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

Law on the Official Electronic Address

Chapter I
General Provisions

Section 1. Terms Used in this Law

The following terms are used in this Law:

1) official electronic address - a set of elements (a unique string consisting of digits or digits and letters) allowing the addressee to be reached in the electronic environment;

2) Official Electronic Address Information System - a secure and reliable environment for electronic communication and circulation of documents for an identifiable user of the official electronic address account;

3) official electronic address account - data storage maintained in the Official Electronic Address Information System where the user of the official electronic address account may access electronic communication and electronic documents sent to his or her official electronic address, or communicate and send electronic documents;

4) user of the official electronic address account - a State institution, legal entity registered in the registers of the Enterprise Register (hereinafter - the registers), a person not registered in the registers or a natural person who has an activated official electronic address account;

5) person not registered in the registers - a person who has not been registered in the registers but who has been registered with the Taxpayer Register of the State Revenue Service;

6) State institution - an institution of direct administration, a State authority not subordinated to the Cabinet, a derived public entity and its institution, a judicial authority, a prosecutor's office, a sworn bailiff, and an insolvency administrator, as well as a private person to whom a State administration task has been delegated.

Section 2. Purpose of this Law

The purpose of this Law is to ensure secure, efficient and high-quality electronic communication and circulation of electronic documents between State institutions and private persons.

Section 3. Status and Availability of the Official Electronic Address Information System

The Official Electronic Address Information System is a state information system and it is managed by the State Regional Development Agency. Access to the Official Electronic Address Information System shall be ensured via the State administration services portal www.latvija.lv and in another way via a software interface.

Section 4. Scope of Application of this Law

(1) This Law shall apply to electronic communication and any circulation of electronic documents, using an official electronic address, regardless of its legal effect.

(2) This Law shall not apply to electronic communication and circulation of electronic documents between:

1) private persons;

2) State institutions, if it is organised using another secure electronic document circulation system for communication between there institutions;

3) State institutions and private persons, if laws and regulations do not impose an obligation on a private person to identify himself or herself in electronic communication, whereas a State institution conducts electronic communication following the principle of good governance.

(3) The procedures for sending documents in criminal proceedings, civil proceedings, administrative proceedings in court, administrative violation proceedings and Constitutional Court proceedings provided for in this Law shall apply insofar as other procedures for sending documents have not been laid down in other laws.

[7 June 2018]

Section 5. Use of Official Electronic Addresses

(1) The use of an official electronic address shall be mandatory for:

1) a State institution;

2) a legal entity registered in the registers;

3) a reserve soldier;

4) a soldier, national guardsman, civil employee of the National Armed Forces, retired soldier, persons employed at the Ministry of Defence and institutions subordinate thereto, except for the Defence Intelligence and Security Service;

5) citizens of Latvia who are men of the age from 18 to 27 years, except for the person:

a) who receives services at a long-term social care and social rehabilitation institution which is registered in the register of social service providers;

b) who has left the long-term social care and social rehabilitation institution which is registered in the register of social service providers in order to receive social care and social rehabilitation services at the place of residence;

c) who receives the services of a group house registered in the register of social service providers;

d) for whom Group I disability has been determined.

(2) An official electronic address may be used by:

1) a natural person from 14 years of age who is registered with the Register of Natural Persons;

2) a person not registered in the registers.

[17 March 2022; 5 April 2023]

Chapter II
Creation of an Official Electronic Address and Activation of an Official Electronic Address Account

Section 6. Elements of the Official Electronic Address

The official electronic address shall consist of:

1) for a State institution - the registration number assigned by the Enterprise Register;

2) [12 December 2019];

3) for an administrator of insolvency proceedings - the administrator's certificate number assigned by the Insolvency Administration;

4) for a legal entity registered in the registers - the registration number assigned by the Enterprise Register;

5) for a person not registered in the registers - the 11-character taxpayer registration code assigned by the State Revenue Service, or, if none has been assigned, the identifier assigned in the Official Electronic Address Information System;

6) for a natural person - his or her personal identity number.

[7 June 2018; 12 December 2019]

Section 7. Creation of an Official Electronic Address and Activation of an Official Electronic Address Account

(1) For the legal entity referred to in Section 5, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law, the official electronic address shall be created and the official electronic address account shall be activated automatically.

(2) The persons referred to in Section 5, Paragraph one, Clauses 2, 3 and 4 and in Paragraph two of this Law shall create an official electronic address using the qualified means for electronic identification of persons available in the Official Electronic Address Information System and by electronically logging in to the service portal of the State administration www.latvija.lv. Concurrently with the creation of an official electronic address, an official electronic address account is activated for the relevant person.

(3) The Cabinet shall determine the security and technical requirements for the Official Electronic Address Information System, the requirements for interfaces and their use, the procedures by which the institutions registering or maintaining information on users of official electronic address accounts shall provide the information necessary for the creation of the official electronic address to the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System, and the amount of this information, as well as the procedures for creating the official electronic address and the activation of the official electronic address account.

[17 March 2022]

Section 8. Catalogue of the Official Electronic Addresses

(1) The catalogue of the official electronic addresses is a component of the Official Electronic Address Information System.

(2) Information on the created official electronic addresses shall be included in the catalogue of official electronic addresses.

(3) [7 June 2018]

(4) Information included in the catalogue of official electronic addresses may be accessed:

1) by State institutions according to their mandate - information on all official electronic addresses;

2) by private persons - information on the official electronic addresses of State institutions.

(5) The Cabinet shall determine the amount and procedures for the circulation of the information to be included in the catalogue of official electronic addresses.

[7 June 2018]

Chapter III
Accessing the Official Electronic Address Account

Section 9. Accessing the Official Electronic Address Account

The user of an official electronic address account shall access the official electronic address account in one of the following ways:

1) on the service portal of the State administration www.latvija.lv, using the qualified means for electronic identification of persons available in the Official Electronic Address Information System or means of electronic identification included in the electronic identification schemes notified to the European Commission which meet an assurance level high in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC;

2) by software interface, using the means of intersystem authorisation determined by the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System;

3) in the State and local government unified customer service centre service management support solution www.parvaldiba.lv, using the means of identification determined by its manager.

[17 March 2022]

Section 10. Transfer of Access Rights

The user of the official electronic address account may specify and update another user having the right to access his or her account, indicating the first name, surname and personal identity number of such user or the official electronic address account and the level of access rights (view or send electronic documents, contact), as well as to revoke the access rights granted to another user.

Section 11. Cancellation of an Official Electronic Address and Deactivation of an Official Electronic Address Account

(1) The manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System shall cancel an official electronic address in the following cases:

1) when the fact of death of a natural person has been registered in the Population Register;

2) for a State institution:

a) after completion of its reorganisation or liquidation process, if operation of such institution is terminated,

b) on the basis of an order of the Minister for Justice regarding dismissal or removal from the office of a sworn bailiff,

c) after release or removal from the office of an administrator of insolvency proceedings;

3) after deletion from the Enterprise Register of a legal entity registered in the registers;

4) [7 June 2018].

(2) A user of an official electronic address account who does not have the obligation to use the official electronic address has the right to deactivate the official electronic address account in the Official Electronic Address Information System. The user of the official electronic address account also has the right to deactivate the official electronic address account by submitting a corresponding application to the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System.

(3) An official electronic address account in the Official Electronic Address Information System shall be deactivated for a natural person for the period of time when the person is in a prison, except for the natural person who serves a custodial sentence in an open prison.

(4) The Cabinet shall determine the procedures by which the official electronic address shall be annulled and the official electronic address account shall be deactivated.

[7 June 2018]

Chapter IV
Electronic Communication and Sending, Receiving and Storing Electronic Documents

Section 12. Priority of Use of an Official Electronic Address

(1) If the official electronic address account has been activated, the State institution and the private person shall communicate electronically and send an electronic document using the official electronic address. If the natural person referred to in Section 5, Paragraph two of this Law, for whom the official electronic address account has been activated, requests to use another communication channel, in particular stating the grounds for the request, the aforementioned request shall be taken into account to the extent possible and the manner for the notification of documents specified by the natural person shall be used.

(2) If provided for by laws and regulations, a State institution may communicate electronically and send an electronic document using a corresponding State information system, concurrently ensuring the availability of the relevant information or document in the official electronic address account. The Cabinet shall determine the procedures by which a State institutions shall send information to the official electronic address, if it communicates electronically, and send an electronic document using a corresponding State information system.

(3) A document which should be sent to an electronic mail address in accordance with laws and regulations shall be sent to the official electronic address, if the official electronic address account has been activated.

(4) If the use of the official electronic address is optional for a natural person, the entire correspondence after deactivation of the official electronic address account shall be notified thereto in accordance with the Law on Notification. If after deactivation of the official electronic address account, a natural person wants to use electronic communications for communication with an institution and for the receipt of documents, he or she shall specify it repeatedly to the entity in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law on Notification.

[7 June 2018]

Section 13. Notification of the Receipt of Electronic Communication and Electronic Document

(1) The user of an official electronic address account may activate a service in the Official Electronic Address Information System through which it will receive an informative notification on the receipt of electronic communication or electronic document in the official electronic address account sent by the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System to the communication channels offered in the Official Electronic Address Information System.

(2) If the service referred to in Paragraph one of this Section has been activated, after receipt of the communication in the official electronic address account, the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System shall immediately send a corresponding notification to the communication channel indicated by the user of the official electronic address account.

[7 June 2018]

Section 14. Storage and Availability of Electronic Communication and Electronic Document

(1) The manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System shall ensure the storage and availability of the received and sent electronic communication, electronic documents, and their metadata in the official electronic address account.

(2) The Cabinet shall determine the storage volume and period of electronic communication, electronic documents, and their metadata sent to the official electronic address, as well as the action to be taken by the manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System in case the storage volume of the electronic documents and their metadata has been exceeded or the term for their storage has expired.

Chapter V
Obligations and Liability

Section 15. Obligations of the Manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System

The manager of the Official Electronic Address Information System has the following obligations:

1) to ensure the operation of the Official Electronic Address Information System in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law;

2) to use secure information systems and equipment, as well as to use procedures ensuring the delivery of communication to the official electronic address account, the safety and inalterability of electronic communication and electronic document existing in the official electronic address account, as well as the storage of proof of sending and receiving electronic communication and electronic document;

3) to ensure cancellation of the official electronic address and activation or deactivation of the official electronic address in the cases specified in this Law;

4) to always maintain online information in the catalogue of official electronic addresses;

5) to ensure the availability of information and consultative support for the use of the official electronic address account;

6) to inform the user of the official electronic address account regarding changes and interruptions in the availability of the information systems;

7) in case of a dispute, to present the user of the official electronic address account an acknowledgement of the fact and time of sending or receiving electronic communication or electronic document;

8) to ensure the availability of electronic communication and electronic documents existing in the official electronic address account and their storage in accordance with the terms laid down in the laws and regulations;

9) to use information systems that ensure recognition of the recipient and the sender;

10) to verify the right of representation of the legal entities registered in the records according to the information received from the information system of the Enterprise Register;

11) upon developing the solution for the official electronic address, to create open software interfaces in order to ensure the capability to integrate the Official Electronic Address Information System with other information systems.

[7 June 2018]

Section 16. Obligations and Liability of the User of the Official Electronic Address Account

(1) The user of the official electronic address account shall be liable for any actions that have been carried out in the official electronic address account using the means of identification assigned to the user.

(2) The Cabinet shall determine the procedures for using the Official Electronic Address Information System.

[17 March 2022]

Transitional Provisions

1. The official electronic address account for a direct administration institution shall be activated by 31 May 2018 and Section 5, Paragraph one of this Law shall be applied from 1 June 2018.

[12 April 2018]

1.¹ The official electronic address account shall be activated for a State authority not subordinated to the Cabinet, a derived public person and its institution, a prosecutor's office and also a private individual to whom a State administration task has been delegated by 15 October 2018 and Section 5, Paragraph one of this Law shall be applied from the moment the official electronic address account is activated.

[12 April 2018]

2. Section 5, Paragraph one of this Law shall be applicable to a sworn bailiff, Supreme Court and Constitutional Court as of 1 January 2020, but to an insolvency administrator, district (city) courts and regional courts - as of 1 April 2021.

[12 December 2019]

3. For legal entities registered in the records, the official electronic address account shall be activated from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022, and Section 5, Paragraph one of this Law shall apply as of 1 January 2023. A legal entity registered in the registers, if it has an activated electronic address account, shall be contacted using electronic means, and an electronic document shall be sent using the official electronic address.

[12 December 2019]

4. The official electronic address for a reserve soldier and the person referred to in Section 5, Paragraph two of this Law shall be created from 2 January 2019. Section 5, Paragraph one of this Law shall be applied to a reserve soldier from 1 February 2019.

[12 April 2018]

5. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations referred to in Section 7, Paragraph three, Section 8, Paragraph five, Section 11, Paragraph four, Section 14, Paragraph two, and Section 16, Paragraph two of this Law by 1 August 2017.

6. The persons referred to in Section 5, Paragraph one, Clause 4 of this Law shall create the official electronic address from 1 April 2022, and the requirement for the mandatory use of the official electronic address shall be applied to the abovementioned persons from 1 May 2022.

[17 March 2022]

The Law shall come into force on 1 March 2018.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 16 June 2016.

President R. Vējonis

Rīga, 1 July 2016

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2023 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)