Text consolidated by Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre) with amending regulations of: 17 January 2023 [shall come into force on 21 January 2023]; 15 August 2023 [shall come into force on 25 August 2023]. If a whole or part of a paragraph has been amended, the date of the amending regulation appears in square brackets at the end of the paragraph. If a whole paragraph or sub-paragraph has been deleted, the date of the deletion appears in square brackets beside the deleted paragraph or sub-paragraph.

Republic of Latvia Cabinet Regulation No. 606 Adopted 7 September 2021

Rules of Procedures of the Cabinet

Issued pursuant to
Section 15, Paragraphs three and five, Section 22,
Paragraphs one and two, Section 27, Paragraph two,
Section 28, Paragraph six, and Section 29,
Paragraph two of the Cabinet Structure Law and
Section 11, Paragraph five of the Development Planning System Law

I. General Provisions

1. The Rules of Procedures of the Cabinet prescribe the following matters of the internal procedures and activities of the Cabinet:

1.1. the types of documents to be examined by the Cabinet, the procedures for the agreement thereon, submission, progression, and consideration thereof, and also the procedures for drawing up the decisions taken by the Cabinet;

1.2. the procedures by which the Prime Minister shall control the enforcement of the Declaration of the Intended Activities of the Cabinet (hereinafter - the Declaration) and the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Declaration (hereinafter - the Action Plan);

1.3. the procedures by which the Acton Plan for the Implementation of the Declaration shall be developed and approved;

1.4. the procedures for the preparation and course of the meetings of State secretaries;

1.5. the procedures for the preparation and course of the meetings of the Cabinet Committee and Cabinet sittings;

1.6. the application procedures for the participation in the meetings of State secretaries, meetings of the Cabinet Committee and Cabinet sittings, and also the course of the participation and the restrictions for the participation;

1.7. the procedures for the use, storage, and archiving of audiovisual and sound recordings of the meetings of the Cabinet Committee, Cabinet sittings, and meetings of State secretaries;

1.8. the procedures for ensuring the performance of the tasks assigned by laws, decisions of the Saeima, notifications by the President, legal acts issued by the Cabinet, and also the procedures for ensuring the performance of the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister in respect of the submission of projects and consideration thereof by the Cabinet;

1.9. the procedures for documenting absence of the members of the Cabinet and other State officials due to an official trip, leave, or illness;

1.10. the procedures for the use of the State Information System intended for ensuring the operation of the Cabinet, the amount of information to be included therein, and the procedures for the circulation thereof;

1.11. the procedures for taking over the files of a member of the Cabinet.

2. The Cabinet shall consider the following documents within the limits of its competence:

2.1. draft development planning documents (hereinafter - the planning documents);

2.2. external legal acts:

2.2.1. international agreements or drafts thereof;

2.2.2. draft laws;

2.2.3. draft decisions of the Saeima;

2.2.4. draft regulations of the Cabinet;

2.3. internal legal acts:

2.3.1. draft instructions of the Cabinet;

2.3.2. draft recommendations of the Cabinet;

2.3.3. draft protocol decisions of Cabinet sittings;

2.4. draft orders of the Cabinet;

2.5. informative statements;

2.6. draft documents of the official opinion of Latvia for examination in the authorities of international organisations and the European Union:

2.6.1. draft national positions of the Republic of Latvia on the European Union matters (hereinafter - the national position);

2.6.2. draft positions of the Republic of Latvia in the cases to be examined in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the court of the European Free Trade Association or within the framework of pre-trial proceedings for infringement procedures provided for in Articles 258, 259, and 260 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter - the position);

2.6.3. draft national positions of the Republic of Latvia on the matters of international law (hereinafter - the national position on international law matters);

2.6.4. informative statements on the participation of Latvia in the process of initiation, preparation, and taking of the European Union decisions and informative statements on informal meetings of the Council of the European Union;

2.7. draft documents of the Cabinet to be submitted to a court of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter - the document to be submitted to a court);

2.8. draft letters of the Cabinet to the Saeima, the Ombudsman, or another State authority or official (hereinafter - the draft letter of the Cabinet).

3. The legal acts regarding the procedures for the performance of the initial impact assessment of a draft legal act shall determine the procedures for the preparation of a report on the initial impact assessment (hereinafter - the annotation) and the objects thereof (annotation sections).

4. The procedures by which policy documents shall be drafted shall be determined by those laws and regulations which define policy documents of any level, type, and term, define the contents of such policy documents, the procedures for their drafting, approval, and updating, the term of validity, the reporting procedures, and the unenforceability procedures.

5. The draft national position shall be developed and harmonised in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the development, harmonisation, approval, and updating of the national positions.

6. The draft position shall be developed and approved in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the development and approval of the positions.

7. The draft national position on international law matters shall be developed and approved in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the development of national positions on international law matters, the harmonisation and approval thereof.

8. The ministry shall be responsible for informing the public of the content of and significant changes in the documents referred to in Paragraph 2 of this Regulation (hereinafter - the drafts) which are relevant to the sector and important to public interest to be considered by the Cabinet. When preparing information for the public on the drafts to be considered in a meeting of State secretaries, meeting of the Cabinet Committee, and Cabinet sitting and the decisions taken, the following principles shall be conformed to:

8.1. the ministry shall, in a timely manner, plan and ensure communication with the public on the drafts and the decisions taken;

8.2. the ministry shall ensure that all the facts included in the information are true and clearly understandable. The information shall include the purpose and essence of the decision taken, explaining what problems and situations will be solved by it;

8.3. the communication channels and tools corresponding to the habits of acquisition and use of information by the target audience shall be used for informing the public;

8.4. the ministry shall take into account the laws and regulations which govern accessibility of information and protection of official secret;

8.5. if, after distribution of information, inaccuracies have been established or supplementations are necessary, the ministry shall immediately clarify information, clearly and unambiguously indicating the clarification;

8.6. the ministry shall electronically send the information distributed to mass media on the drafts and decisions taken by the government to the State Chancellery and State limited liability company Latvijas Vēstnesis.

9. The procedures by which a draft which, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law, contains information for official use only shall be prepared, agreed upon with the ministries and other authorities, and also shall be submitted to and considered by the Cabinet shall be determined by an instruction of the Cabinet.

10. The procedures by which a draft which, in accordance with the law On Official Secret, contains an official secret object shall be agreed upon with the ministries and other authorities, and also shall be submitted to and considered by the Cabinet shall be determined by an instruction of the Cabinet.

11. If it is necessary to make amendments also to other legal acts of the same hierarchical level in relation to the draft, then concurrently with the prepared draft, the drafts with the necessary amendments shall also be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration.

[15 August 2023]

12. Unified control of the fulfilment of the tasks assigned by laws, decisions of the Saeima and statements of the President to the Cabinet, the legal acts of the Cabinet, protocol decisions of Cabinet sittings and protocol decisions of the meetings of State secretaries and tasks (resolutions) assigned by the Prime Minister (hereinafter - the task) in ministries, subordinated institutions, and the State Chancellery shall be carried out in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the unified control of the fulfilment of the tasks.

II. Taking over the Files of a Member of the Cabinet and Action Plan

13. In the cases of resignation of the Cabinet and the Prime Minister specified in the Cabinet Structure Law, each ministry and institution subordinate to the Prime Minister (hereinafter - the responsible ministry) shall prepare and electronically submit to the State Chancellery information on the implementation of the Action Plan and the tasks the implementation of which is to be continued, indicating the connection of these tasks with the objectives and tasks of the National Development Plan. If the responsible ministry, when providing information on the accomplished tasks and the tasks the implementation of which is to be continued, proposes new measures, it shall complete the second section of Annex to this Regulation.

[15 August 2023]

14. The State Chancellery shall, within three working days after receipt of the information referred to in Paragraph 13 of this Regulation, submit the compiled information to the Prime Minister or the candidate for the office of the Prime Minister.

[15 August 2023]

15. The State secretary of the relevant ministry and the head of an institution subordinate to the Prime Minister shall, within three working days after the Saeima has passed a vote of confidence to the new member of the Cabinet, submit the following information to the member of the Cabinet:

15.1. on the draft planning documents, informative statements, and draft legal acts under development and progression in the responsible ministry;

15.2. on legal proceedings in which the responsible ministry is involved;

15.3. on the implementation of the budget and the number of employees of the responsible ministry in the current year and three previous years.

16. A minister shall withdraw the drafts the progression of which has become obsolete within five working days after the Saeima has passed a vote of confidence to the new member of the Cabinet. If the minister has not withdrawn the drafts, the State Chancellery shall continue progression of the drafts to the Cabinet.

17. Within a month after the Saeima has passed a vote of confidence to the new Cabinet, each responsible ministry shall, in cooperation with the social partners of the government, the representatives of the civil society, the cooperation partners, and the associations and foundations representing the sector (field) (hereinafter - the non-governmental organisations), prepare a draft for Action Plan measures (Annex) and submit it to the State Chancellery electronically.

[15 August 2023]

18. Not more than five measures for the implementation of each task of the Declaration shall be indicated in the draft action plan.

19. The State Chancellery shall combine the measures submitted by the responsible ministries into a joint draft action plan according to the tasks referred to in the declaration. If necessary, the State Chancellery shall request the responsible ministries to clarify or remove the measures submitted by the ministries for the implementation of the tasks of the declaration, and also clarify the measures according to the current development policy. The State Chancellery shall submit the draft action plan to the Prime Minister.

[15 August 2023]

20. If the prepared draft action plan does not provide for the measures for the implementation of any task included in the Declaration, the Prime Minister shall determine the ministry responsible for the implementation of this task. The responsible ministry shall, within 10 working days after receipt of the task of the Prime Minister, in accordance with Annex to this Regulation, electronically submit to the State Chancellery information on the measures for the implementation of the respective tasks and indicate the deadline for the implementation thereof.

[15 August 2023]

21. If necessary, the Prime Minister shall organise separate discussions regarding the draft action plan. The State Chancellery shall ensure organisation of the abovementioned discussions and making of the necessary changes in the draft action plan.

[15 August 2023]

22. The Cabinet shall approve the Action Plan by an order of the Cabinet. The procedures by which the Action Plan shall be updated and reports shall be submitted shall be determined in this order.

23. The responsible ministries shall, in accordance with the order of the Cabinet, prepare information on the course of implementation of the measures provided for in the Action Plan. Information shall be indicated by completing the respective column of the Action Plan and shall be submitted to the State Chancellery electronically.

[15 August 2023]

24. After receipt of the information, the State Chancellery shall compile and submit it to the Prime Minister, and also post it on the website of the Cabinet.

[15 August 2023]

25. The changes in the Action Plan as proposed by Prime Minister are approved by the Cabinet which adopts a respective order.

26. After approval of the Action Plan or changes therein, the State Chancellery shall, according to the Cabinet order, prepare the updated Action Plan and post it on the website of the Cabinet, and also send it to the responsible ministries. Each responsible ministry shall ensure posting of the section of the measures of the Action Plan within the competence thereof on the website of the ministry.

[15 August 2023]

III. Ranks of Members of the Cabinet

27. Members of the Cabinet shall be ranked in following way:

27.1. Prime Minister;

27.2. Deputy Prime Minister;

27.3. minister, Minister for Special Assignments.

28. Within the scope of one rank, a higher rank shall be assigned to a member of the Cabinet who has worked in the respective office for a longer period of time. If the duration for assuming the office is equal, higher rank shall be assigned to the official who has been working in the public administration for a longer period of time.

29. Working places of the members of the Cabinet during sittings of the Cabinet and meetings of the Cabinet Committee shall be determined according to ranks. The ranks of the members of the Cabinet shall be applied by the Chairperson of the Cabinet sitting or meeting of the Cabinet Committee when giving the right to speak during debates about the issue to be examined and when determining the co-signatory from amongst members of the Cabinet (second signature) of the draft adopted by the Cabinet.

IV. Unified Portal for the Development of and Agreement upon Draft Legal Acts

30. The Unified Portal for the Development of and Agreement upon Draft Legal Acts (hereinafter - the DLA Portal) is a State information system which is used to ensure the operation of the Cabinet, to inform the public, and to participate in drafting of legal acts.

31. The State Chancellery shall be the manager of the DLA Portal. The following functions and tasks shall be determined for the manager of the DLA Portal:

31.1. to ensure the work of the Cabinet in terms of content and organisation;

31.2. to ensure the course of Cabinet sittings, meetings of the Cabinet Committee, and meetings of State secretaries;

31.3. to ensure preconditions for the uniform preparation of and agreement on the drafts;

31.4. to coordinate and control the fulfilment of the tasks assigned and to ensure traceability of the course of the fulfilment of the tasks;

31.5. to ensure a participatory environment for the involvement of the society in the process of creation of the drafts;

31.6. to ensure that the general information included in the DLA Portal is open and accessible to the public.

32. The DLA Portal ensures the development of drafts, public participation, agreement on drafts, their approval and sending for publication, updating of restricted access status, and declassification, transfer to the National Archives of Latvia, and also the circulation and control of tasks.

[15 August 2023]

33. A file of a legal act (hereinafter - the LA file) shall be created in the DLA Portal for each draft which is prepared on the basis of a task or upon initiative of an institution. The LA file shall include information corresponding to each type of draft and to the set of information to be mandatorily prepared, namely the annotation, opinions, a statement on the objections and proposals made in opinions (hereinafter - the statement), and other documents and information which certify the lawfulness of the legal relationship to be governed in the draft (for example, documents confirming property rights) in the absence of which it is impossible to take a decision on the merits. A unique identification number shall be assigned to the LA file automatically by which it is possible to trace all stages of the draft progression. All activities related to the submission of documents included in the LA file to the State Chancellery shall only be carried out in the DLA Portal, except for drafts prepared in the State Information System for Working with European Union Documents.

[15 August 2023]

34. The following shall be involved in exchange of the information necessary for ensuring the operation of the DLA Portal:

34.1. the Information System for the Control of Transposition and Introduction of Legal Acts of the European Union (ESTAPIKS) which hands over information to the DLA Portal in an online data exchange mode in order to ensure that legal acts of the European Union are transposed at national level, and receives information on legal acts through which legal acts of the European Union are transposed;

34.2. the State Information System for Working with European Union Documents (ESVIS) (hereinafter - the ESVIS System) which hands over the following in an online data exchange mode:

34.2.1. the draft national position;

34.2.2. the informative statement if it refers to the participation of Latvia in the process of proposing, preparing, and taking decisions of the European Union;

34.2.3. the informative statement prepared prior to informal meetings of the Council of the European Union and the information related thereto;

34.3. the Official Publication and Legal Information System which upon request hands over, in an online data exchange mode, a consolidated version of legal acts in the form of structured data and a link to the publication of the adopted legal act in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis and on the website at www.likumi.lv. The Official Publication and Legal Information System shall receive from the DLA Portal the data of a legal act adopted by the Cabinet (files and structured data), including the unique identification number, in an online data exchange mode;

34.4. the Unified State Archives Information System of the National Archives of Latvia which receives data and files of the LA file from the DLA Portal;

34.5. the legislative database of the Saeima which hands over the link to the draft law to the DLA Portal in an online data exchange mode.

35. The DLA Portal shall have the following environments:

35.1. the public environment where information on the list of LA files, the generally accessible information included in LA files, information on public participation, agendas and minutes of meetings of State secretaries, Cabinet Committee meetings, and Cabinet sittings, reports not examined in Cabinet sittings, tasks assigned to institutions, and declassified documents are available online without authentication. After authentication, it is possible to participate in the public participation process;

35.2. the working environment which is used to carry out all the activities related to the drafts referred to in this Regulation. A user shall authenticate in the working environment online by using electronic identification means of the user;

35.3. the environment of the course of sittings which is used for Cabinet sittings, meetings of the Cabinet Committee, and meetings of State secretaries.

[15 August 2023]

36. A user of the DLA Portal working environment shall be an official, employee of a State authority or another person who carries out the activities referred to in Paragraph 32 of this Regulation. The user of the working environment shall use the functionality of the DLA Portal according to the rights granted by the DLA Portal administrator of the institution.

37. The head of the institution shall determine such individual users of the working environment who have access to restricted access information in the DLA Portal in conformity with the principle of "need to know basis". Information "For official use only" is posted in the working environment, using an encryption method recognised by the Constitution Protection Bureau.

38. The public participation in the public environment of the DLA Portal which has been provided for in the laws and regulations regarding the procedures for public participation is ensured electronically, using an electronic service created for this purpose and authenticating by electronic identification means available in this electronic service.

39. During a Cabinet sitting, meeting of the Cabinet Committee, and meeting of State secretaries, the participants thereof shall work with the drafts in the environment of the course of sittings of the DLA Portal to the extent of the rights granted thereto.

40. The electronic signing tool of the DLA Portal (hereinafter - the system tool) shall:

40.1. confirm the respective activities of the specific system user within the scope of the LA file or information beyond it;

40.2. confirm the time when activities with the LA file or the relevant information have been carried out (timestamp);

40.3. record data which allow to ascertain that the LA file or the relevant information has not been changed since the moment of signing thereof.

41. In the DLA Portal:

41.1. a user shall sign structured data and files with the system tool;

41.2. a member of the Cabinet shall sign the drafts adopted at the Cabinet sitting with a secure electronic signature, except for the Cabinet orders which a minister shall sign with the system tool (the second signature);

41.3. a document signed with the system tool shall have public credibility.

42. Information which, in accordance with this Regulation, has been submitted to the State Chancellery, a ministry, or another authority in online mode, and also has been posted on the DLA Portal shall have public credibility, and it shall not require an electronic signature.

43. The responsible ministry shall develop, agree upon, and submit the drafts referred to in Sub-paragraphs 2.6.1 and 2.6.4 of this Regulation to the State Chancellery, using the ESVIS System. The information which, in accordance with this Regulation, has been submitted to the State Chancellery, using the ESVIS System, shall have public credibility, and it shall not require an electronic signature.

V. Preparation of Drafts

44. A set of information to be mandatorily prepared for the LA file shall be defined in the DLA Portal for each type of the draft. In order to confirm the lawfulness of the legal relationship governed in the draft, the necessary information and documents in the absence of which it is impossible to take a decision on the merits shall be additionally appended to the LA file.

45. The information provided by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs shall be indicated in the annotation attached to the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of citizenship in accordance with the naturalisation procedures or permission or refusal to retain Latvian citizenship or citizenship of another country.

[15 August 2023]

46. The LA file shall be prepared, using the relevant functionality of the DLA Portal and completing the fields intended for the specific type of the draft in the DLA Portal. The relevant policy area available in the DLA Portal shall be indicated for each draft. The draft shall be prepared, using a structured template. If the relevant structured template is not available, the document shall be appended in the form of a file according to the document formats supported by the DLA Portal.

47. The informative statement is information or a report on the course of resolution of an issue within the competence of the Cabinet, on the implementation of a planning document supported by the Cabinet, or the enforcement of a legal act, and it shall not cover conceptual matters.

48. The informative statement which refers to the participation of Latvia in the proposal, preparation, and taking of decisions of the European Union or which is drawn up prior to informal meetings of the Council of the European Union shall contain guidelines on agenda issues of the relevant meeting binding on the representative of the Republic of Latvia. The authorisation of the official to represent the Republic of Latvia in the relevant meeting of ministers shall be indicated in the draft protocol decision of a Cabinet sitting which has been appended to the informative statement.

49. If the draft provides for further action in relation to solving of the issues referred to in the draft or impact assessment of the sectoral policy, the relevant tasks shall be included in the draft protocol decision of a Cabinet sitting.

50. The responsible ministry shall ensure:

50.1. the veracity and topicality of the facts and data, and also assessment referred to in the developed drafts and the information related thereto (in the LA file);

50.2. the evaluation of the developed draft and the documents related thereto in accordance with the requirements laid down in the Freedom of Information Law and other laws and regulations governing availability of information. If restricted access status is determined for documents, they shall be drawn up, using designations that are appropriate for the status. The State Chancellery shall not alter the access status of the submitted information upon its own initiative;

50.3. the conformity of the developed drafts with the legal provisions of the same level and higher legal force, and also with the international commitments of Latvia;

50.4. the conformity of the developed drafts with the requirements for the preparation of drafts laid down in legal acts;

50.5. the evaluation of the current relevance of the restricted use status assigned to documents, the cancellation, change, or extension of the deadline of the abovementioned status in the DLA Portal.

[15 August 2023]

VI. Agreement upon the Drafts and Provision of Opinions

51. The responsible ministry shall progress the prepared draft for agreement thereupon, indicating the ministries or authorities with which this draft should be agreed upon. The ministry or authority with which the draft is to be agreed upon shall receive information in the DLA Portal.

52. It shall be necessary to receive an opinion (agreement upon a draft):

52.1. from the following ministries:

52.1.1. the Ministry of Finance, except for the following documents:

52.1.1.1. the draft Cabinet order regarding the approval of candidates for the positions of officials, appointment of officials to office, transfer to another office, or dismissal from office, granting of the special service rank, and combination of offices of officials;

52.1.1.2. the draft Cabinet order regarding the extension or revocation of the deadline for the implementation of a task assigned to another ministry or another authority in the Cabinet order;

52.1.1.3. the draft Cabinet order regarding the establishment of an advisory council, commission, or working group if it does not concern the field of competence of the Ministry of Finance and it is not intended to include a representative of the Ministry of Finance in the respective council, commission, or working group;

52.1.1.4. the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of citizenship in accordance with the naturalisation procedures or permission or refusal to retain Latvian citizenship or citizenship of another country;

52.1.1.5. the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of a Cabinet accolade for outstanding achievements in sports, culture, and also study olympiads, competitions, and contests;

52.1.1.6. the draft Cabinet order regarding the proportion in which privatisation certificates can be used as means of payment instead of property compensation certificates;

52.1.1.7. the draft Cabinet order regarding the deforestation of State immovable property;

52.1.1.8. the draft Cabinet regulation regarding the individual provisions for the protection and use of nature parks;

52.1.1.9. the draft documents to be submitted to a court and the draft Cabinet letter if it does not concern the competence of the Ministry of Finance;

52.1.2. the Ministry of Justice, except for the following documents:

52.1.2.1. the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of the special service rank and combination of offices of officials;

52.1.2.2. the draft Cabinet order regarding the extension or revocation of the deadline for the implementation of a task assigned to another ministry or another authority in the Cabinet order;

52.1.2.3. the draft planning document if it does not concern the competence of the Ministry of Justice, the transposition or implementation of the European Union law, and also if it does not significantly concern the legal system and does not involve tasks for the Ministry of Justice or subordinate institutions thereof;

52.1.2.4. the draft Cabinet order regarding the establishment of an advisory council, commission, or working group if it does not concern the competence of the Ministry of Justice and it is not intended to include a representative of the Ministry of Justice in the respective council, commission, or working group;

52.1.2.5. the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of citizenship in accordance with the naturalisation procedures;

52.1.2.6. the draft Cabinet order regarding the approval of the budget of the institution, regarding the allocation of funds from the State budget programme "Funds for Unforeseen Events", regarding the redistribution of appropriations, and regarding the distribution of non-current liabilities by years or clarification thereof;

52.1.2.7. the draft Cabinet order regarding the granting of a Cabinet award or accolade, regarding the granting of monetary prizes for outstanding achievements in sports, culture, and also study olympiads, competitions, and contests;

52.1.2.8. the draft Cabinet order regarding the proportion in which privatisation certificates can be used as means of payment instead of property compensation certificates;

52.1.2.9. the draft documents to be submitted to a court and the draft Cabinet letter if it does not concern the competence of the Ministry of Justice;

52.1.3. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

52.1.3.1. on an international treaty or the draft thereof, or another draft affecting the international commitments of the Republic of Latvia;

52.1.3.2. on the draft Cabinet order regarding the participation of officials in international missions and operations;

52.1.3.3. on an informative statement on the participation of Latvia in the proposal, preparation, and taking of the decisions of the European Union;

52.1.3.4. on an informative statement prior to informal meetings of the Council of the European Union;

52.1.3.¹ the Ministry of Welfare:

52.1.3.¹ 1. the draft planning documents of the European Union funds;

52.1.3.¹ 2. regarding the implementation of draft external legal acts in the field of European Union funds which concern the horizontal principle "Equality, inclusion, non-discrimination, and respect for fundamental rights", when implementing measures of the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund, the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund, and the Financial Support Instrument for Border Management and Visa Policy;

52.1.4. other ministries the field of competence of which is directly affected by the draft or tasks are intended for them in the draft, or the representatives of which it is intended to include in the relevant council, commission, or working group;

52.2. from the following authorities:

52.2.1. the State Chancellery:

52.2.1.1. if the draft is related to the institutional structure and principles of operation of the State administration, and also changes in the number of offices and remuneration (except for teachers);

52.2.1.2. regarding any draft planning document and draft informative statement on the implementation of planning documents, and also the mutual coherence and conformity of such drafts with the requirements of the laws and regulations which are related to the development planning document of national level and concern issues of the management of capital shares of a public person;

52.2.2. [15 August 2023];

52.2.3. the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments if it is necessary to agree upon the draft with local governments in accordance with the law governing activities of local governments;

52.2.4. the Public Utilities Commission if the draft is related to the regulation of public utilities;

52.2.5. the Competition Council if the draft is related to the issues regarding the protection and development of competition;

52.2.6. the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau if the draft refers to an authorisation to combine offices;

52.2.6.¹ the State Data Inspectorate if the draft refers to the issues of the processing of personal data, including processing of personal data in information systems;

52.2.7. the contracting organisations of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council, namely the association "Employers' Confederation of Latvia" and the association of trade unions "Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia", if the draft refers to the interests of employers and employees;

52.2.8. the authorities the representatives of which it is intended to include in the relevant council, commission, or working group, or a candidature for the official to be approved, appointed, transferred to another position, dismissed from the position, or granted a special service rank;

52.2.9. the Latvian National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation if the draft refers to the international commitments of the Republic of Latvia in the UNESCO area of activities (education, science, culture, environment, information and communication, field of mass media activities);

52.2.10. working groups, advisory councils, and other authorities with which the agreement upon the draft laws and regulations has been specified in an external legal act or if the need for agreement arises directly from the provisions of an external legal act which determines the competence thereof.

[15 August 2023]

53. The Ministry of Finance shall not agree upon drafts related to the draft law on the State budget for the current year and the medium term budget framework and the preparation thereof and also to the ensuring of the budget implementation process with other ministries and institutions in the cases specified in the Law on Budget and Financial Management and the law on the State budget for the current year and the medium term budget framework, but during the development process, it shall consult with the Ministry of Justice to ensure the principle of the rule of law and with the State Chancellery if additional funds are provided for remuneration. The abovementioned condition shall not apply to the accompanying package of draft laws which shall be agreed upon in accordance with the general procedures.

[15 August 2023]

54. An informative statement, if no further action is intended in respect of the issue referred to in the informative statement or if it is not related to the competence of other authorities, and also a draft protocol decision of a Cabinet sitting, if it is not related to the competence of other authorities, shall not be agreed upon with other ministries or authorities.

[15 August 2023]

55. When progressing the draft for agreement thereupon, the responsible ministry shall determine the following term for the provision of an opinion:

55.1. under general procedures - from 10 working days;

55.2. under urgency procedures - three working days. The urgency procedures may only be applied in exceptional cases where an issue needs to be resolved immediately in relation to the setting in of such consequences unfavourable to the State which affect significant public interests or international financial, economic, or security interests of the State. Urgency should be substantiated on the merits, indicating the specific unfavourable consequences. Delay of the term for the fulfilment of a task known previously in a timely manner is not considered grounds for urgency.

[15 August 2023]

56. The term for the provision of an opinion shall start on the next working day following progressing of the draft for agreement in the DLA Portal. Ministries and other authorities shall, each working day, follow up the list of drafts handed over for agreement thereupon and provide an opinion within the limits of their competence.

57. The provider of an opinion may extend the term for the provision of an opinion referred to in Sub-paragraph 55.1 of this Regulation and stipulated by the responsible ministry up to three working days if it is not able to provide the opinion within the term stipulated by the responsible ministry due to objective reasons. Such extension of the term may only be applied once to the draft under agreement, and it shall apply to all providers of the opinion.

58. Ministries or other authorities shall agree upon the draft by providing an opinion. The opinion shall be provided on each draft individually. The opinion shall be approved by the State secretary or an authorised official thereof, and also the head of the authority providing the opinion or an authorised official thereof.

59. A ministry or another authority may not refuse to provide an opinion if the relevant draft directly affects the issues within the limits of its competence.

60. According to the competence specified in legal acts, a ministry or another authority shall in its opinion:

60.1. express objections, providing appropriate grounds for them, and, where necessary, suggest the recommended wording;

60.2. make proposals of recommendatory nature;

60.3. indicate the supported version if the draft provides for several versions of the solution. By agreeing upon the draft without objections and proposals, the provider of the opinion shall support the version offered by the responsible ministry.

61. When providing an opinion on the draft, a ministry or an authority shall also assess the information which is indicated in the annotation appended to the draft in accordance with the legal acts regarding the procedures for the initial impact assessment of a draft legal act.

62. If an authority cannot create its own account on the DLA Portal or provide an opinion using an e-service, it shall provide the opinion outside of the DLA Portal, and the responsible ministry shall supplement the statement accordingly.

63. If a ministry or an authority other than indicated as the provider of an opinion has provided an opinion on the draft within the specified term, the responsible ministry shall also assess this opinion, and also invite a representative of the relevant ministry or authority to participate in the agreement process.

64. If a ministry or another authority has not prepared the opinion in accordance with the requirements referred to in Paragraph 60 of this Regulation, it shall be of a recommendatory nature as a whole.

65. If ministries and other authorities have supported the draft without objections and proposals or have only made proposals, or have not provided the opinion within the deadline specified in Paragraph 55 of this Regulations (default agreement), the draft shall be considered agreed upon.

66. If objections and proposals have been made in opinions on the draft, the responsible ministry shall assess them, clarify the draft, and complete the statement. If the opinion is provided after the specified deadline, the responsible ministry has the right to continue to progress the draft for the submission to the State Chancellery without clarifying it.

[15 August 2023]

67. If a ministry or another authority has expressed objections to the draft within the specified term, the responsible ministry shall, after assessment of the objections, repeatedly progress the statement and clarified draft (annotation thereof) to the ministries and other authorities which have provided the opinion or certified in accordance with the specific procedures that they do not have objections, and also to the ministries and other authorities which are affected by the significant changes made in the draft (hereinafter in this Chapter - the participants to agreement process).

68. If, during clarification of the draft, the responsible ministry has taken into account objections of the participants to agreement process and no objections to the clarified draft have been received from the participants to agreement process within five working days after progressing the statement and clarified draft for repeated -agreement thereupon, it shall be considered agreed upon and the responsible ministry shall prepare the draft for submission at a Cabinet sitting.

[15 August 2023]

69. For the purpose of reaching an agreement on objections that have not been taken into account, the responsible ministry shall progress the draft for repeated -agreement thereupon or convene a joint interinstitutional meeting, indicating this information on the DLA Portal or sending it to the e-mail address indicated by the provider of the opinion if the provider of the opinion has provided the opinion outside of the DLA Portal in accordance with Paragraph 62 of this Regulation. The responsible ministry shall, at least five working days before the agreement meeting, progress the draft with the supplemented (updated) statement to the participants to agreement process in the DLA Portal. The participants to agreement process shall delegate such persons to the meeting who are authorised to express the official position of the ministry (authority).

[15 August 2023]

70. According to the results of the inter-institutional meeting, the responsible ministry shall clarify the draft, supplement the statement, and progress it to the participants to agreement process.

71. If the objections expressed in the opinion of the authority have not been taken into account and its representative has not participated in the interinstitutional meeting or has not provided a response regarding the clarified draft progressed for agreement thereupon within five working days, the objections that were not taken into account shall be considered withdrawn.

[15 August 2023]

72. After repeated agreement, the responsible ministry shall update the statement and submit the draft for consideration at a meeting of State secretaries, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee, or a Cabinet sitting accordingly.

73. If the agreed-upon draft is to be submitted to:

73.1. the Ministry of Economics in order to provide information to the European Commission on the development of a legal act, the responsible ministry shall progress the draft in accordance with the procedures for agreement upon technical regulations;

73.2. the Ministry of Finance in order to send it to the European Central Bank, the responsible ministry shall progress the draft in accordance with the procedures for agreement upon financial regulations.

74. The drafts which refer to the development of the civil society and activities of associations and foundations (horizontal issues of the civil society, democratic culture, and human rights), including tax and financial issues, shall, prior to the consideration thereof in the Cabinet, be submitted to the State Chancellery (Secretariat of the Council for the Implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Non-governmental Organisations and the Cabinet) for consideration in the Council for the Implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Non-governmental Organisations and the Cabinet, reflecting in the annotation the issues decided in a meeting of the Council for the Implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Non-governmental Organisations and the Cabinet accordingly.

VII. Submission of the Drafts for Consideration in the Cabinet, Cabinet Committee, and Meetings of State Secretaries, the Assessment Thereof, and Determination of Progression

75. The drafts shall be submitted to the State Chancellery which organises and controls the course of the progression and consideration thereof in meetings of State secretaries, meetings of the Cabinet Committee, and Cabinet sittings.

76. A member of the Cabinet is entitled to submit the draft which has been developed by a ministry, an institution subordinate to the Secretariat of the Minister for Special Assignments, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the State Chancellery, or the Prime Minister (hereinafter - the ministries) for consideration at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee or a Cabinet sitting.

77. The heads of other State and local government authorities, and also of non-governmental organisations and social partner organisations of the government (hereinafter - another authority) are only entitled to submit the draft for consideration at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee or a Cabinet sitting through a member of the Cabinet who holds political responsibility for the relevant field, sector, or sub-sector.

78. If the relevant member of the Cabinet refuses to progress the draft prepared by other authorities for consideration in the Cabinet, the head of the authority is entitled to submit it, together with a reasoned refusal of the relevant minister in writing, to the Prime Minister for taking of the final decision on further progression of the draft. If the Prime Minister takes the decision to progress the draft for consideration in the Cabinet, the Prime Minister shall be regarded to be the submitter of the draft.

79. The State secretary of a ministry, the head of the Secretariat of the Minister for Special Assignments, the director of the State Chancellery, or the head of an institution subordinate to the Prime Minister, and also a member of the Cabinet is entitled to submit the draft for consideration at a meeting of State secretaries.

80. Heads of other authorities are only entitled to submit the draft for consideration at a meeting of State secretaries through a State Secretary of the ministry the competence of which includes dealing with the issues covered by the draft.

81. An official who has submitted the draft is entitled to withdraw the draft submitted for consideration at a meeting of State secretaries, but a member of the Cabinet is entitled to withdraw the submitted draft at any stage of the consideration of the draft.

82. The State Chancellery shall, within seven working days after submission of the draft to the State Chancellery, assess the conformity of the draft with the following:

82.1. the procedures for agreement upon the drafts laid down in this Regulation;

82.2. the requirements for the preparation of the drafts laid down in legal acts;

82.3. the requirements for the preparation of the annotation of the draft laid down in legal acts;

82.4. laws and other legal acts, and also the existing planning documents, the Declaration, and the Action Plan (where necessary).

83. Taking into account the opinions of ministries and other authorities and the result of the legal assessment referred to in Paragraph 82 of this Regulation, the State Chancellery shall prepare an opinion on the draft for the Prime Minister or director of the State Chancellery and provide a proposal for further progress of the draft or ensure legal and editorial drawing up of the draft.

84. After legal and editorial drawing up of the draft, the State Chancellery shall agree thereupon with the responsible ministry.

85. The State Chancellery shall include on the draft agenda of a Cabinet sitting the drafts which have been subject to legal and editorial drawing up.

86. The draft shall be usually drawn up within 10 working days after the assessment of the State Chancellery (Paragraphs 82, 83 of this Regulation) or supporting of the draft at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee or meeting of State secretaries, if the submitter is a member of the Cabinet, or after receipt of the agreed-upon (clarified) wording of the draft respectively.

87. The State Chancellery shall not carry out legal and editorial drawing up of planning documents, informative statements, and annotations of legal acts. If the planning document, informative statement, or annotation requires any clarifications, they shall be made by the responsible ministry, and a member of the Cabinet shall re-submit the clarified planning document, informative statement, or annotation.

88. The Prime Minister shall take a decision on the progression of the drafts submitted to the Cabinet.

89. If no further action is intended in respect of the issue referred to in the informative statement or if it is not related to assessment of the impact of sectoral policies, then it is not necessary to progress the informative statement submitted by a member of the Cabinet for consideration at a Cabinet sitting.

90. If, in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister, it is not necessary to examine the informative statement at the Cabinet sitting, the State Chancellery shall post it in section "Sēdē neskatāmie ziņojumi" [Statements not to be examined at the sitting] on the DLA Portal.

91. After receipt of information from the European Commission and the European Union Member States on the agreement upon draft technical regulations or after receipt of information from the European Central Bank on the agreement upon draft financial regulations, a member of the Cabinet shall submit the clarified draft to the State Chancellery.

VIII. Procedures for the Examination of the Drafts at a Meeting of State Secretaries and the Course Thereof

92. Meetings of State secretaries are usually organised once a week at the State Chancellery or remotely. The director of the State Chancellery or an official who replaces the director of the State Chancellery (hereinafter - the chairperson of the meeting) shall convene meetings of State secretaries, approve agenda of meetings, and chair meetings.

93. The following persons may participate in a meeting of State Secretaries:

93.1. with voting rights - the director of the State Chancellery, State secretaries, and heads of Secretariats of Ministers for Special Assignments (hereinafter - the members with voting rights);

93.2. with advisory rights - parliamentary secretaries, the head of the Office of the Prime Minister, the head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, officials of the State Chancellery, a representative of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, a representative of the State Audit Office, a representative of the Office of the Prosecutor General, a representative of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, a representative of the Public Utilities Commission, a representative of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council, a representative of the Competition Council, a representative of the State Data Inspectorate, the Ombudsman or an authorised person thereof, a representative of the planning region development council, an authorised representative of the Council for the Implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Non-governmental Organisations and Cabinet, and a representative of non-governmental organisations.

[15 August 2023]

94. The following shall be considered at a meeting of State secretaries:

94.1. the drafts on which no agreement has been reached in the agreement process, except for the drafts that do not require a political and conceptual decision;

94.2. the drafts which have not been clarified in conformity with that decided at a meeting of State secretaries;

94.3. the draft national position or other issues related to the development of the draft national position in respect of which the Meeting of Senior Officials in the European Union Affairs (hereinafter - the Meeting of Senior Officials) has decided that they are to be considered at a meeting of State secretaries;

94.4. the draft official opinions of the Republic of Latvia for defending the national development goals in international organisations or the issues related to the development thereof if it is not possible to agree on the division of the responsibilities and competences of ministries or other authorities;

94.5. other issues currently relevant to the public administration.

95. A State secretary, the head of the Secretariat of a Minister for Special Assignments, the head of Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the director of the State Chancellery, the head of an institution subordinate to the Prime Minister, or an authorised representative thereof shall report on the submitted draft or an issue related thereto at a meeting of State secretaries.

96. The members with voting rights present at a meeting of State secretaries shall take decisions on the drafts submitted for consideration by unanimous vote. If no agreement is reached, the draft may be progressed for consideration at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee in accordance with the specified procedures. If no agreement is reached on the draft national position or an issue related thereto, it shall be submitted to the Cabinet in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding the development, harmonisation, approval, and updating of national positions. Decisions to determine the responsible authority for the execution of the task may be taken by voting. A decision shall be taken if the majority of the present members with voting rights have voted in favour. If the number of votes is divided equally, the chairperson of the meeting of State secretaries shall have the casting vote.

[15 August 2023]

97. Only such draft which has been supported at a meeting of State secretaries without amendments or with amendments on which an agreement has been reached during the meeting shall be progressed for consideration at a Cabinet sitting.

97.¹ If the objections expressed in the opinion of the authority have not been taken into account and its representative has not participated in the meeting of State secretaries, the objections shall be considered withdrawn and the draft as agreed upon shall be progressed for consideration at a Cabinet sitting.

[15 August 2023]

98. If amendments need to be made to the draft which are not clearly formulated and recorded in the minutes of a meeting of State secretaries or the draft needs to be agreed upon with the ministries and other authorities, the draft shall not be supported and the responsible ministry shall clarify it and submit for re-consideration at a meeting of State secretaries.

99. At meetings of State secretaries, minutes shall be taken. The minutes shall indicate the persons with voting rights who participated in the meeting and also, at each issue, the persons who spoke about the relevant issue and the decisions taken.

100. The chairperson of a meeting of State secretaries shall sign the minutes of the meeting not later than on the next working day following the meeting.

101. The members with voting rights of a meeting of State secretaries are entitled, within two working days after publication of the minutes of the meeting on the DLA Portal, to submit objections for consideration at the meeting in respect of the content of the abovementioned minutes. Objections shall be made in the form of a new draft protocol decision, and the grounds for the objections shall be indicated in the annotation. The abovementioned amendments shall be examined at the next meeting of State secretaries.

IX. Procedures for the Examination of the Drafts at a Meeting of the Cabinet Committee and the Course Thereof

102. The Cabinet Committee (hereinafter - the Committee) shall examine:

102.1. the drafts in respect of which an agreement has not been reached at a meeting of State secretaries;

102.2. the drafts in respect of which objections have been made or significant clarifications have been proposed at a Cabinet sitting;

102.3. the drafts in respect of which the State Chancellery has significant legal or editorial objections during the drawing up thereof for consideration at a Cabinet sitting;

102.4. repeatedly:

102.4.1. the drafts supported at a meeting of the Committee which have not been clarified in conformity with that decided at the meeting of the Committee;

102.4.2. the drafts not supported at the meeting of the Committee.

103. The composition of the Committee shall be the composition of the Cabinet, and no quorum shall be required at a meeting of the Committee for taking of a decision. The Prime Minister shall determine the time and place for a meeting of the Committee.

104. Extended meetings of the Committee are organised in order to harmonise the views of the Cabinet and local governments. The Prime Minister shall convene and chair the extended meetings of the Committee, and members of the Cabinet and representatives of local governments shall participate therein according to the agreement entered into. The Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments shall organise the nomination of representatives of local governments for the extended meeting of the Committee.

105. The following persons may participate in the meeting of the Committee in the advisory capacity:

105.1. the officials specified in laws or their authorised officials;

105.2. a representative of the Office of the Prosecutor General;

105.3. the persons invited by the Prime Minister;

105.4. the persons invited by a member of the Cabinet;

105.5. an assistant or advisor of a member of the Cabinet;

105.6. the parliamentary secretary of a ministry;

105.7. a State secretary or deputies thereof;

105.8. the head of the Office of the Prime Minister, the head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and also the director of the State Chancellery and the authorised officials thereof;

105.9. the Ombudsman or the authorised persons thereof;

105.10. the director of the State Data Inspectorate or the authorised persons thereof;

105.11. the head of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau or the authorised officials thereof;

105.12. a representative of the Republic of Latvia in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the court of the European Free Trade Association;

105.13. a representative authorised by the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments;

105.14. a representative authorised by the planning region development council;

105.15. a representative authorised by the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia and a representative authorised by the Employers' Confederation of Latvia;

105.16. a representative of non-governmental organisations authorised by the Council for the Implementation of the Memorandum of Cooperation between Non-governmental Organisations and the Cabinet.

[15 August 2023]

106. A member of the Cabinet or his or her authorised representative shall report on the submitted draft at a meeting of the Committee.

107. If amendments need to be made to the draft which have not been clearly formulated during a meeting of the Committee or the draft needs to be agreed upon with the ministries or other authorities, the draft shall not be supported. The relevant draft shall be clarified and submitted for re-consideration at a meeting of the Committee.

107.¹ If the objections expressed in the opinion of the authority have not been taken into account and its representative has not participated in the meeting of the Committee of the Cabinet, the objections shall be considered withdrawn and the draft as agreed upon shall be progressed for consideration at a Cabinet sitting.

[15 August 2023]

108. The decision on progressing the draft for its consideration at a Cabinet sitting shall be taken unanimously by the Committee.

109. The minutes of a meeting of the Committee shall be prepared by an official appointed by the director of the State Chancellery. The minutes of a meeting of the Committee shall indicate the persons with voting rights who have participated in the meeting of the Committee, the decisions taken on each issue, and the persons who have spoken about the relevant issue.

110. If an issue is urgent and the draft examined and supported at a meeting of the Committee is to be considered at the next Cabinet sitting on an exceptional basis, it shall be indicated in the minutes of the sitting.

111. The minutes of a meeting of the Committee shall be signed by the chairperson of the meeting and the director of the State Chancellery or official authorised by the director of the State Chancellery. If a meeting of the Committee had several chairpersons, the minutes shall be signed by each of them.

112. The objections to the minutes of a meeting of the Committee shall be submitted in accordance with the procedures laid down in Paragraph 147 of this Regulation.

X. Procedures for Considering the Drafts at Cabinet Sittings and the Course Thereof

113. The following shall be progressed for consideration at a Cabinet sitting:

113.1. the drafts which have been agreed upon in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Regulation;

113.2. the drafts supported at a meeting of the Committee and a meeting of State secretaries;

113.3. the drafts which have been submitted in relation to the determination of emergency situation and state of exception in the country (in accordance with the law On Emergency Situation and State of Exception) or concern the issues of the prevention and overcoming of situations of threat to national security;

113.4. the Cabinet files (Paragraph 120 of this Regulation);

113.5. the drafts the urgency of which is substantiated;

113.6. the draft law on the State budget for the current year and the medium term budget framework and draft legal acts related to the preparation thereof (package of draft budget laws), the draft legal acts related to the ensuring of the budget implementation process, and also the information in the cases specified in the law on the State budget for the current year and the medium term budget framework and the Law on Budget and Financial Management;

113.7. the drafts that, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law, contain restricted access information or, in accordance with the law On Official Secret, are an official secret object or contain an official secret object;

113.8. the draft documents of the official opinion of Latvia for examination in authorities of international organisations and the European Union;

113.9. the draft documents to be submitted to a court;

113.10. the draft letters of the Cabinet;

113.11. the informative statements if they have not been progressed for posting in the section "Statements not to be considered at the meeting" of the DLA Portal in accordance with Paragraph 90 of this Regulation.

[15 August 2023]

114. The State Chancellery shall include the draft national position, the draft position, the informative statement on the participation of Latvia in the proposal, preparation, and taking of decisions of the European Union, and the informative statement on informal meetings of the Council of the European Union on the agenda of the nearest Cabinet sitting or of the Cabinet sitting indicated by a member of the Cabinet.

115. The drafts progressed for consideration at a Cabinet sitting shall be included on the draft agenda in the appropriate sections depending on the results of the agreement upon the draft, the type of the draft, the use restriction of the draft stipulated by the submitter, and other criteria. If the draft is included on the agenda in the section of fully agreed-upon drafts, these drafts shall be adopted during the sitting without discussions and all together.

116. If, during a sitting, the Cabinet decides to combine two or more drafts, the ministry which will prepare the joint annotation of the draft shall be concurrently determined.

117. If, during a sitting, the Cabinet decides to join two or more drafts and to publish them urgently, the State Chancellery shall join the drafts without joining the annotations thereof.

118. Cabinet sittings shall be organised in person, remotely, or according to the survey procedures by using video conferencing, conference calls, and also other information technology tools in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister shall determine the time and place for Cabinet sittings.

119. The officials referred to in Section 28, Paragraph four of the Cabinet Structure Law, the members with voting rights of meetings of State secretaries, and the officials invited by the Prime Minister shall participate at Cabinet sittings with advisory rights when examining specific agenda issues.

120. A member of the Cabinet may ask the Prime Minister to consider the draft as an issue of the Cabinet at a Cabinet sitting. An issue of the Cabinet is a draft which requires a political and conceptual decision or vote of the Cabinet on the merits thereof. The Prime Minister may at any moment declare the draft to be an issue of the Cabinet upon his or her own initiative.

121. A member of the Cabinet may ask the Prime Minister to consider the draft at a Cabinet sitting under urgency procedures in conformity with the conditions for the application of urgency referred to in Sub-paragraph 55.2 of this Regulation.

122. The responsible ministry shall submit the draft referred to in Paragraph 121 of this Regulation to the State Chancellery not later than three working days before the regular Cabinet sitting (usually on Thursday by 12.00). If the responsible ministry requests to include the draft in an extraordinary Cabinet sitting under urgency procedures, the draft shall be submitted to the State Chancellery not later than three hours before the beginning of the sitting.

123. The Prime Minister shall determine in which part of a Cabinet sitting the submitted drafts are to be examined.

124. When submitting such draft for examination at a Cabinet sitting which contains restricted access information, the special designations determined in the laws and regulations regarding protection of the relevant information shall be used and the information on the use restrictions of the draft shall be indicated on each document appended which contains the use restriction.

125. When submitting drafts for examination at a Cabinet sitting without any use restriction, a member of the Cabinet may, where necessary, request that a discussion on such documents is organised in the closed part of the Cabinet sitting.

126. The draft on which a use restriction has been imposed shall be examined in the closed part of a Cabinet sitting.

127. A Cabinet sitting, by specifying its agenda and length, shall be chaired by the Prime Minister or a person who acts for him or her in accordance with the procedures laid down in legal acts (hereinafter - the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting).

128. The minutes of a Cabinet sitting shall be recorded by the director of the State Chancellery or his or her authorised official. The persons with voting rights who have participated in the Cabinet sitting, the decisions taken on each issue, and the persons who have spoken about the relevant issue and the results of voting (if voting has occurred) shall be indicated in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting. It shall also be indicated in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting if a member of the Cabinet refuses to participate in taking of a decision due to the restrictions laid down in legal acts, and also due to ethical or other reasons.

129. Decisions shall be taken at a Cabinet sitting in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Cabinet Structure Law. If votes are tied (the number of votes "for" is equal to "against" and "refrain"), the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting shall have the decisive vote.

130. The Prime Minister shall decide on the start time and type of a sitting, taking into account the need to ensure quorum of the members with voting rights in the sitting.

131. Members of the Cabinet who, according to a decision of the Prime Minister, participate in a sitting in a manner different from other members of the Cabinet shall, where possible, during the sitting work in the environment of the course of sittings of the DLA Portal or, not later than an hour before the beginning of the sitting, express their views in the field "Comments" on all the issues included in the agenda (on each issue separately or an agenda section in general) working in the environment of the course of sittings of the DLA Portal.

132. The State Chancellery shall compile opinions of those members of the Cabinet who, according to the decision of the Prime Minister, participate in a sitting in a manner different from other members of the Cabinet and have used the possibility to express their opinion on the issues of the sitting before the beginning of the sitting, and shall inform the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting thereof. The chairperson of the Cabinet sitting shall inform in the sitting which members of the Cabinet participate in the sitting in a manner different from other members of the Cabinet, and also of the opinion of these members of the Cabinet on the issues included in the agenda of the sitting.

133. Where necessary, the State Chancellery shall, during a Cabinet sitting, organise communication with a member of the Cabinet who participates in the Cabinet sitting in a manner different from other members of the Cabinet.

134. If debates on an issue of the agenda after which voting is necessary take place at a Cabinet sitting, but a member of the Cabinet participates in a manner different from other members of the Cabinet according to the decision of the Prime Minister and he or she does not have the possibility to work in the environment of the course of sittings on the DLA Portal during the sitting, the State Chancellery shall organise communication with such member of the Cabinet upon assignment of the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting. If it is not possible to organise communication, the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting, where possible, shall postpone the consideration of the issue.

135. The State Chancellery shall indicate information in the minutes of a Cabinet sitting on the participation of these members of the Cabinet in the sitting (Paragraph 134 of this Regulation) with an additional note according to the type of the different participation.

136. If an extraordinary Cabinet sitting needs to be convened on a certain event in relation to which a Cabinet decision needs to be taken without delay, but on which debates, conceptual decision, or voting is not required, the Prime Minister may, by having regard to the considerations of usefulness, assign the State Chancellery to organise the course of the Cabinet sitting in accordance with the survey procedures by finding out the opinions of members of the Cabinet on the issue to be considered at the sitting and without inviting members of the Cabinet to participate in the sitting in person or remotely.

137. If an extraordinary Cabinet sitting was organized in accordance with the survey procedures (Paragraph 136 of this Regulation), the minutes thereof shall contain an additional note "in accordance with the survey procedures", and also the participants of the sitting and the decision taken according to the result of the survey.

138. If, according to the decisions of the Prime Minister, any member of the Cabinet participates in a sitting in a way different from other members of the Cabinet and he or she has not worked in the environment of the course of sittings on the DLA Portal during the sitting, or an extraordinary Cabinet sitting is taking place in accordance with the survey procedures, the State Chancellery shall ensure that the opinion of the members of the Cabinet is registered accordingly.

139. If a member of the Cabinet has any objections or additional considerations on a certain issue to be discussed at a Cabinet sitting, he or she shall make them known during consideration of the relevant issue and draw up a separate opinion until the end of the sitting, and append it to the issue to be discussed in the environment of the course of sittings. The State Chancellery shall ensure that an individual opinion of a Cabinet member submitted in writing is included in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting.

140. The draft or other document shall be adopted or supported at a Cabinet sitting if its text has been drawn up and prepared for signing or sending to the addressee accordingly.

141. The chairperson of a Cabinet sitting shall, during the sitting, precisely define the proposals expressed during the debates and accepted at the Cabinet sitting for their recording in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting.

142. If significant amendments need to be made to the draft which have not been drawn up during a sitting in writing or the draft needs to be agreed upon with the relevant ministries or other authorities, the draft shall not be supported (adopted).

143. If the draft is examined at a Cabinet sitting in accordance with this Regulation as the issue of the Cabinet or under urgency procedures and it is adopted or supported, the State Chancellery shall ensure its legal and editorial drawing up within five working days, unless specified otherwise in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting.

144. If the draft is supported (adopted) at a Cabinet sitting and the making of clarifications therein is assigned, the submitter shall, within one week after the Cabinet sitting, unless another term has been specified in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting, clarify the draft according to that decided at the sitting and submit the clarified draft to the State Chancellery.

145. During a Cabinet sitting, a member of the Cabinet has the right to request that the State Chancellery agrees with him or her upon any drawn up draft protocol decision of the Cabinet sitting.

146. The minutes of a Cabinet sitting shall be signed by the chairperson of the Cabinet sitting and by the director of the State Chancellery. If a Cabinet sitting had several chairpersons, all chairpersons of the sitting shall sign the minutes.

147. Members of the Cabinet are entitled, within two working days after publication of the minutes of the Cabinet sitting on the DLA Portal, to submit objections against the content of the abovementioned minutes for examination at a Cabinet sitting. The objections shall be prepared in the form of a new draft protocol decision and the justification of objections shall be indicated in the annotation. The abovementioned amendments shall be examined in the next Cabinet sitting.

XI. Procedures for the Application, Restrictions and Procedures for the Course of Participation in Cabinet Meetings, the Meetings of the Cabinet Committee and the Meetings of State Secretaries

148. A member of the Cabinet, a State secretary, the head of an institution, an authorised representative of social partners of the government and non-governmental organisations shall, before application of persons for participation in a meeting of State secretaries, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee, or a Cabinet sitting (hereinafter - the sitting), assess the usefulness of their participation, taking into account that sound recordings of the open parts of sittings are made and that the open part of Cabinet sittings is a live broadcast.

149. A person appointed by the respective ministry, institution, social partner of the government, or non-governmental organisation shall record the persons applied for participation in the sitting in accordance with Paragraph 148 of this Regulation on the DLA Portal at the respective issue of the sitting not later than one working day before the sitting, indicating the given name, surname, position, and e-mail address of the person applied. Persons may be applied for the consideration of the issues submitted under urgency procedures until the beginning of the Cabinet sitting.

150. The submitter shall ensure inviting to a Cabinet sitting of the persons on whom a decision is intended to be taken if the Cabinet considers the draft on the approval of candidates for the position of an official, the appointment or dismissal of officials.

151. The appointed person referred to in Paragraph 149 of this Regulation shall, by the beginning of the sitting, update the record on the DLA Portal at the respective issue of the sitting, if necessary, about the persons applied for the examination of a specific agenda issue of the sitting.

152. The person who is invited to participate in the sitting for the examination of an urgent issue shall be informed of the time (the agenda) for the examination of the issue by the responsible ministry.

153. The representatives of social partners of the government and representatives of non-governmental organisations who have provided opinions have the right to participate in the closed part of a Cabinet sitting during which the draft national position is being examined. The representative to be invited for participation in the sitting shall be applied in accordance with the procedures laid down in Paragraph 149 of this Regulation.

[15 August 2023]

154. The person who is invited to participate in the sitting in person shall be registered by an official of the State Chancellery before going to the sitting room. The person who is invited to participate in the examination of a particular issue of the agenda of the sitting shall participate only in the examination of this issue and leave the sitting room immediately afterwards. The persons who have arrived for the examination of the next issue of the agenda shall be invited to the sitting room.

155. Only those persons to whom the administrator of the sitting has sent a personal invitation shall connect remotely to the sitting. The invited person shall connect to the sitting, indicating their given name, surname, and authority represented. The persons invited for the examination of a particular issue may join (connect) to the sitting only during the examination of the relevant issue and they must leave the sitting (disconnect from it) immediately after the examination of the issue. The invited person shall switch on the camera during the sitting only when the chairperson of the sitting gives him or her the floor.

156. If the invited person disturbs the order during the sitting, the chairperson of the sitting may expel him or her from the sitting.

157. After the sitting, the State Chancellery shall publish the list of the participants to the sitting.

XII. International Agreements or their Drafts to be Examined by the Cabinet

158. If an international agreement or draft thereof that is approved in accordance with Section 31, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of the Cabinet Structure Law is submitted for examination at the Cabinet and if it is intended to sign the abovementioned agreement or draft thereof, the ministry shall indicate in the accompanying draft protocol decision of the Cabinet sitting the official authorised to sign the agreement or draft thereof and the draft authorisation (in the Latvian language accompanied by a translation in the relevant foreign language with an indication that it is a translation), except for the case where the authorisation is determined by the law.

159. If an international agreement is to be approved by the Saeima without signing it in advance, the Cabinet shall approve the draft law on approval of the abovementioned agreement.

160. If an international agreement or a draft thereof is to be approved by the Saeima after its initial signing, the ministry shall provide the support of the Cabinet for signing the international agreement or a draft thereof and indicate the official authorised to sign the draft international agreement and the draft letter of authorisation (in Latvian, appending translation in the relevant foreign language with a note that it is a translation) in the draft protocol decision of the Cabinet sitting appended to the abovementioned agreement or a draft thereof, except when the authorisation is provided by law.

161. After signing an international agreement, a member of the Cabinet shall, within 30 days, submit a copy of the signed agreement to the State Chancellery (in the cases provided for in this Regulation - also a translation thereof), a clarified draft law on the approval of the agreement by the Saeima, and an updated annotation of the draft law.

162. If an international agreement or a draft thereof is intended to be signed in several languages one of which is Latvian and none of the languages has priority in case of disputes, the international agreement or draft thereof shall be submitted only in the Latvian language. The international agreement or draft thereof in a foreign language (preferably in English or Russian) shall also be appended to the information.

163. If an international agreement or a draft thereof is intended to be signed in several languages one of which is Latvian, and priority has been provided for one language in case of disputes, the agreement or draft thereof shall be submitted in the Latvian language and in the language which will have a priority in case of disputes.

164. If an international agreement or a draft thereof is intended to be signed in a foreign language, it shall be submitted only in the denoted language and a translation into Latvian language shall be appended thereto.

165. The original copy and translation (if the agreement is not signed in Latvian) of the international agreement shall be submitted for storage to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within ten working days after signing it, by electronically sending the text of the agreement and translation thereof.

166. If a mistake is found in the translation of an international agreement which has been approved by the law and one of the authentic languages of which is not Latvian and the mistake deteriorates correct application of the norm of the international agreement, the translation shall be clarified in accordance with the procedures provided for in the guidelines for the development of legal acts of the State Chancellery for the clarification of the translations of international agreements and the Ministry of Justice shall prepare a relevant informative statement and submit it for examination at the Cabinet.

167. The State Chancellery shall send electronically to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima the informative statement examined by the Cabinet on the proposals to be supported for the clarification of the translations of international agreements and relevant translations of international agreements.

168. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis that the international agreement has entered into effect and ensure that texts of the international agreements referred to in Paragraph 158 of this Regulation are published (in accordance with Paragraphs 162, 163, and 164 of this Regulation).

XIII. Procedures for the Circulation of the Drafts to be Submitted to the Court

169. Upon receipt of a document of the Constitutional Court or another court addressed to the Cabinet, the State Chancellery shall prepare the task (resolution) of the Prime Minister and direct it to the responsible ministry.

170. The responsible ministry shall prepare the draft document to be submitted to the Constitutional Court or another court in which the outline of the actual circumstances of the case, the legal justification and counter-argumentation are included, agree upon it with the ministries or authorities involved, and submit the agreed draft for examination at a Cabinet sitting.

171. The State Chancellery shall, upon receipt of the draft document prepared by the responsible ministry and to be submitted to the Constitutional Court or another court, assess it legally, where necessary, supplement with legal argumentation, draw it up editorially, agree upon with the responsible ministry, and include in the agenda of the Cabinet sitting.

172. The responsible ministry shall ensure representation of the Cabinet in a court.

173. The decision to continue, terminate, or discontinue legal proceedings shall be assessed by the responsible ministry and, where necessary, a relevant draft document to be addressed to the court shall be prepared and submitted to the Cabinet.

174. The representation of the Cabinet at the Constitutional Court shall be ensured by the responsible ministry and the State Chancellery, but, if the State Chancellery has had substantial objections in the process of drafting of the objected legal act and they had not been considered during agreement thereupon and adoption of the legal act, the preparation of the draft document to be submitted to the Constitutional Court, the submission thereof to the Cabinet, and the representation of national interests at the Constitutional Court shall be ensured by the responsible ministry.

175. The State Chancellery shall analyse rulings of the Constitutional Court on a regular basis, inform the Prime Minister of the conclusions included in the decisions, and, where necessary, prepare a relevant draft task (resolution) of the Prime Minister regarding the necessary amendments to the normative regulation.

XIV. Making of Audiovisual and Sound Recordings of Cabinet Sittings, Meetings of the Committee, and Meetings of State Secretaries, Storage, Use, and Ensuring of Live Broadcasting Thereof

176. The State Chancellery shall ensure live video broadcasting of the open part of Cabinet sittings on the website of the Cabinet.

177. The State Chancellery shall make sound recordings of Cabinet sittings, meetings of the Committee, and meetings of State secretaries (hereinafter in this Chapter - the sittings) in order to record the course of the sitting, the debates occurring during it, and that said by particular persons. If necessary, the sound recording shall be used to clarify the draft protocol decision of the relevant sitting and to assess the validity of the objections, and also clarify the arguments used in decision-making process.

178. Sound recordings of the open parts of sittings shall be available in the public section of the DLA Portal.

179. For the purpose of ensuring that the sound recording made conforms to the purpose referred to in Paragraph 177 of this Regulation:

179.1. a member of the sitting with voting rights and another person who wishes to present an opinion on a certain issue of the agenda shall take the floor only upon the invitation of the chairperson of the sitting. In inviting to express an opinion, the chairperson of the sitting shall mention the given name, surname, and office of the relevant person;

179.2. if the chairperson of the sitting has not mentioned the given name, surname, and office of the particular member with voting rights or another person, the person himself or herself shall mention his or her given name, surname, and office before taking the floor. The relevant person shall also comply with this requirement before any repeated presentation during the relevant sitting on the same or another matter;

179.3. a person shall turn on the microphone before speaking.

180. If a member of the sitting with voting rights or another person fails to comply with the conditions referred to in Paragraph 177 of this Regulation, the chairperson of the sitting is entitled to interrupt the spokesperson in order to ensure that he or she provides his or her given name, surname, and position and uses microphone.

181. The State Chancellery shall make sound recording of the open and closed parts of sittings separately, keep recordings in information carriers, and transfer them to the archives of the State Chancellery. Audiovisual and sound recordings of the open part of a Cabinet sitting shall be stored and used in accordance with the procedures laid down in the laws and regulations regarding State archives.

182. In order to become acquainted with the sound recordings of the open part of the sitting transferred to the archives, a person shall submit a written application to the State Chancellery. After agreement thereupon with the State Chancellery, the person shall receive an indication to the link of the sound recording. The sound recording shall not be processed according to the needs of the user.

183. In order to become acquainted with the sound recording of the closed part of a Cabinet sitting containing restricted access information, a person shall submit to the State Chancellery a written application in accordance with the procedures for requesting information laid down in the Freedom of Information Law. After approval of the application, the State Chancellery shall ensure access to the relevant sound recording in conformity with the procedures for the circulation of restricted access information laid down in laws and regulations.

184. The sound recording of the closed part of a Cabinet sitting containing an official secret object shall be stored and used in accordance with the laws and regulations governing the protection of official secret objects.

XV. Drawing up, Signing, Publishing, and Declassification of Decisions of the Cabinet

185. The decisions taken at a Cabinet sitting and the tasks assigned to individual ministries, other authorities or officials shall be entered in the minutes of the Cabinet sitting.

186. Before signing a legal act which has been supported (adopted) by the Cabinet, only amendments which have been decided at the Cabinet sitting, and also corrections (clarifications) pertaining to the abovementioned amendments, or editorial clarifications thereof, may be made to the text.

187. The Cabinet shall draw up the supported (adopted) legal act and the information related thereto for which a terminated restricted access status has been determined according to the following conditions:

187.1. if the status of restricted access has been noted in the LA file before taking of the decision at the Cabinet sitting:

187.1.1. the State Chancellery shall draw up the adopted legal act with a generally accessible status;

187.1.2. the ministry shall remove the indications of restricted use from an informative statement, a planning document, or other relevant information according to the decision of the sitting and ensure that generally accessible information is posted on the DLA Portal;

187.2. if the status of restricted access has been determined for another term and the ministry has not extended it, then, upon the term falling due:

187.2.1. the ministry shall declassify the structured information prepared in the DLA Portal (legal act, annotation), and it is automatically displayed in the public section of the DLA Portal "Deklasificētie dokumenti" [Declassified documents];

187.2.2. the ministry shall declassify the non-structured document (file) and post it on the DLA Portal, and it is automatically displayed in the public section of the DLA Portal "Deklasificētie dokumenti" [Declassified documents].

[15 August 2023]

188. The State Chancellery shall ensure the transfer of the draft document adopted or supported at a Cabinet sitting for signing.

189. The draft decisions of the Saeima, draft laws, regulations, recommendations, instructions supported (adopted) at a Cabinet sitting, the Cabinet documents to be submitted to a court of the Republic of Latvia, letters of the Cabinet shall be signed, using a secure electronic signature and timestamp. A member of the Cabinet shall sign the orders of the Cabinet supported (adopted) at the Cabinet sitting by a system tool, but the Prime Minister with a secure electronic signature and timestamp.

190. The director of the State Chancellery and the chairperson of the sitting shall sign the minutes of Cabinet sittings with a secure electronic signature.

191. If an inaccuracy of technical nature is established in the signed or published legal act the correction of which does not change the essence of the legal act, the State Chancellery shall, upon agreement with the responsible ministry, prepare and send the corrected legal act or clarification in the published legal act for publication in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis.

192. Regulations, instructions, recommendations, and orders adopted at a Cabinet sitting shall be successively signed by the relevant member of the Cabinet (second signature) who submitted the draft for examination at the Cabinet sitting and by the Prime Minister (first signature).

193. If the submitter (a member of the Cabinet) of the draft does not participate in the Cabinet sitting, a legal act which has been passed by the Cabinet shall be signed (second signature) by the minister who acts for him or her on the respective day of the Cabinet sitting instead of the relevant minister.

194. If a draft has been submitted for examination at the Cabinet by the Prime Minister or a person acting for him or her, then the Cabinet shall, during its sitting, decide on the minister which shall sign (second signature) the relevant legal act, and a respective entry thereon shall be made in minutes of the Cabinet sitting.

195. The State Chancellery shall, usually within three working days after the Cabinet sitting, unless another term is specified in the minutes of the sitting, send electronically the following, appending an extract from the minutes of the Cabinet sitting:

195.1. to the Saeima with a cover letter signed by the Prime Minister:

195.1.1. the draft law supported at the sitting (in the cases provided for in this Regulation - also the text of an international agreement) and an annotation thereof;

195.1.2. the draft law of the Saeima supported at the sitting and an annotation thereof;

195.1.3. the legal acts of the Cabinet adopted at the sitting to be sent to the Saeima;

195.2. the letter of the Cabinet supported at the sitting and signed by the Prime Minister;

195.3. documents to other addressees according to the task assigned in the minutes of the sitting with a cover letter signed by the official of the State Chancellery.

196. Regulations, instructions, and recommendations of the Cabinet shall be dated according to the date of their adoption. Orders of the Cabinet shall be dated according to the date of their signing.

197. The State Chancellery shall send for publication in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis the legal act issued by the Cabinet, and also the planning document supported by the Cabinet, the legal act approving it, the informative statement on the implementation of the policy planning document, and the informative statement on the strategic directions of the sectoral development. The issuer of the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis shall ensure the publication of the received legal acts.

[15 August 2023 / The new wording of the Paragraph shall come into force on 1 September 2023. See Paragraph 2 of Amendments]

198. The submitter of the respective draft (a member of the Cabinet) or the ministry, another authority or official indicated in the relevant legal act shall be responsible for the enforcement of regulations, instructions, recommendations, and orders of the Cabinet.

199. If necessary, the submitter of the respective draft (a member of the Cabinet) shall provide an explanation regarding the legal act passed by the Cabinet.

199.¹ If the State Chancellery receives a request to issue a legal act with the status of restricted use, it shall forward the abovementioned request to the ministry that has submitted the draft legal act for evaluation and providing response to the author of the request. The ministry shall attach the relevant legal act to the response or justify the refusal to provide information.

[15 August 2023]

XVI. Orders and Tasks (Resolutions) of the Prime Minister and Ensuring the Enforcement Thereof

200. Ministries shall prepare draft orders of the Prime Minister in their document management system and submit them to the State Chancellery in accordance with the laws and regulations governing electronic communication.

201. In addition to the cases referred to in the Cabinet Structure Law, the Prime Minister shall, by an order:

201.1. appoint the head of the Prime Minister's Office;

201.2. appoint the acting Prime Minister who shall act for the Prime Minister if he or she is absent or otherwise obstructed from fulfilling his or her duties;

201.3. appoint the acting Deputy Prime Minister or minister if the Deputy Prime Minister or minister is absent or otherwise obstructed from fulfilling his or her duties;

201.4. grant a leave to the director of the State Chancellery, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, and the head of an institution which is subordinated to the Prime Minister.

202. For the fulfilment of a specific task, the Prime Minister shall, by an order, establish a working group. The order shall specify the composition of the working group, the range of issues to be discussed, the operation, and the tasks to be carried out within a specific term.

202.¹ The Prime Minister may, by an order, establish a thematic committee of the Cabinet to ensure systematic and planned work in a specific field, and also to agree upon and address different intersectoral issues. The order shall specify the field to be discussed and the tasks to be carried out. The thematic committee of the Cabinet shall operate until the end of the term of the respective Cabinet or until complete fulfilment of the specified tasks.

[17 January 2023]

203. When submitting a draft order of the Prime Minister to the State Chancellery, a member of the Cabinet shall append a cover letter thereto. The justification for the development, the information on agreements, the status of availability of the order, and other information shall be provided for in the cover letter. When submitting a draft order regarding a working group, a letter or another document by which the relevant person is authorised or agrees to participate in a working group, if this person is not a representative of the submitting ministry, shall be appended to the cover letter, or such information shall be indicated in the cover letter.

204. The State Chancellery shall prepare a draft order of the Prime Minister for signing. The order of the Cabinet shall be dated according to the date of its signing.

205. The State Chancellery shall send an order of the Prime Minister for publication in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis. The issuer of the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis shall ensure the publication of the received order of the Prime Minister.

206. The Prime Minister shall assign tasks (resolutions) to members of the Cabinet, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, the director of the State Chancellery, and other heads of subordinated State administration institutions.

207. Every official referred to in the task (resolution) shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the tasks (resolutions) of the Prime Minister. The official which is listed first in the task (resolution) shall ensure the fulfilment of the assigned task to be carried out jointly.

208. The term for the fulfilment of the task assigned in an order of the Prime Minister shall be two months from the day of signing the order of the Prime Minister, unless another term for the fulfilment has been specified in the order. A proposal to amend the term for the fulfilment specified in the order of the Prime Minister shall be submitted to the State Chancellery in the form of a draft order of the Prime Minister.

209. The term for the fulfilment of the task (resolution) assigned by the Prime Minister shall be 10 working days from the day of receipt of the task (resolution) (except for the task referred to in Paragraph 213 of this Regulation) unless another term for the fulfilment has been specified in the task (resolution) or another external legal act.

210. The term for the fulfilment of an urgent task (resolution) assigned by the Prime Minister shall be three working days from the day of receipt of the task (resolution), unless another term for the fulfilment has been determined.

211. The State Chancellery shall only control such tasks (resolutions) assigned in orders of the Prime Minister in respect of the fulfilment of which the Cabinet or the Prime Minister should be informed in writing or in which the preparation and submission of the draft to the Cabinet has been specified.

212. When sending a response to the State Chancellery regarding the fulfilment of the task assigned in an order of the Prime Minister, the number and date of the executed document shall also be indicated.

XVII. Ensuring Enforcement of Laws and Decision of the Saeima

213. In order to ensure the fulfilment of the tasks assigned to the Cabinet in laws, decisions of the Saeima, and statements of the President, the Prime Minister shall, where necessary, assign a task (resolution) to the relevant member of the Cabinet.

214. The term for the fulfilment of the tasks (resolutions) referred to in Paragraph 213 of this Regulation shall be determined in accordance with the term specified in the law within which the Cabinet issues the relevant legal act or, if such term is not specified in the law, in accordance with the term for coming into force of the law.

[15 August 2023]

XVIII. Ensuring of the Fulfilment of the Tasks Assigned by the Cabinet and a Meeting of State Secretaries

215. The ministry, another institution or official which is mentioned first shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the task assigned by a protocol decision of a meeting of State secretaries, a protocol decision of a Cabinet sitting, a protocol decision of a meeting of the Committee, or legal act of the Cabinet, unless specified otherwise in the respective document.

216. The State Chancellery shall only control those tasks the fulfilment of which should be notified to the Cabinet or the Prime Minister in writing or those tasks which include the preparation and submission of a draft to the Cabinet or the State Chancellery.

217. The term for the fulfilment of the tasks assigned in a protocol decision of a meeting of State secretaries, a protocol decision of a meeting of the Committee, a protocol decision of a Cabinet sitting, and a legal act of the Cabinet shall be two months, unless specified otherwise.

218. The Cabinet shall take the decision to recognise a task assigned at the Cabinet sitting as obsolete and to terminate the control thereof. If a task has been assigned upon the initiative of the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister shall take the decision to recognise the task as obsolete and to terminate the control thereof.

XIX. Procedures by Which Absence of the Members of the Cabinet and Other State Officials Due to an Official Trip, Leave, or Illness is Documented

219. A member of the Cabinet (hereinafter - the minister) shall, not later than three working days before the planned absence, submit a submission to the Prime Minister. The period and reason for the absence shall be indicated in the submission, and the minister who will act in his or her place during the absence may also be recommended therein.

220. If the absence of the minister has been unplanned (for example, absence due to illness), the minister shall, without delay, submit a submission for his or her absence to the State Chancellery as soon as it is possible.

221. The minister shall indicate the purpose of an official trip and any matters to be addressed in the submission for a foreign official travel. The submission shall also contain an official invitation and agenda, and also shall indicate the officials who will be met during the official trip.

222. The Prime Minister shall, by an order, assign another minister to perform the respective duties upon request of the minister to be replaced or upon proposal by the State Chancellery, and the Prime Minister himself or herself may also undertake the performance of the duties of the minister who is on planned absence.

223. After receipt of instruction of the Prime Minister for the replacement of the minister during his or her absence, the State Chancellery shall prepare a respective draft order of the Prime Minister and also inform thereof the minister who will perform the duties of the absent minister.

224. If, due to unexpected reasons, the minister referred to in the order of the Prime Minister cannot act for the absent minister, he or she shall immediately inform the Prime Minister thereof in writing. The State Chancellery shall prepare and submit a proposal to the Prime Minister for assigning the performance of the duties of the minister who is on planned absence to another minister.

225. If the minister who is replaced resumes his or her duties before the end of the term of absence which was indicated (if the term was not specified - then after the reason for absence has expired) in the order of the Prime Minister, he or she shall, without delay, inform the Prime Minister thereof. The State Chancellery shall, on the basis of the information provided, prepare a respective draft order of the Prime Minister.

226. The State Chancellery shall prepare the draft order of the Prime Minister regarding a leave or foreign official trip of a member of the Cabinet, the parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister, the director of the State Chancellery, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, and other heads of public administration institutions subordinated to the Prime Minister.

227. The State Chancellery shall agree with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon a draft order of the Prime Minister regarding foreign official trips (except for a draft order regarding the foreign official trip of the Minister for Foreign Affairs). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall, within 24 hours after signing the order of the Prime Minister:

227.1. where necessary, prepare memorandums to the respective foreign embassies on the receipt of a visa;

227.2. inform the respective diplomatic and consular mission of the Republic of Latvia of the planned foreign official trip and agree upon the assistance needed for its organisation and course.

228. The State Chancellery shall send the signed order of the Prime Minister to the relevant ministries in accordance with the laws and regulations governing electronic communication.

229. The minister, the parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister, the director of the State Chancellery, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, and heads of other public administration institutions subordinated to the Prime Minister shall, within five working days after the end of the foreign official trip, present a written report to the Prime Minister (one copy - to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) on the official trip and its results, also indicating the official representatives with whom he or she met and what issues were discussed during the trip.

XX. Closing Provisions

230. Cabinet Regulation No. 300 of 7 April 2009, Rules of Procedures of the Cabinet (Latvijas Vēstnesis, 2009, Nos. 58, 121; 2010, No. 33; 2011, No. 143; 2012, No. 74; 2014, Nos. 195, 249; 2016, No. 235; 2020, No. 112), is repealed.

231. Starting from 9 September 2021, the circulation of the documents existing in the System for Circulation of Documents and Control of Tasks (DAUKS) of the State Chancellery shall only be ensured on the DLA Portal.

232. The drafts and the information related thereto which have been submitted to the State Chancellery until 8 December 2021 via the System for Circulation of Documents and Control of Tasks (DAUKS) shall be migrated to the DLA Portal, creating an LA file with a unique identification number for each draft.

233. The drafts which have been submitted to the State Chancellery for announcement at a meeting of the State secretaries until 7 September 2021 shall be announced at the meeting of State secretaries on 9 September 2021.

234. The drafts that have been announced at the meeting of State secretaries before 9 September 2021 or sent for agreement thereupon without being announced at the meeting of State secretaries before 9 March 2022, and also the draft law of the State budget for 2022, annotation, annexes, and explanations thereof, the medium term budget framework draft law for 2022-2024, annotation, annexes, and explanations thereof, and the proposals for the second reading of these draft laws in the Saeima may be posted on the DLA Portal in a form of unstructured files.

235. The respective requirements laid down in Cabinet Regulation No. 300 of 7 April 2009, Rules of Procedure of the Cabinet, shall be applied to the agreement upon the drafts referred to in Paragraphs 233 and 234 of this Regulation (opinions, statement).

236. Ministries shall ensure that the original drafts which have been prepared outside of the DLA Portal until 9 March 2022 and the information related thereto are transferred to the National Archives of Latvia.

237. If State security institutions have not been provided with an appropriate authentication solution for work in the DLA Portal, then they shall perform the activities necessary for the circulation of the drafts and tasks outside of the DLA Portal. The responsible ministries shall ensure that the information prepared by State security institutions is included in the DLA Portal.

238. The Regulation shall come into force on 9 September 2021.

Prime Minister A. K. Kariņš

Minister for Finance J. Reirs

 

Annex
Cabinet Regulation No. 606
7 September 2021

Action Plan of the Government for the Implementation of the Declaration of the Intended Activities of the Cabinet

Declaration's section and field of activity	Number of the task assigned by the Declaration	Task assigned by the Declaration	Measure of the action plan	Result of the activity	Number of the task of the National Development Plan (hereinafter - the NDP) and the NDP indicator (if applicable)	Responsible ministry	Co-responsible ministries	Deadline (dd.mm.yyyy)	Implementation progress of the measure	Indication whether the measure is to be continued
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
I. Key measures of the ministry
Indication of the section or field of activity according to the Declaration		The specific task assigned by the Declaration	Several ministries can prepare one or more (up to five) measures for the implementation of the same task assigned by the Declaration	Indication of the functions of the ministries and institutions subordinated thereto stipulated by the laws and regulations and the final product of the implementation of measures, goods created by the institution and services provided by the institution to external customers which are provided for in the planning documents	Indication of the number of the NDP task and number of the NDP indicator without the text			Indication of the final deadline of a measure which shall not exceed the mandate of the Cabinet of Ministers
II. New measures (if necessary, the section is completed within the framework of taking over the files of a member of the Cabinet)
Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Measure	Indication of the functions of the ministries and institutions subordinated thereto stipulated by the laws and regulations and the final product of the implementation of measures, goods created by the institution and services provided by the institution to external customers which are provided for in the planning documents	Indication of the number of the NDP task and number of the NDP indicator without the text

Minister for Finance J. Reirs

---

Translation © 2024 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)