member States shall provide for an exemption from such access to all or part of the personal information on the beneficial owner. Member States shall ensure that such exemptions are granted on a case-by-case basis upon a detailed evaluation of the exceptional nature of the circumstances and confirmation that those disproportionate risks exist. The right to an administrative review of the decision granting an exemption and the right to an effective judicial remedy shall be guaranteed.	No. Absent from legal framework
Supervision of obliged entities
Each Member State shall ensure that all obliged entities established in its territory are subject to adequate and effective supervision. To that end, each Member State shall appoint one or more supervisors to monitor effectively, and to take the measures necessary to ensure compliance by the obliged entities with Regulations (EU) 2024/1624 and (EU) 2023/1113.	Yes. Latvia’s law designates supervisors and control authorities and gives them monitoring and enforcement functions over obliged entities. Read substantively, that is enough to constitute adequate and effective supervision even if the law does not repeat the indicator’s wording exactly. (Sections 45-47, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs)
Each Member State shall establish an FIU in order to prevent, detect and effectively combat money laundering and terrorist financing.	Yes. Latvia has legally established a Financial Intelligence Unit. (Sections 50, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
The FIU as the central national unit shall be responsible for receiving and analysing suspicious transaction reports and other information relevant to money laundering, associated predicate offences or terrorist financing.	Yes. The FIU is explicitly responsible for receiving and analysing suspicious transaction reports and related information. (Sections 51, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
The FIU shall be responsible for disseminating the results of its analyses and any additional relevant information to the competent authorities where there are grounds to suspect money laundering, associated predicate offences or terrorist financing.	Yes. The FIU disseminates analytical results to competent authorities when suspicion exists. (Sections 51, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
The FIU shall be operationally independent and autonomous, which means that the FIU shall have the authority and capacity to carry out its functions freely, including the ability to take autonomous decisions to analyse, request and disseminate specific information. It shall be free from any undue political, government or industry influence or interference.	Yes. The FIU of Latvia is operationally independent and autonomous in substance. The law states that it is independent in its activities, that Cabinet supervision does not apply to performance of its tasks or internal organisation, and that it takes decisions related to its rights and obligations independently on the basis of law. (Section 50, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
The FIU, regardless of their organisational status, is authorised to have access to the information that they require to fulfil their tasks, including financial, administrative and law enforcement information.	Yes. The FIU has legal access to financial, administrative, and law enforcement information necessary for its functions. (Sections 51, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
FIUs are empowered to take urgent action, directly or indirectly, where there is a suspicion that a transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing, to suspend or withhold consent to that transaction.	Yes. The FIU is empowered to suspend or block suspicious transactions temporarily. (Sections 52, Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Mutual legal assistance (MLA) and International Cooperation
Member States shall ensure that the FIU to whom the request is made is legally required to use the whole range of its available powers which it would normally use domestically for receiving and analysing information when it replies to a request for information from another FIU.	Yes. Latvia substantively satisfies AML-48. Upon receiving a request from a notified body, the FIU must exercise the rights provided for in the law in order to receive and analyse the information required for the request and reply as quickly as possible. (Section 62(1˛), Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))
Member States shall ensure that FIUs are legally required to exchange, spontaneously or upon request, any information that may be relevant for the processing or analysis of information by the FIU related to money laundering, its predicate offences, or terrorist financing, and the natural or legal person involved, regardless of the type of predicate offences that may be involved, and even if the type of predicate offences that may be involved is not identified at the time of the exchange.	Yes. Latvia substantively satisfies AML-49. The FIU may exchange information on its own initiative or on request, including information relating to money laundering, terrorist or proliferation financing, and persons involved, regardless of the type of criminal offence and whether the predicate offence has been identified. (Section 62(1), Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing (2008, as amended))

Legislation

Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2011	missing file:
Law on Pre-election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014	missing file:
Criminal Law, 1998, amended 201	missing file:
Law On Prevention of Squandering of the Financial Resources and Property of the State and Local Governments, 1995, amended 2001	missing file:

*Last update: 2017

Asset Recovery

Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Laws

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric	2012	2015	2016	2017	2020	2024	Trend
Asset Offices						100
Confiscation						56
International cooperation						75

Values lie in range between 0 and 100, higher values implying higher legislation comprehensiveness

Qualitative Data

Country score
Asset Offices
Each Member State shall legally designate at least one asset recovery office to facilitate cross-border cooperation in relation to asset-tracing investigations and to conduct asset recovery functions in both criminal matters and civil or administrative matters.	Yes. Latvia has an Asset Recovery Office within the State Police, (Designation of the Asset Recovery Office within the State Police as ARO under Council Decision 2007/845/JHA (State Police – Asset Recovery Office).)
Each Member State shall legally designate at least one competent authority to function as an asset management office for the purpose of the management of frozen and confiscated property until the disposal of that property further to a final confiscation order.	Yes. The Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property (Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property, Sections 1–4.)
Confiscation
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the freezing of property necessary to ensure a possible confiscation of that property. The freezing measures shall consist of freezing orders and immediate action. (Freezing measures)	Yes. Criminal procedure provides for seizure of property to secure possible confiscation, recovery of costs, compensation of harm and return of criminally acquired property, (Criminal Procedure Law, Section 361 (Seizure of Property).)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation, either wholly or in part, of instrumentalities and proceeds stemming from a criminal offence subject to a final conviction, which may also result from proceedings in absentia. (Conviction based confiscation)	Yes. Confiscation of property may be imposed as an ancillary punishment following conviction, and special confiscation covers criminally acquired property, (Criminal Law, Section 36(2)(1) (confiscation of property as ancillary punishment); Sections 70, 70ą, 70ąą.)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation of property the value of which corresponds to instrumentalities or proceeds stemming from a criminal offence subject to a final conviction, which may also result from proceedings in absentia. (Confiscation of equivalent value)	Yes. If criminally acquired property or objects of the offence are missing or cannot be confiscated, (Criminal Law, Section 70¹⁴(2)–(3) (confiscation of the value of missing property and recovery of substitute assets).)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation of proceeds, or other property the value of which corresponds to proceeds, which, directly or indirectly, were transferred by a suspected or accused person to third parties, or which were acquired by third parties from a suspected or accused person. (Third-party confiscation)	Yes. “Criminally acquired property” is defined broadly as property which has come into ownership or possession as a direct result of a criminal offence, including proceeds transferred or converted, and such property is subject to confiscation even when held by third parties, (Criminal Law, Section 70¹¹(1)–(4) (definition and confiscation of criminally acquired property).)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation, either wholly or in part, of property belonging to a person convicted of a criminal offence where the offence committed is liable to give rise, directly or indirectly, to economic benefit, and where a national court is satisfied that the property is derived from criminal conduct. (Extended confiscation)	Yes. Criminally acquired property, proceeds from its disposal and yield from its use shall be confiscated, unless they must be returned to the lawful owner, (Criminal Law, Section 70ąą(4) (mandatory confiscation of criminally acquired property, proceeds and yield).)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation of instrumentalities, proceeds or property, or proceeds or property transferred to third parties, where criminal proceedings have been initiated but could not be continued because of illness, absconding, or death of the accused or the limitation period of the offence is below 15 years and has expired. (Non-conviction based confiscation)	No. Confiscation of criminally acquired property is linked to criminal proceedings and generally requires a conviction on the merits; non‑conviction based confiscation in special proceedings has been restricted by Constitutional Court (Criminal Law, Section 70ąą; Criminal Procedure Law, Chapter 59 (special proceedings on criminally acquired property); Constitutional Court judgment on Section 70ąą and Section 358.)
Confiscation without a prior conviction shall be limited to cases where, in the absence of the circumstances above, it would have been possible for the relevant criminal proceedings to lead to a criminal conviction for, at least, offences liable to give rise, directly or indirectly, to substantial economic benefit, and where the national court is satisfied that the instrumentalities, proceeds or property to be confiscated are derived from, or directly or indirectly linked to, the criminal offence in question. (Non-conviction based confiscation)	No. Latvian practice has confirmed that presumed criminally acquired property cannot be confiscated under special proceedings without establishing the offence and guilt in a full criminal trial; (Criminal Law, Section 70ąą; Criminal Procedure Law, Chapter 59; Constitutional Court and Supreme Court)
Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the confiscation of property identified in the context of an investigation in relation to a criminal offence, provided that a national court is satisfied that the identified property is (i) derived from criminal conduct committed within the framework of a criminal organisation and (ii) that conduct is liable to give rise, directly or indirectly, to substantial economic benefit. A ‘criminal offence’ in this case is punishable by deprivation of liberty of a maximum of at least four years. (Confiscation of unexplained wealth)	No. There is no separate unexplained‑wealth confiscation regime; (Criminal Law, Sections 70–70¹⁴; no distinct unexplained‑wealth confiscation provision as of 31.12.2024.)
Member States are legally required to adopt a national strategy on asset recovery and update it at regular intervals of no longer than five years. (Deadline of 24 May 2027)	No. Latvia has prioritised asset recovery in policy documents, but there was no explicit statutory national asset recovery strategy with a five‑year update cycle as of 31.12.2024. (No explicit national asset recovery strategy provision in Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law or Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property.)
International cooperation
To facilitate cross-border cooperation, Member States shall legally require measures to enable the swift tracing and identification of instrumentalities and proceeds, or of property which is, or might become, the object of a freezing or confiscation order in the course of proceedings in criminal matters.	Yes. The Criminal Procedure Law provides for seizure of property to secure confiscation and the Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property regulates execution, while the Asset Recovery Office (Criminal Procedure Law, Sections 358–361; Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property.)
Member States shall legally require the necessary measures to ensure that their asset recovery offices provide, upon request from an asset recovery office in another Member State, any information that those asset recovery offices have access to, and that is necessary for the performance of the tasks of the asset recovery office requesting that information	Yes. The Asset Recovery Office within the State Police is tasked with cooperating with foreign AROs, (National designation of the State Police Asset Recovery Office under Council Decision 2007/845/JHA)
Member States may legally allow for cost-sharing agreements with other Member States on the execution of freezing and confiscation orders.	No. Latvian legislation on confiscation and mutual legal assistance does not contain a specific rule on cost‑sharing (No explicit cost‑sharing provision identified in Criminal Procedure Law or Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property.)
Countries should be able to share confiscated property with other countries, in particular when confiscation is directly or indirectly a result of co-ordinated law enforcement actions	Yes. Latvia may share confiscated assets with foreign states under the Council of Europe (Law on Execution of Confiscation of Criminally Acquired Property; implementation of Council of Europe conventions on confiscation (ETS No. 141, CETS No. 198).)

Legislation

Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), 1995, amended 2011	missing file:
Law on Pre-election Campaign, 2013, amended 2014	missing file:
Criminal Law, 1998, amended 201	missing file:
Law On Prevention of Squandering of the Financial Resources and Property of the State and Local Governments, 1995, amended 2001	missing file:

*Last update: 2017

Latvia

Country Facts

Political Financing

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric

Qualitative Data

Bans and limits on private income

Public funding

Regulations on spending

Reporting, oversight and sanctions

Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/​or candidates

Is it specified that a particular institution(s) is responsible for examining financial reports and/​or investigating violations?

Other institutions with a formal role in political finance oversight

Sanctions for political finance infractions

Legislation

Financial Disclosure

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Primary Metric

Alternative Metric

Qualitative Data

Head of State

Disclosure items

Income and Assets

Incompatibilities

Filing frequency

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Public access to declarations

Ministers

Disclosure items

Income and Assets

Incompatibilities

Filing frequency

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Public access to declarations

Members of Parliament

Disclosure items

Income and Assets

Incompatibilities

Filing frequency

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Public access to declarations

Civil servants

Disclosure items

Income and Assets

Incompatibilities

Filing frequency

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Public access to declarations

Legislation

Conflict of Interest

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric

Alternative Metric

Qualitative Data

Head of State

Restrictions

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Ministers

Restrictions

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Members of Parliament

Restrictions

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Civil servants

Restrictions

Sanctions

Monitoring and Oversight

Legislation

Freedom of Information

Quantitative Data

Primary Metric

Qualitative Data

Scope and Coverage

Institutions receiving financial reports from political parties and/or candidates

Is it specified that a particular institution(s) is responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations?