Procedures for the Preparation, Drawing Up, Storage and Circulation of Electronic Documents in State and Local Government Institutions, and the Procedures by which Electronic Documents are Circulated between State and Local Government Institutions, or Between These Institutions and Legal and Natural Persons

Issued pursuant to
Section 6, Paragraph two
of the Electronic Documents Law

I. General Provisions

1. The Regulation prescribes the procedures for the preparation, drawing up, storage and circulation of electronic documents in State and local government institutions, and the procedures by which electronic documents are circulated between State and local government institutions, or between these institutions and legal and natural persons.

2. The preparation and drawing up, storage and circulation of electronic documents in State and local government institutions (hereinafter - the institution) shall take place in compliance with the requirements laid down in other laws and regulations regarding the preparation, drawing up, storage and circulation of documents, if this Regulation does not provide otherwise.

3. If the parties have agreed in writing on the signing of an electronic document with an electronic signature, the requirement for a secure electronic signature and time-stamp need not be applied.

[21 December 2010]

4. If the documented information is not drawn up electronically, the institution is not obliged to issue it electronically (except when this Regulation provides otherwise).

II. Preparation and Drawing Up of Electronic Documents

5. [21 December 2010]

6. [21 December 2010]

7. [21 December 2010]

8. If an electronic document has been signed with a secure electronic signature and it has a time-stamp, the time of signing of the electronic document shall be the date and time of appending the time-stamp.

[21 December 2010]

9. [21 December 2010]

10. An electronic document shall be drawn up and prepared in one of the following file formats:

10.1. a simple text format;

10.2. an open document format (ODF) for office applications;

10.3. an Office Open XML file format;

10.4. a portable document (PDF) format or a portable document format for long-term preservation (PDF-A);

10.5. a digitally compressed and coded picture (JPEG, TIFF and PNG) format.

[21 December 2010]

10.¹ The EDOC format package may be used for the sending or storage of an electronic document on data carriers.

[21 December 2010]

11. If the institution uses formats other than those referred to in Paragraphs 10 and 10.¹ of this Regulation, the institution shall indicate information regarding this on its website or disclose by other means.

[21 December 2010]

12. The institution shall draw up service notes of a document, the notice on document agreement, the mark on document agreement, as well as the document approval notice and mark on document approval in an electronic document in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding drawing up and preparation of documents or as an individual file signed together with the electronic document.

[21 December 2010]

13. In a document, the registration number of the document shall be drawn up in one of the following ways:

13.1. including it in the document to be signed;

13.2. indicating it in an individual file which is signed together with the electronic document.

[21 December 2010]

13.¹ The electronic copy of a document prepared in printed form shall be stored using one of the formats referred to in Sub-paragraphs 10.4 and 10.5 of this Regulation.

[21 December 2010]

13.² The accuracy of the electronic copy of a document prepared in printed form shall be certified in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding drawing up and preparation of documents, drawing up the mark of certification in one of the following ways:

13.² 1. in an individual file, which is signed as one file together the electronic copy of a document prepared in printed form;

13.² 2. on the electronic copy of a document prepared in printed form in the format referred to in Sub-paragraph 10.4 of this Regulation and signing it.

[21 December 2010]

13.³ Electronic extract or true copy of a document prepared in printed form shall be drawn up in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding drawing up and preparation of documents.

[21 December 2010]

13.⁴ Fulfilment of the requirements laid down in the laws and regulations regarding drawing up and preparation of documents as regards binding together or sowing together of a document for an electronic document shall be ensured by signing the documents to be bound together or sown together as one file.

[21 December 2010]

III. Circulation of Electronic Documents between State and Local Government Institutions or between these Institutions and Legal and Natural Persons

14. The circulation of electronic documents shall be ensured by using the following electronic data media and types of exchange of information:

14.1. electronic mail;

14.2. special online forms under the supervision of institutions;

14.3.compact disks;

14.4. USB interface flash memory devices;

14.5. [24 January 2017];

14.6. official electronic address information system.

[21 December 2010; 24 January 2017]

14.¹ Upon preparing electronic documents, the institution shall include in the electronic data media referred to in Paragraph 14 of this Regulation information containing indications regarding free online tools publicly available to a non-authenticated user which may be used to verify the authenticity of the electronic document and validity of the electronic signature, as well as information regarding free tools which may be used to open the electronic document and read its content, if the institution sends the document in a format that is different from the format sent by the submitter.

[21 December 2010]

15. In addition to the electronic data media specified in Paragraph 14 of this Regulation, the institution may accept electronic documents that are submitted on other data media, indicating information regarding this on its website or disclosing this by other means.

16. If an electronic document is sent through e-mail, it shall be sent in an e-mail message as an attached file to the official e-mail address which is indicated on the institution's website, the institution's form or in the document submitted by the author of the electronic document.

16.¹ The institution may determine the maximum permissible size of the files attached to an e-mail message, which shall not be less than 10 megabytes, indicating information regarding this on the website thereof or disclosing it by other means.

[13 November 2007]

17. In the case specified in Sub-paragraph 14.1 of this Regulation, the institution shall register the date and time of receipt of an electronic document, the submitter and submitter's e-mail address and within one working day shall send the submitter a notification on the receipt of the electronic document to the e-mail address from which the document was sent to the institution.

18. In the cases specified in Sub-paragraph 14.2 of this Regulation, the institution shall provide the submitter an opportunity to ascertain the receipt of electronic documents online.

19. If an electronic document is received through e-mail and it cannot be read, the notification on the receipt of an electronic document shall clearly indicate this and shall be sent to the e-mail address from which the document was sent to the institution.

20. [21 December 2010]

21. [21 December 2010]

22. If an electronic document is sent through e-mail or by using special online forms under the supervision of the institution, it shall be regarded that the addressee has received it within two working days after sending thereof. If disagreements arise, the institution shall prove that the electronic document has been sent. If the addressee declares that he or she has not received the electronic document, he or she must justify this declaration.

23. The institution shall register the information regarding an electronic document and the content thereof in the information system regardless of its information media.

24. The institution shall register the date and time of sending or receiving an electronic document and the addressee of the electronic document.

IV. Storage of Electronic Documents in State and Local Government Institutions

25. The institution shall store an electronic document so that its integrity could be checked within the terms specified in accordance with the scheme for the nomenclature or classification of files.

26. Procedures for the storage of electronic documents shall be determined by the institution prior to the establishment of an appropriate information system.

27. The institution shall document the procedures for the storage of electronic documents.

28. Conditions for the storage and maintenance procedures shall be planned so that the documents would be protected from unauthorised access, loss or destruction.

29. Security measures, duplication measures and methods for documents containing restricted access information shall be determined in compliance with the laws and regulations governing the protection of restricted access information.

30. The institution, following the requirements prescribed by laws and regulations governing the relevant fields, shall determine access rights and restrictions provided in work with electronic documents.

31. Control of accessibility shall be ensured by determining the status of accessibility both for documents and persons, and also by continuously taking accounts of the use of electronic documents.

V. Closing Provision

[24 January 2017]

32. [24 January 2017]

Prime Minister A. Kalvītis

Minister for Justice S. Āboltiņa

Translation © 2020 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)