The Saeima ¹ has adopted and
the President has proclaimed the following Law:

Law on European Political Parties and European Political Foundations

Section 1. Scope of Application of the Law

The Law prescribes the legal framework for the activity of European political parties and European political foundations, insofar it is not laid down otherwise in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations (hereinafter - the Regulation).

Section 2. Legal Status of a European Political Party

If the country of the seat of a European political party is the Republic of Latvia, the legal status of a political party or alliance of political parties provided for in the Law on Political Parties shall be applied thereto.

Section 3. Statutes of a European Political Party

(1) If the country of the seat of a European political party is the Republic of Latvia, the information in the statutes thereof shall be indicated in accordance with:

1) Section 14, Paragraphs one, two (except for Clause 14 of Paragraph two), and three of the Law on Political Parties;

2) Article 4(1) and (2) of the Regulation.

(2) The requirements laid down in the Law on Political Parties in respect of the information to be indicated in the statutes on members of a political party shall be also applied to members of a European political party.

Section 4. Legal Status of a European Political Foundation

If the country of the seat of a European political foundation is the Republic of Latvia, the legal status of the foundation provided for in the Associations and Foundations Law shall be applied thereto.

Section 5. Statutes of a European Political Foundation

If the country of the seat of a European political foundation is the Republic of Latvia, it shall provide the information in the statutes thereof in accordance with Section 90, Paragraphs one and two of the Associations and Foundations Law and Article 5(1) of the Regulation.

Section 6. Verification of Conformity of the Statutes of the Applicant in Respect of the Requirements of Laws and Regulations

(1) Before submission of the registration application of a European political party or European political foundation to the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations, the applicant of the registration application of the European political party or European political foundation referred to in Article 3(1) or (2) of Regulation (hereinafter - the applicant) shall submit the statutes to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter - the Enterprise Register) in order to assess their conformity with the requirements of laws and regulations.

(2) If a foundation registered with the Register of Associations and Foundations plans to register with the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations as a European political foundation, it shall submit to the Enterprise Register the documents specified in the Association and Foundations Law for the registration of amendments to the statutes, indicating the purpose of such amendments.

(3) The Enterprise Register shall, within a month after receipt of the documents referred to in Paragraph one or two of this Section, assess the conformity of the statutes or amendments thereto with the requirements of laws and regulations.

(4) Upon examining the submitted documents, a State notary of the Enterprise Register shall examine whether:

1) all the documents provided for in laws and regulations have been submitted;

2) the documents have legal effect;

3) other requirements in respect of the form of the documents conform to the requirements of laws and regulations;

4) the amount and content of information and provisions conform to the requirements of laws and regulations.

(5) If, upon verification of the circumstances referred to in Paragraph four of this Section, deficiencies are not established, a State notary of the Enterprise Register shall take a decision by which the fact on the conformity of the statutes with the requirements of laws and regulations is established and issue a notification to the applicant which attests to the legal fact established.

(6) If it is established that the requirements of Paragraph four of this Section are not complied with, but the relevant deficiencies can be rectified, a State notary of the Enterprise Register shall take the decision to postpone the establishment of the legal fact (except for the case when the decision to refuse the establishment of the legal fact shall be taken in accordance with Paragraph seven of this Section). In the decision to postpone the establishment of the legal fact the State notary of the Enterprise Register shall indicate a reasonable period of time for the rectification of deficiencies. The abovementioned period of time shall not be less than one month. If the documents in which the deficiencies have been eliminated are submitted after the time period indicated in the decision, the State fee shall be paid repeatedly.

(7) A State notary of the Enterprise Register shall take the decision to refuse to establish a legal fact if:

1) the deficiencies established in the documents cannot be rectified;

2) the objective specified in the statutes is in contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, laws, or international agreements binding on Latvia;

3) the address of the seat indicated in the statutes is not in the Republic of Latvia;

4) the affiliated European political party indicated in the statutes of the applicant is not registered with the Register of European political parties and foundations;

5) for the affiliated European political party indicated in the statutes of the applicant, another affiliated European political foundation is registered with the Register of European political parties and foundations.

(8) A State fee shall be paid for the establishment of a legal fact in the amount specified in the laws and regulations regarding the registration of a political party in the Register of Political Parties.

(9) If a State notary of the Enterprise Register takes the decision to refuse the establishment of a legal fact, the State fee shall not be refunded.

(10) A State notary of the Enterprise Register shall justify the decision to postpone or refuse the establishment of a legal fact.

(11) Upon submitting an application to the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations, the applicant shall attach a notification issued by the Enterprise Register or a court judgment in which the legal fact that the relevant statutes conform to the requirements of laws and regulations is established. The confirmation on the establishment of the fact of such conformity shall be used only for the submission of the application to the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations.

(12) If a European political party or European political foundation registered with the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations the country of the seat of which is the Republic of Latvia takes the decision to amend the statutes, the relevant European political party or European political foundation shall submit amendments to the statutes to the Enterprise Register in order to assess their conformity with the requirements of laws and regulations. A State notary of the Enterprise Register shall assess the conformity of the amendments to the statutes of a European political party or European political foundation registered with the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations with the requirements of laws and regulations.

(13) The applicant has the right to contest and appeal the decision of the Enterprise Register in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law.

(14) After taking of the decision referred to in Paragraph five of this Section, the Enterprise Register shall notify the State Revenue Service and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau that it has issued a notification to the applicant which confirms the conformity of its statutes with the requirements of laws and regulations.

(15) From the time when a European political foundation which has been registered as a foundation with the Register of Associations and Foundations is registered with the Register of European political parties and foundations, further entries or adding of documents to the registration file in the Register of Associations and Foundation shall not be carried out for the relevant foundation until the time when the decision on loss of the status of a European political foundation because it has been excluded from the Register of European political parties and foundation enters into effect.

(16) Upon request of the applicant or the competent involved authorities referred to in the Regulation and laws, the Enterprise Register shall provide the information to the applicant or to these authorities which is necessary for the registration of a subject with the Register of European political parties and foundations or for the verification of the registered subject.

Section 7. Notification of Documents to the Address of the Seat

A document shall be notified to a European political party, a European political foundation, and the applicant at the address of the seat indicated in the statutes thereof.

Section 8. Annual Financial Statements of a European Political Party and a European Political Foundation

(1) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall be the competent national contact point to which a European political party submits an annual financial statements and the documents appended thereto in accordance with Article 23 of the Regulation and Section 8.⁵ of the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties).

(2) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall be a competent national contact point to which a European political foundation submits an annual financial statement and the documents appended thereto (if any) in accordance with Article 23 of the Regulation and the law On Accounting.

(3) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall, within the scope of the competence thereof, verify the conformity of the accounting documents submitted by the European political party and the European political foundation with the requirements of laws and regulations.

(4) For significant violations of the provisions for the funding of a European political party and a European political foundation, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall inform the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations and the Authorising Officer of the European Parliament if the violation may affect the budget outturn of the European Union, or other Member States if the violation may affect the interests of other Member States.

(5) A European political party and a European political foundation shall submit a true copy of the annual financial statement to the State Revenue Service.

Section 9. Provisions in Respect of Pre-election Campaign before the European Parliament Elections

(1) A European political party shall not nominate candidates to members of the Saeima, republic city or municipality council, and European Parliament elections.

(2) A European political party may carry out a pre-election campaigning before the European Parliament elections in conformity with the provisions and procedures referred to in the Pre-election Campaign Law in respect of political parties or alliances of political parties.

(3) A European political party may utilise, for expenses of the pre-election campaign (pre-election expenses) before the European Parliament elections, not more than 10 per cent of the amount which has been specified for the pre-election expenses for a political party or alliance of political parties in the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties).

(4) A European political party which has participated in a pre-election campaign before the European Parliament elections shall submit a declaration of income and expenses of elections to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties) for the campaign which has been carried out in the Republic of Latvia.

(5) A European political party and a political party or alliance of political parties belonging to it shall carry out a pre-election campaign each on behalf of itself. The European political party shall not transfer the funds spent for the pre-election campaign in the pre-election expenses of a political party or alliance of political parties belonging to it.

(6) The financial resources or property that is used for a pre-election campaign conducted by a European political party shall not be considered as a gift (donation) to a political party or an alliance of political parties within the meaning of the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties).

(7) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall inspect declarations of income and expenses of elections and publish them in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties).

Section 10. Liability for Infringements of the Provisions in Respect of Pre-election Campaign before the European Parliament Elections

(1) If a European political party fails to submit a declaration of income and expenses of elections by the time period specified in the Law or the information requested in the Law has been not indicated therein, or the information provided therein is false, the European political party shall be held administratively liable in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law.

(2) If the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau establishes that a European political party has violated the restrictions of the amount of pre-election expenses specified for the European Parliament elections, the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau has the obligation to assign the European political party to transfer the financial resources into the State budget within 30 days in such amount that conforms to the amount of pre-election expenses exceeded. Upon a motivated request from the European political party, the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau may divide the transfer of the financial resources into periods or extend the period for transfer of such financial resources, but for no longer than 90 days.

(3) The head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau may take the decision referred to in Paragraph two of this Section on the transfer of financial resources into the State budget not later than within four years from the day of submitting a declaration of income and expenses of elections to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau.

(4) If during the period of a pre-election campaign the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau establishes that a European political party has entered into agreements on an amount that exceeds the admissible amount of pre-election expenses specified in the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), but the previous pre-election campaign has not been conducted for the amount that exceeds the abovementioned admissible amount of pre-election expenses, the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall inform the relevant European political party of such violation. Rectification of a violation shall not release the campaigner from the liability laid down in the law.

(5) If during the period of a pre-election campaign the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau establishes that a European political party has conducted a pre-election campaign for a sum exceeding the admissible amount of pre-election expenses specified in the Law on Financing of Political Organisations (Parties), the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall take the decision to prohibit to conduct further pre-election campaign for a fee. The procedures laid down in the Pre-election Campaign Law shall be applied to the taking of such decision.

(6) If, under the conditions referred to in Paragraph five of this Section, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau establishes that further pre-election campaign by a European political party is intended in certain electronic mass media programmes or publications, or in public places, the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall take the decision by which it is prohibited for the relevant electronic mass media or the publications, or the persons who place the materials of pre-election campaign in public places to place such materials of the pre-election campaign. The procedures laid down in the Pre-election Campaign Law shall be applied to the taking of such decision.

(7) If a European political party fails to comply with the admissible amount of expenses of the pre-election campaign (pre-election expenses) before the European Parliament elections, it shall be held liable in accordance with the law.

(8) The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shall control and supervise how a European political party complies with the provisions in respect of a pre-election campaign before the European Parliament elections.

Section 11. Competence of the Central Election Commission

Upon request of the applicant or the competent involved authorities referred to in the Regulation and laws, the Central Election Commission shall provide the information to the applicant or to these authorities which is necessary for the registration of a subject with the Register of European political parties and foundations or for the verification of the registered subject in respect of:

1) the elected members of the Saeima and members of the European Parliament;

2) the list of candidates from which members of the Saeima and members of the European Parliament have been elected;

3) the candidates included in the lists of candidates for the European Parliament elections;

4) the number of votes given by voters for the lists of candidates in the last European Parliament elections.

Section 12. Competence of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs

Upon request of the applicant or the competent involved authorities referred to in the Regulation and laws, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs shall provide the information to the applicant or to these authorities which is necessary for the registration of a subject with the Register of European political parties and foundations or for the verification of the registered subject in respect of the members or officials of the bodies of a European political party or European political foundation to whom representation powers have been granted, namely, shall indicate the given name (names), surname, personal identity number, date of birth, citizenship and type thereof, place of residence of the subject.

Section 13. Request to Exclude a European Political Party or European Political Foundation from the Register of European Political Parties and Foundations

(1) The authority which has established that a European political party or European political foundation has severely violated the requirements of national laws and regulations may submit a request to the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations to exclude the relevant European political party or European political foundation from the Register of European political parties and foundations.

(2) The competent authority shall submit the request referred to in Paragraph one of this Section to the Authority for European political parties and European political foundations in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Regulation.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 27 April 2017.

President R. Vējonis

Rīga, 10 May 2017

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¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2021 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)