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

On the Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property

Section 1. The Council of Europe Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property of 19 May 2017 (hereinafter - the Convention) is adopted and approved by this Law.

Section 2. The fulfilment of the commitments provided for in the Convention shall be coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture.

Section 3. The fulfilment of the commitments provided for in Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention shall be coordinated by the Ministry of Culture.

Section 4. In accordance with Article 5(2) of the Convention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall inform the Secretary General of the Council of Europe that for the conducts described in Article 5(1) of the Convention the Republic of Latvia reserves the right to provide for non-criminal sanctions if the imported cultural object or archive document, document with archival value or replacement copies thereof are not of criminal origin and the import thereof has not caused any significant harm.

Section 5. In accordance with Article 10(2) of the Convention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall inform the Secretary General of the Council of Europe that for the conducts described in Article 10(1) of the Convention the Republic of Latvia reserves the right to provide for non-criminal sanctions if no significant harm has been caused due to destruction, damaging or removal of an archive document, a document with archival value or replacement copies thereof, and also due to removal of a cultural object, and also if a cultural object is destroyed or damaged due to violation of various regulations for the protection, maintenance, renovation, repairs, or use governed by special laws and Cabinet regulations.

Section 6. The Convention shall come into force at the time and in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 27 thereof and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify thereof in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis.

Section 7. Together with this Law, the Convention in the English language and translation thereof in the Latvian language shall be proclaimed.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 5 November 2020.

President E. Levits

Rīga, 17 November 2020

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2021 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)