The Saeima¹ has adopted and
the President has proclaimed the following law:

Development Planning System Law

Section 1. Purpose of the Law

The purpose of the Law is to promote sustainable and stable development of the State as well as the improvement of the quality of life of its inhabitants by determining the development planning system.

Section 2. Scope of Application of the Law

The Law applies to the development planning in the Saeima, the Cabinet, State institutions of direct administration, planning regions, local governments, and State administration institutions that are not subordinated to the Cabinet (hereinafter - the State and local government authorities).

Section 3. Development Planning and its System

(1) Development planning is the development of principles, objectives, and actions necessary for the achievement thereof in order to implement politically specified priorities and to ensure the development of the society and territory.

(2) The development planning system covers policy and spatial development planning and also ensures the linking of development planning with financial planning and coherence between the decisions taken by the State and local government authorities.

(3) The development planning documents in the field of national defence policy are specified by the National Armed Forces Law and the National Security Law.

[11 March 2010; 6 November 2013]

Section 4. Development Planning Document

The development planning document shall determine the objectives and results to be achieved in the field of the relevant policy or territory, describe identified problems and provide for their solutions, evaluate the possible impact of these solutions as well as plan the further action necessary for the policy implementation and assessment of results.

Section 5. Guiding Principles of Development Planning

(1) The guiding principles specified in this Law shall be followed in development planning. Other principles applicable to the relevant sector may be provided for in another law which supplements or clarifies the guiding principles of development planning specified in this Law.

(2) The following guiding principles shall be followed in development planning:

1) the principle of sustainable development - the present and next generations shall be ensured with qualitative environment and balanced economic development, natural, human, and material resources shall be used rationally, the natural and cultural heritage shall be preserved and developed;

2) the principle of interest co-ordination - different interests shall be co-ordinated and the succession of development planning documents shall be followed, and avoidance of their duplication shall be ensured;

3) the participation principle - all stakeholders shall have a possibility to participate in the drawing up of the development planning document;

4) the co-operation principle - the State and local government authorities shall co-operate, including in fulfilling the tasks proposed in the development planning documents and in informing each other of the achievement of the specified objectives and expected results;

5) the principle of financial possibilities - the present resources and resources foreseen in the medium-term shall be evaluated and the most effective solutions shall be offered in respect of the costs necessary for the achievement of the specified objectives;

6) the principle of openness - the process of development planning shall be open and the society shall be informed of the development planning and support measures and their results, complying with the restrictions of availability of information specified in the Law;

7) the principle of monitoring and assessment - an impact assessment as well as the monitoring and provision of reports on the achieved results shall be provided at all administration levels of development planning and execution of the development planning documents;

8) the principle of subsidiarity - policy shall be implemented by the State or local government authority which is located as close to the recipients of the service as possible, and the relevant measures shall be implemented effectively at the lowest possible level of administration;

9) the principle of linking the development planning with drawing up of laws and regulations - policy shall be planned before the issuance of the law or regulation, and the development planning documents shall be taken into account when drawing up laws and regulations;

10) the principle of balanced development - policy shall be planned by balancing the development levels and paces of separate State territories;

11) the principle of topicality - development planning documents shall be updated according to the situation;

12) the principle of document coherence - when adopting a development planning document or making amendments to such a document, corrections shall be made also in other related documents and laws and regulations in compliance with the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations.

[16 June 2011]

Section 6. Types of Development Planning Documents

(1) The following types of development planning documents are distinguished: policy planning documents, management documents of authorities, and spatial development planning documents.

(2) A policy planning document specifies the objectives, tasks, and actions for facilitating the development in one or several policy fields, sectors or sub-sectors.

(3) A management document of an authority, based on the competence of the relevant authority, specifies the link between the development planning and budget planning and ensures the successive execution of development planning documents.

(4) Long-term spatial development planning documents specify the long-term development priorities and spatial perspective for the respective territory, whereas medium-term spatial development planning documents - the medium-term priorities and the set of measures necessary for their implementation.

[11 March 2010]

Section 7. Levels of Development Planning Documents

Development planning documents shall be developed at the national, regional, and local level.

Section 8. Terms of Validity of Development Planning Documents

Development shall be planned for the long-term (up to 25 years), medium-term (up to seven years), and short-term (up to three years), and planning documents for taking a conceptual decision or definition of a national position shall be drawn up.

Section 9. Hierarchy of the Development Planning Documents

(1) In drawing up development planning documents, they shall be mutually co-ordinated, and the long-term conceptual document The Model for Growth of Latvia: Human Being in the First Place shall be complied with.

(2) The hierarchically highest long-term development planning document is the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia. The hierarchically highest medium-term development planning document is the National Development Plan.

(3) The medium-term development planning documents are hierarchically subordinated to the long-term development planning documents. The short-term development planning documents are hierarchically subordinated to the medium-term development planning documents.

(4) The local level development planning documents are hierarchically subordinated to the regional and national level development planning documents. The regional level development planning documents are hierarchically subordinated to the national level development planning documents.

(5) Development planning documents drawn up for taking a conceptual decision or definition of a national position are hierarchically subordinated to the development planning documents referred to in Paragraph two of this Section.

(6) The development planning documents initiated at the international level shall be included in the hierarchy of the national planning documents by selecting the most appropriate type of the development planning document.

[16 June 2011]

Section 10. Initiation of Development Planning

The State and local government authorities, based on their competence, shall develop the development planning documents upon their initiative as to fulfil an assignment of a higher authority, and also in cases where the drawing up of development planning documents is provided for in a law or regulation.

Section 11. Development Planning Process

(1) The drawing up of the long-term conceptual document The Model for Growth of Latvia: Human Being in the First Place shall be ensured by the Cabinet, and the document shall be approved by the Saeima.

(2) The drawing up of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia shall be ensured by the Cabinet, and this strategy shall be approved by the Saeima. The Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia shall determine the long-term development priorities and the spatial development prospective of the State.

(3) The drawing up of the National Development Plan shall be ensured by the Cabinet, and this plan shall be approved by the Saeima. The National Development Plan shall specify the State development objectives, priorities (also spatial development priorities) and the results to be achieved (also at macro level) and also action directions for each priority, the policy results to be achieved, and responsible authorities.

(3¹) The content to be included in the development planning documents governing the European Union policy instruments and foreign financial assistance shall be primarily based on the provisions of the National Development Plan.

(4) The policy guideline documents of the relevant administration level (e.g. the Declaration of the Intended Activities of the Cabinet) which set the tasks for the State and local government authorities shall be complied with in the process of drawing up the development planning documents. When drawing up the policy guideline documents, coherence thereof with the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia and the National Development Plan shall be ensured or the review thereof shall be proposed.

(5) The Cabinet shall, insofar as it is not otherwise provided for in the Law, determine the development planning documents of all levels, types and terms, the content to be included therein, the procedures for drawing up, approval, updating, becoming invalid and term of validity thereof, as well as the procedures for the provision of the relevant reports and public participation.

(6) The Cabinet shall also determine the procedures for the assessment of the possible impact of the development planning documents and laws and regulations (except for the strategic environmental impact assessment), insofar as it is not otherwise provided for in the Law.

(7) The results of development planning are the products and services developed by the State and local government authorities as well as changes attained in society and national economy thereby during the course of execution of the development planning documents. The performance indicators shall be used for the determination of results. The system of results and performance indicators and the procedures for its operation shall be determined by the Cabinet.

(8) The Cabinet shall determine the documents to be developed for the protection of the State development objectives in the European Union and international organisations, the procedures for drawing up, co-ordination, approval and updating of these documents as well as how these documents may replace the relevant policy planning documents.

(9) The Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia and the National Development Plan shall be handed over for public discussion in accordance with the procedures specified by laws and regulations. Other development planning documents shall be handed over for public discussion in accordance with the procedures and in the cases specified by the laws and regulations.

[11 March 2010; 16 June 2011]

Section 12. Organisation, Co-ordination, and Management of the Development Planning System

(1) The Prime Minister shall ensure the drawing up of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia and the National Development Plan, the supervision and co-ordination of their implementation and also the supervision and co-ordination of the implementation of other national level planning documents. The National Development Council which is chaired by the Prime Minister shall be established for the purpose of planning and evaluation of the long-term development of the State.

(2) The National Development Council is a collegial institution which is composed of the Minister for Education and Science, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Minister for Economics, Minister for Finance, a representative of the President, a representative of the Employers' Confederation of Latvia, a representative of the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, a representative of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chairperson of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, and a representative of the committee of the Saeima responsible for the development planning systems. The by-laws of the National Development Council shall be approved by the Cabinet.

(3) The tasks referred to in Paragraph one of this Section shall be performed and co-ordinated by the State Chancellery which, when performing the tasks of the National Development Council, is entitled to establish an expert committee.

(4) The State Chancellery, by evaluating the long-term development models of the State, shall draw up the hierarchically highest national level development planning documents and shall co-ordinate their implementation, organise and ensure co-ordination between sectoral policies and cross-sectoral supervision, develop proposals for the implementation of national reforms and redistribution of resources in accordance with the national development priorities and political guidelines and also shall fulfil other functions laid down in laws and regulations and the analytical tasks assigned by the Cabinet and the Prime Minister.

(5) In order to ensure the fulfilment of the functions of the State Chancellery, the head of the State Chancellery may put forward proposals to the members of the Saeima and members of the Cabinet for the planning of State development.

(6) State administration institutions shall ensure the compliance of the development planning documents within their competence with hierarchically higher planning documents and also with the laws and regulations governing the development planning system.

(7) Planning regions shall ensure co-ordination between the local and regional level development planning documents and their compliance with hierarchically higher development planning documents and also with the laws and regulations governing the development planning system.

(8) During the first and third years following the Saeima elections, the Prime Minister in his or her annual report to the Saeima shall include information on sustainable development of the State, implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia, and the fulfilment of the National Development Plan in the respective period.

[6 November 2013; 23 February 2023]

Section 13. Force of a Development Planning Document

(1) The development planning document shall come into force at the same time as the law or regulation by which it has been confirmed. The legal act may specify special procedures for the coming into force of the development planning document and its term of validity by taking into account the requirements of the laws and regulations.

(2) A development planning document shall become invalid if the term of validity thereof has expired or it has been recognised as null and void by a legal act.

(3) The State and local government authorities shall comply with the development planning documents in carrying out the tasks assigned thereto by laws and regulations.

(4) If, in the cases provided for in the Law, the development planning document has been adopted in the form of a regulatory enactment, it shall be binding as a regulatory enactment.

Transitional Provisions

1. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations referred to in Section 11, Paragraphs five, six, seven, and eight of this Law by 1 March 2009.

2. Institutions of direct administration shall, after coming into force of this Law, draw up the development planning documents in accordance with this Law and by 1 January 2010 shall ensure the conformity of the development planning documents within the competence thereof and previously adopted with this Law.

3. By the day when the requirements of other laws for the development planning in the territory are co-ordinated with the norms of this Law, the norms of this Law for the development planning in the territory shall be applicable insofar as they are not in contradiction with the norms of other laws related to spatial planning and regional development planning documents.

4. Local governments and planning regions shall ensure the conformity of the development planning documents with this Law in accordance with the procedures and terms provided for in other laws.

5. The Cabinet shall submit to the Saeima the amendments to other laws by 1 March 2009 in order to co-ordinate them with the provisions of this Law.

6. Amendments to Section 12, Paragraphs one, two, and three of this Law and also the amendment regarding the deletion of Paragraph five in relation to the supervision of the development planning system and the establishment of the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre shall come into force concurrently with the law On the State Budget for 2012. The Cabinet shall ensure that the Cross-Sectoral Coordination Centre would start working until the coming into force of the respective law.

[16 June 2011]

7. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations referred to in Section 12, Paragraph two of this Law by 1 February 2014.

[6 November 2013]

The Law shall come into force on 1 January 2009.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 8 May 2008.

Acting for the President, Chairperson of the Saeima G. Daudze

Rīga, 23 May 2008

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2024 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)