Legislative Review March 20–26, 2026
COMMERCIAL LAW AND CORPORATE LAW
– Amendments to the Law “On the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia”
– Senate: Distinction between the performance of a contract for client acquisition intermediation and advice or recommendation
REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
– Amendments to Cabinet Regulations No. 693 “Construction Normative LBN 200-21, General Requirements for Buildings” adopted
– Construction Information System training webinar to be held
ENERGY
– Event to introduce the priorities of the new five-year strategy of AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” group
LABOUR LAW
– Amendments to the Law “On the Protection of Employees in Case of Employer Insolvency”
– New law being developed to promote equal pay for men and women
REGULATED LAW
– Amendments to the law aim to simplify land privatization procedures
– Extension of import ban on agricultural and feed products from Russia and Belarus
BANKING AND FINANCIAL LAW
– Implementation of institutional reforms and improvement of professional activity and supervision of administrators
– Improvement of Deposit Guarantee Fund regulation and review of contribution procedures
– Plans to strengthen governance and supervision of credit institutions by introducing stricter requirements
IMMIGRATION
– Plans to clarify the conditions for granting and applying for residence permits
– Temporary residence permits will be revoked for foreigners who endanger public order or systematically violate the law
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
– Amendments to the Environmental Protection Law, the Law “On Environmental Impact Assessment” and the Law “On Pollution”
– Draft law changes the procedure for appealing decisions in the field of species introduction
– Aarhus Convention: nature rights in the European and Latvian legal system
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) & DATA PROTECTION
– Rights of the State Forensic Science Bureau to process biometric data
– Request to access personal data may be rejected if submitted with the aim of later claiming compensation for a possible GDPR violation
TAXES
– Amendments to the law provide for an exemption from tax payments for one real estate property owned by a Latvian citizen
– Temporary reduction of excise duty on diesel fuel
– ECJ judgment: Randstad España SLU
– ECJ Judgment: Oblastní nemocnice Kolín
– ECJ Judgment: Harry et Associés Sarl
– SRS urges not to forget about declaring foreign income
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
– The Criminal Law will be supplemented with a new Article 145.1, establishing liability for distributing intimate material without the consent of the person depicted in the video recording or image
– It will be stipulated that in the event of a person’s death, state compensation will be granted in full to each victim, not proportionally divided among several victims
– Information obtained during operational activities may be transferred to other institutions for investigation
– Planned changes regarding the division of joint property
– Senate refers a preliminary question to the ECJ regarding the obligation to recognize same-sex marriage concluded abroad
– Senate: evaluation of exceeding official powers
– Senate acknowledges that the lower court did not sufficiently assess the admissibility of the application, refusing to accept it for consideration
COMMERCIAL LAW AND CORPORATE LAW
Draft Legal Acts
Amendments to the Law “On the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia” (Draft Law No. 1265/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima committee on 19.03.2026
Given that decisions regarding insolvency administrators will henceforth be made by the Minister of Justice, the draft law replaces references to the Director of the Insolvency Control Service with the Minister of Justice, without substantially changing the regulation. It is expected that the amendment will come into force on 01.10.2026.
Case Law
Senate: Distinction between the performance of a contract for client acquisition intermediation and advice or recommendation (Case No. SKC-231/2026)
Judgment rendered on 18.03.2026
A Company (Plaintiff) filed a claim in court against another Company (Defendant) for debt recovery, based on an intermediation agreement concluded between the parties, in which the Plaintiff undertook to attract clients for the Defendant’s goods and services. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant had not paid for the attracted clients. The Defendant filed a counterclaim, alleging that the agreement was invalid because the Plaintiff had not actually attracted clients.
The Senate found that there was a dispute between the Plaintiff and the Defendant regarding the performance of the concluded contract, not liability related to invalid advice/recommendation provided by the Plaintiff, therefore the lower court, by applying the relevant norms, exceeded the scope of the claim. The Senate indicated that the circumstances described in the statement of claim do not correspond to the institute of advice/recommendation, and therefore the application of these norms is legally unfounded.
Additionally, the Senate concluded that the lower court had not adequately substantiated significant errors that would invalidate the existence of the transaction concluded between the parties. An error regarding personal abilities is significant only if it is essential due to the nature of the transaction; however, the lower court did not fully evaluate this circumstance.
The Senate overturned the judgment of the lower court and remanded the case for re-examination.
REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
Draft Legal Acts
Amendments to Cabinet Regulations No. 693 “Construction Normative LBN 200-21, General Requirements for Buildings” adopted (Project ID: 25-TA-1857)
Adopted at the Cabinet of Ministers State Secretaries’ meeting on 26.03.2026
The aim of the amendments is to reduce the administrative burden for the installation of electronic communication networks in the case of municipal street construction, by providing reserve sewerage for external engineering networks – a place to install the electronic communication network.
In the case of new street construction, it must be observed that at least one reserve cable duct is installed within the red lines of local streets, at least one reserve cable duct is installed on each side of city or village streets and main streets, and at least two reserve cable ducts are installed on each side of arterial streets. To ensure the installation, reconstruction, maintenance, or demolition of electronic communication networks or other underground engineering networks, manholes are installed in the cable ducts. Manholes are placed at the same level as the street or sidewalk pavement with a spacing not exceeding 100 m.
In the case of street reconstruction, if possible, the existing cable duct is rebuilt into a common duct, but if this is not possible, a new reserve cable duct is installed, if technically feasible according to the requirements for the placement of engineering networks.
The new regulations will not apply to construction projects for which the design contract was concluded by 31.07.2026. The amendments will come into force on 01.08.2026
Industry News
Construction Information System training webinar to be held (Read more here)
Published on 27.03.2026
The State Construction Control Bureau invites you to participate in the Construction Information System (BIS) training webinar “Declaration of Unfinished New Construction within the Unified Construction Registration Process”, which will take place on 08.04.2026 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, online – on the Microsoft Teams platform. No prior registration is required, and participation is free of charge.
The webinar will discuss the Declaration of Unfinished New Construction within the Unified Process and other news from the Construction Information System.
ENERGY
Industry News
Event to introduce the priorities of the new five-year strategy of AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” group (Read more here)
Published on 24.03.2026
AS “Augstsprieguma tīkls” (AST) invites investors, cooperation partners, industry organizations, media representatives, and other stakeholders to the strategic priorities presentation event on 02.04.2026 at 14:00-17:00.
During the event, experts from the Bank of Latvia, the Ministry of Climate and Energy, as well as AST and Conexus management will discuss macroeconomic and capital market trends affecting the energy sector, Latvia’s energy and AST group’s priorities and goals, electricity market development and integration, as well as electricity and natural gas transmission system development plans.
LABOUR LAW
Draft Legal Acts
Amendments to the Law “On the Protection of Employees in Case of Employer Insolvency” (Draft Law No. 1261/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima committee on 19.03.2026
It is planned to clarify and supplement the regulation in accordance with the planned reform of the Insolvency Control Service (MKD), transferring its functions and tasks to the Ministry of Justice and the Court Administration. The draft law replaces references to the MKD with the Ministry of Justice and the Court Administration, without substantially changing the regulation.
New law being developed to promote equal pay for men and women (Project ID: 26-TA-700)
Cabinet of Ministers submitted for public discussion until 09.04.2026
The draft law “Law on Pay Transparency” has been developed to transpose EU Directive 2023/970. It is planned to improve the regulation of employment legal relations, promoting equal pay for men and women for the same or equal value work, ensuring pay transparency. The law will regulate employer duties, the implementation of employee rights protection, as well as administrative offenses and liability.
REGULATED LAW
Legal Acts
Amendments to the law aim to simplify land privatization procedures (Draft Law No. 1281/Lp14)
Adopted in 1st and 2nd readings on 26.03.2026
Currently, the law “On Land Privatization in Rural Areas” stipulates that a person concluding a transaction for the acquisition of rural land submits an application to the district municipality council, which makes a decision thereon. When concluding a transaction for the acquisition of urban land, such a decision is made by the chairman of the council. To reduce the administrative burden, it is intended to amend the law, stipulating that henceforth the decision on the compliance of the alienation transaction with legal requirements, not only for urban land but also for rural land alienation cases, will be made by the chairman of the council.
Extension of import ban on agricultural and feed products from Russia and Belarus (Draft Law No. 1248/Lp14)
Adopted in 1st reading on 26.03.2026; Submitted for proposals until 27.03.2026
Amendments to the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development foresee extending the ban imposed in Latvia on importing certain agricultural and feed products from Russia and Belarus. Initially, the ban was set until 01.07.2025, but with the amendments, it is planned to continue applying it until 01.07.2026. The ban also applies to products imported from other countries if their origin is Russia or Belarus. At the same time, transit through Latvia to other European Union countries is still permitted.
BANKING AND FINANCIAL LAW
Draft Legal Acts
Implementation of institutional reforms and improvement of professional activity and supervision of administrators (Draft Law No. 1260/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima committee on 19.03.2026
Amendments to the Insolvency Law are intended to clarify and supplement the regulation in accordance with the planned reform of the Insolvency Control Service (MKD), transferring its functions and tasks to the Ministry of Justice and the Court Administration, as well as clarifying the rules regarding insolvency administrators.
It is planned to replace references to the MKD with the Ministry of Justice and the Court Administration, without substantially changing the regulation. It is also stipulated that an administrator may be exempted from taking the regular qualification examination if, since their appointment or the previous examination, they have attended qualification improvement events for 12 academic hours per calendar year and no less than 100 academic hours during the qualification period. Detailed conditions would be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. Additionally, a new type of qualification examination – an extraordinary qualification examination – would be introduced, serving as a mechanism to verify whether the administrator is still suitable for performing their duties in cases of repeated disciplinary violations.
A decision on imposing a disciplinary penalty in a disciplinary case would be published on the website of the Administrators’ Association, and an application to the court for the removal of an administrator from all processes would also be submitted in cases where the administrator’s official activity was suspended.
Improvement of Deposit Guarantee Fund regulation and review of contribution procedures (Draft Law No. 1285/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima on 24.03.2026
Amendments to the Deposit Guarantee Law have been developed to abolish the one-time initial payment to the Deposit Guarantee Fund for newly established credit institutions and credit unions after they have received a license. It is planned to stipulate that the target volume of the Deposit Guarantee Fund is 3% of the total amount of covered deposits of participants. To ensure that deposit attractors regularly have access to information about the funds available in the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the total amount of covered deposits, it is planned to stipulate that the Bank of Latvia must publish this information on its website quarterly.
Additionally, it is intended to set a ceiling for the level at which payments to the Deposit Guarantee Fund are suspended, as well as to clarify the requirements for calculating the amount of payments.
Plans to strengthen governance and supervision of credit institutions by introducing stricter requirements (Draft Law No. 1165/Lp14)
Adopted in 2nd reading on 26.03.2026; Awaiting proposals until 07.04.2026
Amendments to the Credit Institutions Law foresee significant changes in the governance, supervision, and participation regulation of credit institutions. Terms are clarified and expanded, including those related to ESG risks and crypto-assets; internal control functions, their managers, and the financial director are defined. Requirements for the reputation, independence, competence, and time commitment of members of the credit institution’s council and board, as well as persons performing key functions, have been strengthened. It is intended to expand the Bank’s powers in risk assessment and cooperation with other institutions. Financial management companies and investors from high-risk third countries will also be more strictly regulated.
IMMIGRATION
Draft Legal Acts
Plans to clarify the conditions for granting and applying for residence permits (Draft Law No. 1180/Lp14)
Adopted in 2nd reading on 26.03.2026; Awaiting proposals until 09.04.2026
Amendments to the Immigration Law aim to clarify the rights to grant residence permits to Belarusian citizens, as well as to exclude the possibility of receiving a temporary residence permit for investment in interest-free government securities. Additionally, procedures for accepting and submitting documents will be simplified, and a procedure for rectifying document deficiencies (14-day period) will be established. Employee protection will be expanded, stipulating that a temporary residence permit will not be revoked for a certain period in case of unemployment.
Temporary residence permits will be revoked for foreigners who endanger public order or systematically violate the law (Draft Law No. 1136/Lp14)
Adopted in 3rd reading on 26.03.2026
Amendments to the Immigration Law aim to stipulate that a temporary residence permit will be revoked if competent state authorities determine that a foreigner poses a threat to public order and security, including systematically (three or more times within a year) committing administrative offenses in the areas of administration, public order, road traffic, or child rights protection.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Draft Legal Acts
Amendments to the Environmental Protection Law (Draft Law No. 1269/Lp14), the Law “On Environmental Impact Assessment” (Draft Law No. 1276/Lp14) and the Law “On Pollution” (Draft Law No. 1274/Lp14)
Adopted on 26.03.2026; Submitted for proposals until 08.04.2026
The draft laws are part of a package of draft laws that aim to update the functions of the State Environmental Service (VVD) after the merger of the Energy and Environment Agency, to ensure precise and clear regulation of VVD’s competence. Additionally, it is stipulated that henceforth, administrative acts issued by the VVD regarding the prevention of environmental damage may be challenged before the Director General of the VVD.
Draft law changes the procedure for appealing decisions in the field of species introduction (Draft Law No. 1277/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima committee on 19.03.2026
The draft law “Amendments to the Law on the Protection of Species and Habitats” stipulates that henceforth decisions in the field of species introduction may be challenged before the Director General of the Nature Conservation Agency, and its decision – in an administrative court.
Industry News
Aarhus Convention: nature rights in the European and Latvian legal system (Jurista vārds)
Published on 25.03.2026
The Aarhus Convention has three main pillars: access to information, public participation, and access to justice. Directive 2003/4/EC is the main EU instrument related to access to environmental information. Regulation No. 1367/2006 is the EU’s internal instrument for implementing the Aarhus Convention, covering the three pillars and stipulating that EU institutions and bodies must provide assistance and guidance to the public in exercising their rights to information, participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. Following the amendments, the scope of administrative acts and administrative inaction has been expanded, including defining an administrative act as any non-legislative act with external legal effect that contains rules that could violate environmental rights.
Referring to the Aarhus Convention and Article 115 of the Constitution (everyone’s right to live in a favorable environment) in court is permissible insofar as construction causes significant changes in people’s living space and these changes reach the threshold of an environmental issue. The Aarhus Convention is a sufficient basis to recognize a person’s ability to appeal to court and demand effective action from an institution that has a duty to prevent specific violations in the field of environmental protection. For the public (in the sense of the Environmental Protection Law) to appeal to court regarding state or municipal actions or decisions that threaten environmental quality, it is not always necessary to establish an infringement of individual rights or legal interests.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) & DATA PROTECTION
Draft Legal Acts
Rights of the State Forensic Science Bureau to process biometric data (Draft Law No. 1203/Lp14)
Adopted in 2nd reading on 19.03.2026; Submitted for proposals until 24.03.2026
Amendments to the Biometric Data Processing System Law will stipulate that the State Forensic Science Bureau may use the biometric data system, entering fingerprints obtained in examinations and also processing this biometric data.
Case Law
Request to access personal data may be rejected if submitted with the aim of later claiming compensation for a possible GDPR violation (Case No. C-/24)
Adopted on 19.03.2026
A person subscribed to the newsletter of an optics company located in Germany, entering their personal data in the registration form available on the company’s website. Thirteen days later, they sent a request to the company for access to data in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation, which stipulates that the data subject has the right to obtain from the controller confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning them are being processed, and, where that is the case, access to the personal data and related information. The company refused to comply with the request, having found various articles and legal news indicating that this person systematically subscribes to newsletters of various companies and then submits access requests and subsequently compensation claims in court.
Later, the person filed a claim in a local court, demanding at least 1000 euros in compensation for non-material damage suffered as a result of the rejection of this access request. The local court referred preliminary questions to the ECJ, which provided an answer.
The ECJ acknowledged that the existence of malicious intent must be proven by the controller. Thus, in this case, the company must prove that the natural person requested access to data with the aim of claiming compensation. The fact that, according to publicly available information, the data subject has submitted a large number of requests for access to their personal data, followed by compensation claims against various controllers, may be taken into account to establish the existence of such malicious intent.
The Court also acknowledged that the existence of the right to compensation must be proven by the natural person, among other things, that damage has indeed been suffered. Furthermore, the data subject cannot receive compensation for damage if their own actions are the cause of the damage.
TAXES
Draft Legal Acts
Amendments to the law provide for an exemption from tax payments for one real estate property owned by a Latvian citizen (Draft Law No. 1280/Lp14)
Submitted to Saeima committee on 26.03.2026
Amendments to the Law “On Real Estate Tax” provide for an exemption from real estate tax for one real estate property owned by a Latvian citizen, if it is declared as the person’s place of residence, and the associated land area in cities and parishes does not exceed 1500 m2, and in farmsteads – 2 ha. The amendments would come into force on 01.01.2027.
Temporary reduction of excise duty on diesel fuel (Promulgated version)
Comes into force on 28.03.2026
The Law on Limiting the Price Increase of Petroleum Products comes into force, aiming to temporarily limit the negative impact of rapidly rising petroleum product prices on the national economy and residents due to the global energy crisis. The draft law was recognized as urgent and immediately considered in two readings on 26.03.2026. The law provides for a temporary reduction of the excise duty rate on diesel fuel from 467 to 396 euros per 1000 liters and on marked diesel fuel used in agriculture to 21 euros per 1000 liters. This is intended as a temporary measure from 01.04.2026 to 30.06.2026. After the expiry of the respective period, merchants will not have to carry out an inventory of petroleum products, as stipulated in paragraphs 12.1 and 12.3 of the transitional provisions of the Law “On Excise Duty”.
Case Law
ECJ judgment: Randstad España SLU, (C-515/24)
Adopted on 12.03.2026
The company purchased tickets for football matches, as well as invitations to the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix and excursions on the ship Stad Amsterdam. These tickets were intended to be distributed free of charge to the company’s clients. When the company tried to recover the VAT paid on these tickets, the tax administration refused, considering that entertainment expenses were not deductible.
The ECJ acknowledged that national legislation that entered into force on the date the relevant Member State joined the EU and which introduces exceptions to the right to deduct input VAT for goods and services, such as tickets for sports events intended for clients, employees, or third parties, is not prohibited.
ECJ Judgment: Oblastní nemocnice Kolín (Case No. C-513/24)
Adopted on 19.03.2026
The hospital, whose main economic activity is the provision of healthcare services, also provides other services that entitle to VAT deduction, including clinical trials on the effects of medicines, accommodation for patients’ accompanying persons, medical internships, instrument sterilization services for third parties, prenatal training courses, X-ray, ultrasound, and veterinary examinations.
The ECJ acknowledged that expenses incurred in acquiring goods and services that are required by national legal regulations for the provision of healthcare services for which there is no right to tax deduction, but which are also used for the provision of services that do entitle to deduction, are not to be considered general expenses that entitle to a proportional deduction, merely because such a requirement is included in the legal regulation.
ECJ Judgment: Harry et Associés Sarl (Case No. C‑527/24)
Adopted on 12.03.2026
A French taxpayer requested a VAT refund for transactions carried out in Italy. The French taxpayer submitted the application, the French tax authority received it, but a technical error occurred during transmission to the Italian tax authorities, as a result of which the request became unreadable. Italy did not examine the application and did not refund the VAT, nor did it issue a refusal. Italy considered that no application had been submitted at all.
The ECJ acknowledged that a regulation under which a taxpayer is denied the right to a VAT refund and the right to appeal to court to challenge the inactivity of the refunding Member State, on the grounds that this application cannot be considered submitted because technical disruptions occurred during its electronic transmission, is not permissible.
Industry News
SRS urges not to forget about declaring foreign income (SRS News)
Published on 20.03.2026
A new informative warning has been introduced in EDS, reminding taxpayers that if income has been earned abroad in previous years, there is a possibility that Annex D2 must also be completed this year. The warning does not show specific data on income earned abroad, but only informs. Income earned abroad must be declared even if tax has already been paid abroad. Both the amount of income and the tax withheld abroad must be indicated.
The declaration automatically imports data on income from Latvian payers, information from private pension funds and insurance companies, data from the State Social Insurance Agency, and information on justified expenses (education, medical services).
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Draft Legal Acts
The Criminal Law will be supplemented with a new Article 145.1, establishing liability for distributing intimate material without the consent of the person depicted in the video recording or image (Draft Law No. 1068/Lp14)
Adopted in 3rd reading on 19.03.2026.
The amendments provide for criminal liability for distributing intimate material without the consent of the person depicted in the video recording or image. Such an amendment is necessary to ensure effective protection of personal interests and a state response to harmful actions that will promote the prevention of such offenses.
It will be stipulated that in the event of a person’s death, state compensation will be granted in full to each victim, not proportionally divided among several victims (Draft Law No. 1156/Lp14)
Adopted in 2nd reading on 19.03.2026.
Amendments to the Law “On State Compensation for Victims” have been developed to ensure the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s judgment in case No. 2024-07-01. The judgment recognized that the mechanism for granting state compensation in the event of a person’s death, by proportionally dividing the total sum among all victims recognized in the criminal proceedings, does not comply with the third sentence of Article 92 of the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, as it does not ensure fair and proportionate compensation for each victim. The draft law stipulates that in such cases, compensation will be granted in full to each victim, not proportionally divided among several victims.
Information obtained during operational activities may be transferred to other institutions for investigation (Draft Law No. 1252/Lp14)
Adopted in 1st reading on 19.03.2026.
The Law on Operational Activities is planned to be clarified to state that information obtained during operational activities may be transferred to other institutions for investigation if it is necessary for the protection of important state or public interests and does not disproportionately restrict a person’s fundamental rights.
Planned changes regarding the division of joint property (Draft Law No. 1233/Lp14)
Adopted in 1st reading on 26.03.2026; Submitted for proposals until 26.05.2026.
Currently, in practice, there are ambiguities and inconsistent approaches in cases of joint property division, which can lead to prolonged disputes and additional costs. Therefore, amendments to the Civil Procedure Law have been developed to ensure a uniform procedure for dividing joint property.
The amendments are intended to clarify the procedure for filing a claim, establishing clearer requirements for the content of the statement of claim and the documents to be attached, as well as specifying jurisdiction. At the same time, a clearer procedure for covering expenses related to the examination of cases is introduced.
Case Law
Senate refers a preliminary question to the ECJ regarding the obligation to recognize same-sex marriage concluded abroad (Case No. SKA-22/2026)
Decision adopted on 24.03.2026
A Latvian citizen and a Latvian and Swedish dual citizen, whose permanent residence is in Latvia, concluded a marriage in Sweden and applied to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs of Latvia (PMLP) to register the concluded marriage in the Register of Natural Persons. The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (PMLP) rejected the applicants’ request, stating that Latvian legal regulations do not recognize marriage between same-sex couples and such information cannot be included in any section of the register. The Administrative District Court and the Administrative Regional Court upheld the institution’s decision.
The panel of senators found that since 2021, same-sex couples in Latvia have had the opportunity to be recognized as a family, and since 2024, such couples can register a partnership, which provides some of the rights of spouses. Also, a marriage concluded abroad would not be an obstacle to registering a partnership in Latvia and thus achieving recognition of family relations. However, since the applicants have indicated that the non-recognition of their marriage concluded in Sweden in Latvia infringes their rights as European Union (EU) citizens to move and reside freely in EU Member States, the Senate, when examining the case, will have to evaluate its circumstances in relation to EU law. Therefore, the panel of senators adopted a decision at the session, deciding to refer this preliminary question to the ECJ and suspend the proceedings in the case under consideration until the ECJ’s decision comes into force.
Senate: evaluation of exceeding official powers (Case No. SKK-8/2026)
Decision adopted on 19.03.2026
A state official (criminal proceedings initiator) was found guilty of exceeding official powers and document forgery, and sentenced to imprisonment. The merits of the accusation were challenged, pointing to violations of legal norms and insufficient evaluation of factual circumstances. The Senate overturned the appellate court’s decision in part regarding the exceeding of official powers, remanding the case for new consideration, but upheld the decision regarding document forgery.
According to the Criminal Law, exceeding official powers manifests as intentional actions by a state official that clearly exceed the granted rights and powers. The court must sequentially analyze each stage of the incriminated criminal offense, ascertaining whether the violations of legal norms indicated in the accusation have occurred. The court must perform such an evaluation, observing the standard of proof – beyond reasonable doubt – thereby excluding the possibility of explaining such conduct otherwise.
The Senate found that the lower court incorrectly determined the objective side, qualifying the actions as active, although the accusation described a case of inaction. Also, the clear exceeding of powers and rights was not proven at an adequate level, completely excluding the possibility that only procedural violations occurred. Additionally, the causal link between the action and the consequences was not proven.
Senate acknowledges that the lower court did not sufficiently assess the admissibility of the application, refusing to accept it for consideration (Case No. 286/2026)
Decision adopted on 18.03.2026
Person A filed an ancillary complaint regarding the decision of the Administrative District Court, which refused to accept their application concerning the non-response to a submission to the European Parliament Office in Latvia. The Senate found that the judge had not adequately assessed the admissibility of the application and had not taken into account all essential circumstances related to the submission. The Senate overturned the court’s decision and remanded the matter for new consideration.
Referring to the norms of the Administrative Procedure Law regarding the principles of legality, prohibition of arbitrariness, and respect for private persons’ rights, the Senate acknowledged that the judge had to ensure that the decision was based on facts and legal norms that promote the protection of private persons’ rights. The judge did not verify whether such an application should be examined under administrative procedure, as no documents related to the said submission were either submitted or requested. Furthermore, the judge had to evaluate the admissibility of the application, including by contacting the participants in the process to ascertain the necessary circumstances.
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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.