Legislative Review 01.06.–04.06.2026
COMMERCIAL AND CORPORATE LAW
– Senate explains how to calculate the deadline for contesting a shareholder meeting decision
REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
– “Amendments to the Construction Law” adopted in the 2nd reading
– Seminar “The Future of Building Expertise: Artificial Intelligence, Challenges, and Development Directions”
ENERGY
– Amendments to the methodology for calculating electricity distribution system tariffs
– MET invites opinions on the draft regulations for the operation of wind power plants
– “Sadales tīkls” offers a new tariff plan to promote electrification
– Significant increase in electricity volumes in solar power plants
REGULATED SECTORS
– PUC announces a repeated public consultation on the reorganization of 3600 MHz radio frequency usage rights
– Amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law
IMMIGRATION
TAXES
– Updated methodological material “On the application of value added tax to services”
– Updated methodological material “Application of value added tax to transactions of public persons and private persons performing delegated or authorized state administration tasks”
– Updated methodological material “On filling out the value added tax declaration and its appendices”
– Published methodological material “On filling out registration applications in the SRS VAT payer register”
CUSTOMS
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
– Amendments to the Civil Procedure Law for debt collection cases
– Amendments to the Criminal Law will increase liability for prohibited agreements in procurement, and amendments to the law “On the Procedure for the Entry into Force and Application of the Criminal Law” will determine when this offense is committed on a large scale
– Senate identifies deficiencies in the evaluation of evidence in a case regarding the illegal acquisition and keeping of an American puma
– Judgment on the recognition of ownership rights for a municipality on the basis of redemption
COMMERCIAL AND CORPORATE LAW
Case Law
Senate explains how to calculate the deadline for contesting a shareholder meeting decision (Case No. SKC-73/2026)
Decision adopted on 27.05.2026.
The Senate examined an ancillary complaint regarding a decision of the Riga Regional Court, which refused to accept a statement of claim in a civil case for the recognition of shareholder meeting decisions as void and the provision of information to a shareholder. The judge of the Economic Affairs Court, in refusing to accept the statement of claim, had recognized that the deadline provided in the Commercial Law for bringing an action to recognize a shareholder meeting decision as void had passed. Since the meeting took place on July 31, the three-month substantive preclusive period was deemed to have ended on October 30, but the statement of claim was submitted to the court on October 31.
In the Senate’s view, substantive deadlines derived from legal norms, counted in years, months, weeks, and days, are to be calculated in full days and begin on the day following the event from which the deadline is to be counted. In the case at hand, the three-month substantive preclusive period began on August 1, or the day after the shareholder meeting. Consequently, the last day of the period is October 31, which is the date corresponding to the day of the event that triggered the period—namely, the holding of the shareholder meeting—after three months.
REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
Draft Legislative Acts
“Amendments to the Construction Law” adopted in the 2nd reading (Draft Law No. 1301/Lp14)
Adopted in the 2nd reading on 28.05.2026.
The amendments provided in the law will stipulate that construction work could be started in one stage while the detailing of subsequent stages is still ongoing. The consent of a co-owner is not required if the residential building is not divided into apartment properties and the construction intention provides for construction work in a group of rooms in separate use, insofar as these construction works do not affect other parts of the building in joint ownership. The construction initiator may request that the installation, restoration, or reconstruction of external and internal engineering networks necessary for the operation of the building be provided as conditions for the acceptance of the building for operation, without checking within the framework of the fulfillment of design conditions. The construction of a new building, the placement or reconstruction of a building can be carried out in stages if a construction permit is required for the performance of construction work, by determining and justifying these construction work stages in the construction project. A construction work stage can be started if a construction project at the level of technical project detailing has been developed for the respective stage, a note on the fulfillment of the design has been made regarding this stage, and the conditions for starting construction work have been met.
Industry News
Seminar “The Future of Building Expertise: Artificial Intelligence, Challenges, and Development Directions” (read here)
The seminar will take place on 18.06.2026 at the University of Latvia House of Nature.
The seminar will cover current artificial intelligence solutions, practical examples, and future development directions in the construction and design industry.
ENERGY
Legislative Acts
Amendments to the methodology for calculating electricity distribution system tariffs (Amendments)
Entered into force on 03.06.2026.
The new amendments improve the procedure by which the distribution system operator prepares and submits tariff projects for evaluation to the PUC. The methodology also clarifies the procedure for calculating the electricity balance, taking into account the increasing number of electricity production and storage facilities in the distribution system. At the same time, the methodology is supplemented with conditions for evaluating outsourcing costs and including communication costs in the tariff project. The amendments also provide for greater flexibility in reviewing the tariff structure in cases where the volumes of electricity consumption or produced electricity change significantly. Furthermore, the procedure for using the regulatory account balance has been clarified to reduce the risk of sharp tariff fluctuations in future regulatory periods and to ensure more stable tariff development in the long term.
Draft Legislative Acts
MET invites opinions on the draft regulations for the operation of wind power plants (Draft Regulations)
Opinions are expected until 01.07.2026.
The draft regulations are related to the amendments to the Electricity Market Law submitted to the Saeima, which provide for a delegation to the Cabinet of Ministers to issue regulations for both the operation and dismantling of wind power plants. To ensure a timely and open dialogue on the planned regulation, the MET has initiated consultations with residents and industry representatives on the content of the draft regulations even before the official development process of the regulatory framework has begun, as the delegation provided for in the law has not yet been adopted by the Saeima. After the amendments to the Electricity Market Law enter into force, the next round of coordination for the draft regulations will take place on the Legislative Acts Portal (TAP), ensuring official public consultation and inter-institutional coordination.
Industry News
“Sadales tīkls” offers a new tariff plan to promote electrification (public consultation)
Public consultation is ongoing until 30.06.2026
AS “Sadales tīkls” has developed a new tariff plan “Jaudīgais” (Powerful), which will be suitable for customers with high electricity consumption, thereby promoting the electrification process in Latvia.
The “Jaudīgais” tariff plan provides for a relatively larger fixed part, or capacity maintenance fee, than the “Pamata” (Basic) plan, and a smaller variable part. Thus, this tariff will be beneficial for customers—both companies and households—with a relatively high consumption compared to the existing connection capacity. At the same time, “Sadales tīkls” will simplify the tariff structure by phasing out busbar tariff plans (a specific tariff applied to approximately 1% of customer connections).
After the conclusion of the public consultation, the new draft tariff structure will be submitted for review and approval to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
Significant increase in electricity volumes in solar power plants (PUC Electricity Market)
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has published electricity market data for the 1st quarter of 2026, which reveals the current situation in production, consumption, and price dynamics in the Baltic States. The review analyzes key market indicators, highlighting the production and import/export balance, as well as consumption changes and price fluctuations in the market.
In Latvia, production volumes increased in cogeneration plants (+32%) and solar power plants (+166%). Conversely, production volumes in hydroelectric power plants (-7%) and wind power plants (-23%) decreased.
REGULATED SECTORS
Draft Legislative Acts
PUC announces a repeated public consultation on the reorganization of 3600 MHz radio frequency usage rights (consultation document)
Proposals can be submitted until 12.06.2026.
The repeated consultation is organized taking into account the necessity to address the problem of spectrum fragmentation in the 3600 GHz band, as indicated in the Ministry of Transport’s information report “Mid-term Impact Assessment of the Electronic Communications Sector Development Plan 2021–2027”. The purpose of the document is to achieve conceptual agreement and support from all interested parties, including electronic communications sector policymakers, for the roadmap developed by the Regulator, which includes the stages of reorganization of the said band, approximate deadlines for the actions to be performed, institutional responsibility, as well as the necessary technical and regulatory measures.
Amendments to the Consumer Rights Protection Law (Project ID: 25-TA-1352)
Adopted at the Cabinet meeting on 02.06.2026.
The draft law was developed to ensure the transposition of the requirements of Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods into national legislation.
The draft law provides for supplementing the law with new terms: “repairer”, “repairability requirements”, “repair”, “repair platform”, “authorized representative”, “distributor”, “importer”, and “refurbishment”. Additionally, new requirements are set regarding the repair of goods, commercial guarantees regarding durability, as well as requirements for the European Repair Information Form and the European online platform for repair.
IMMIGRATION
Draft Legislative Acts
Amendments to the Citizenship Law will ensure the retention of Latvian citizenship for persons who, for objective reasons, cannot complete the renunciation of another country’s citizenship within the specified term (Draft Law No. 1401/Lp14)
Submitted to the Saeima on 04.06.2026.
The purpose of the draft law is to ensure a legally clear and proportionate regulation in cases where a person has initiated and is performing the necessary actions to renounce another country’s citizenship, but due to objective reasons independent of the person, it is not possible to complete this process within the term specified in the Citizenship Law. The draft law provides for supplementing Section 9 of the Citizenship Law, which regulates cases where Latvian citizenship is retained, by specifying an additional case where Latvian citizenship is retained for a person who wishes to retain it and has submitted a certification of renunciation of another country’s citizenship. At the same time, the Citizenship Law is supplemented with a special procedural order, which provides for the person’s obligation to submit documents on the initiation of the renunciation process and to regularly (once a year) inform the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of its progress.
TAXES
Industry News
Updated methodological material “On the application of value added tax to services” (Methodological Guidelines)
Published: 29.05.2026.
Chapter 1 of the methodological material has been supplemented with a new subsection 1.5, “Special (simplified) VAT registration procedure for small businesses”. The material has been updated in accordance with the amendments to the Value Added Tax Law, which introduced a simplified registration procedure in the VAT payer register for small businesses and self-employed persons.
Updated methodological material “Application of value added tax to transactions of public persons and private persons performing delegated or authorized state administration tasks” (Methodological Guidelines)
Published: 29.05.2026.
The methodological material has been updated in accordance with the amendments to the Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, which introduced a simplified registration procedure in the VAT payer register for small businesses and self-employed persons. Given that public persons (as legal entities), as well as private persons performing delegated state administration tasks, may in certain cases be considered taxpayers, a new chapter “Special VAT Registration Procedure” has been created in the methodological material to explain this regulation.
Updated methodological material “On filling out the value added tax declaration and its appendices” (Methodological Guidelines)
Published: 29.05.2026.
The methodological material has been updated by deleting subsection 9.1, “Procedure for submitting and filling out the special tax regime declaration”, which referred to services provided until June 30, 2021. Consequently, the numbering of chapters has been adjusted, assigning number 9.1 to the next subsection on the procedure for submitting and filling out special tax regime declarations for transactions carried out from July 1, 2021. Additionally, the wording of sub-points 1.6, 1.11, 2.6, and 2.10 of Appendix 1 has been clarified.
Published methodological material “On filling out registration applications in the SRS VAT payer register” (Methodological material)
Published: 02.06.2026
The methodological material provides instructions on the procedure for filling out and submitting applications for registration in the SRS VAT payer register in the Electronic Declaration System (EDS) under the general registration procedure and the special registration procedure in accordance with Section 139.2 of the VAT Law.
CUSTOMS
Industry News
New EU regulation establishes the suspension of customs duties and tariff quotas for the import of fertilizers (SRS: News)
Published: 01.06.2026.
2026. On May 29, Council Regulation (EU) 2026/1181 (May 22, 2026) (Regulation) was published, which provides for the suspension of common customs tariff duties for specific fertilizers from May 30, 2026, to May 31, 2027, and opens autonomous tariff quotas for a certain volume of imports. The Regulation simultaneously stipulates that these reliefs are not applicable to goods originating in the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, as well as to goods directly or indirectly exported from these countries.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Legislative Acts
Amendments to the Civil Procedure Law for debt collection cases (Amendments)
Enters into force on 01.07.2026.
Amendments to the Civil Procedure Law provide for the introduction of automated processing of simplified debt collection cases, allowing the judge’s decision on the forced execution of obligations to be made electronically using automated data processing in an online system.
Draft Legislative Acts
Amendments to the Criminal Law will increase liability for prohibited agreements in procurement (Draft Law No. 1192/Lp14) and amendments to the law “On the Procedure for the Entry into Force and Application of the Criminal Law” (Draft Law No. 1193/Lp14) will determine when this offense is committed on a large scale
Adopted in the 2nd reading on 04.06.2026. Submitted for proposals until 09.06.2026.
Regarding prohibited agreements in procurement currently a legal entity can be held administratively liable, while a natural person who is a participant involved in the prohibited agreement process is currently not punished either within the administrative process or criminally. With the amendments to the Criminal Law criminal liability will be provided for natural persons who are involved in the prohibited agreement process and, acting in the interests of a legal entity, have performed actions to achieve a prohibited agreement in a procurement procedure. In turn, amendments to the law “On the Procedure for the Entry into Force and Application of the Criminal Law” will stipulate that liability for committing this offense on a large scale will arise if the contract price in the prohibited agreement procurement (including all taxes except VAT) has not been less than 100,000 euros.
Case Law
Senate identifies deficiencies in the evaluation of evidence in a case regarding the illegal acquisition and keeping of an American puma (Case No. SKK-15/2026)
Decision adopted on 02.06.2026.
Two persons are accused in the case. It follows from the indictment that the defendants purchased an endangered wild animal of the order Carnivora—an American puma—in the Czech Republic. After transporting the puma to Latvia, it was first handed over to the possession of one defendant, but shortly thereafter taken to the residence of the second defendant, who subsequently kept it for several months in conditions that did not meet animal welfare and safety requirements in an unregistered keeping place. The Riga District Court had found the defendants not guilty and acquitted them, but the Riga Regional Court found them guilty, fining each of them 3,500 euros and recovering expenses for the storage of the puma as physical evidence, which exceeded the amount of the fine nearly five times.
The Senate recognized that the appellate court correctly established that the defendants objectively violated the prohibition set out in the Animal Protection Law, but had not fully clarified whether they violated this prohibition knowingly (intentionally). The Senate points out that the appellate court had not evaluated the defendant’s defense position that the puma was registered in the same manner as one of the defendants had previously registered other wild animals. Furthermore, the court had not evaluated the evidence submitted by the defense that the Nature Conservation Agency, in another case of puma registration, had possibly allowed the same registration procedure as followed by the defendants. When re-examining the case, the court will have to verify the intent of each defendant during the animal acquisition process, including taking into account the danger of the specific animal, as well as re-evaluate the admissibility of the evidence submitted by the defense.
Judgment on the recognition of ownership rights for a municipality on the basis of redemption (Case No. SKC-435/2026)
Decision adopted on 28.05.2026.
The municipality had recognized the real estate as necessary for the implementation of the functions specified in the law on municipalities—the development of sports structures. After the municipality’s decision was made, the co-owners of the real estate had sold their undivided shares in separate transactions to the defendant without offering the municipality the opportunity to exercise its right of first refusal. The municipality brought an action in court against the defendant to achieve the exercise of the right of redemption on the acquired real estate. The Vidzeme District Court and the Vidzeme Regional Court dismissed the claim, recognizing that in the respective transactions, not the real estate but only its undivided shares were alienated, and that in such a case, the right of first refusal or redemption does not belong to the municipality but to the other co-owners.
The Senate recognized that no interest of the co-owners in exercising the right of first refusal, which should be given priority over the interests of the municipality, was identifiable in the case. In the first transaction, the other co-owner did not use their right to claim the first co-owner’s undivided share, while at the time of the second transaction, the former first co-owner no longer had any. Therefore, the municipality was entitled to exercise the right of first refusal, but since this was no longer possible in the case at hand, it must be granted the right of redemption by analogy.
The Senate recognized that according to the legal regulation in force at the time of the transaction, the defendant had an obligation to ensure that the right of first refusal was offered, but it failed to do so. The court clarified the formulation of the claim and recognized the municipality’s ownership rights to the real estate on the basis of the right of redemption.
Need help? Contact us
VIKTORIJA Cherkas
PARTNER, ATTORNEY AT LAW
Viktorija is a Latvian legal expert recognized by international directories in project management and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including energy projects (development of wind and solar park projects).
Viktorija also provides legal advice for day-to-day business operations – from company formation, management, shareholder relations, restructuring, and other business-related matters. At the same time, Viktorija is an expert in real estate development, acquisition, and leasing, and provides assistance to individuals and companies regarding relocation or property acquisition in Spain.
ALISA LEŠKOVIČA
PARTNER, ATTORNEY AT LAW
Alisa is an experienced advocate and a partner at RockBridge Legal. Since 2008, Alisa has advised clients and provided legal assistance in complex tax and customs matters.
Alisa also specializes in anti-money laundering (AML), sanctions, and compliance matters. Alisa has significant experience in corporate crime and investigation cases related to tax, customs, and sanctions issues.
Viktorija Jarkina-Toča
PARTNER, ATTORNEY AT LAW
Dr. iur. Viktorija Jarkina is a partner at RockBridge Legal, ranked by international legal directories Chambers Europe, Chambers Global, Best Lawyers, and Legal 500 among the leading criminal defense attorneys in Latvia.
Viktorija specializes in shareholder disputes, civil and commercial litigation, as well as criminal law, providing representation and defense in white-collar crime cases, including money laundering and environmental offenses. Additionally, Viktorija has extensive experience working with franchises, providing full legal assistance related to franchising.