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

Law on Parliamentary Investigatory Committees

Chapter I
Establishment of a Parliamentary Investigatory Committee

Section 1. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall be appointed by the Saeima from among the members of the Saeima in order to perform a parliamentary investigation.

(2) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall be appointed for specific matters if requested by not less than one third of the members of the Saeima.

(3) A parliamentary investigatory committee in its activities shall ensure that the rights and freedoms of persons laid down in the Constitution and other laws and regulations are respected.

Section 2. (1) The motion for the establishment of a parliamentary investigatory committee shall be examined at the nearest ordinary sitting of the Saeima unless there is the motion for convening an extraordinary sitting.

(2) Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee are appointed in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima - in the composition of an equal number of the members from each parliamentary group of the Saeima.

Section 3. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall be established for a definite period of time as specified in the motion for the establishment of a parliamentary investigatory committee. If no period of time has been specified in the motion, the committee shall be established for a period of three months. The Saeima is entitled to extend the period of time for the operation of the committee.

(2) The Saeima may assign a task to a parliamentary investigatory committee which shall be defined according to the motion of those members who requested to establish the parliamentary investigatory committee.

Section 4. The following members of the Saeima may not be elected to a parliamentary investigatory committee and operate therein:

1) those holding the position of a member of the Cabinet or a parliamentary secretary;

2) those subject to the conflict of interests due to involvement in the parliamentary investigatory committee.

Chapter II
Meetings of a Parliamentary Investigatory Committee

Section 5. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall organise its meetings in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima.

(2) The meetings of a parliamentary investigatory committee shall be public unless the Saeima or the committee has decided otherwise.

(3) The meeting of a parliamentary investigatory committee shall be recorded in a phonogram from which a transcript shall be prepared. Phonograms and transcripts shall be appended to the minutes of the meeting of the committee.

Section 6. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee is entitled to:

1) request information and explanations necessary for its work from the members of the Cabinet and the institutions under subordination (under the authority and responsibility) thereof, and also local governments and other authorities of public persons;

2) invite to its meetings the responsible officials of ministries and local government institutions, and also other authorities of public persons for the provision of explanations;

3) hear out the explanations of several concurrently invited persons;

4) assign the performance of an audit at the State and local government institutions, agencies and capital companies, and also other companies (commercial companies), public organisations and natural persons if they have at their disposal or keep the State or local government funds, they are financed from the State or local government funds or funds guaranteed by them, or they perform the State or local government procurement or participate in the privatisation of the State or local government property.

(2) The officials of the State and local government authorities and also other authorities of public persons have the obligation to provide such information to a parliamentary investigatory committee which is necessary for the performance of the tasks thereof.

(3) In the performance of the actions specified in this Law, a parliamentary investigatory committee shall act in accordance with the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima, this Law, and other laws.

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Section 7. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee has the right to invite any person to its meetings and to hear out the explanations thereof.

(2) If such person does not arrive upon the invitation of a parliamentary investigatory committee, a court shall, upon request of the committee, decide on the conveyance by force of such person.

(3) A person has the right to refuse from giving explanations about himself or herself and his or her family members.

(4) The norms which determine the non-disclosure of information protected by law shall apply to the members of a parliamentary investigatory committee and the invited persons.

Chapter III
Participation of a Prosecutor in the Work of a Parliamentary Investigatory Committee

Section 8. (1) On the basis of a reasoned proposal of a parliamentary investigatory committee, the Prosecutor General shall, without delay, appoint one prosecutor or several prosecutors to participate in the work of the parliamentary investigatory committee.

(2) The Prosecutor General shall decide on the participation of another prosecutor in the work of a parliamentary investigatory committee if the parliamentary investigatory committee submits a reasoned proposal thereto.

Section 9. (1) A prosecutor shall participate in the meetings of a parliamentary investigatory committee and shall ask questions to the invited persons with the permission of the chairperson of the meeting.

(2) The task of a prosecutor is to examine whether the information at the disposal of a parliamentary investigatory committee contains indications of a committed or prepared criminal offence. For this purpose, the prosecutor shall organise, manage, and carry out an examination in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Office of the Prosecutor Law.

(3) A prosecutor shall inform a parliamentary investigatory committee of the results of the examination or pre-trial investigation to the extent he or she deems possible.

(4) If a prosecutor establishes sufficient indications of the fact that a criminal offence has been committed, he or she shall initiate criminal proceedings.

Section 10. Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee and a prosecutor have the right to acquaint themselves with official secrets in accordance with the procedures laid down in law. Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee and a prosecutor have the right to acquaint themselves with an investigatory process matter to the extent it is deemed possible by the head of the operational institution.

Chapter IV
Liability of a Person

Section 11. A person shall be held criminally liable for knowingly providing false explanations or knowingly providing a false opinion, or knowingly providing false translations, and also for refusal to give an explanation, opinion, or translation to a parliamentary investigatory committee, and also for compelling the giving of a false explanation, opinion, or translation.

Section 12. (1) Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee and the staff thereof shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the procedures laid down in law for unauthorised disclosure of the official secret and a private commercial secret, and also offensive personal information of private individuals.

(2) Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee and the staff thereof shall be held to administrative liability for unauthorised disclosure of information obtained during a closed meeting of the parliamentary investigatory committee.

(3) An administrative offence report shall be drawn up by the chairperson of a parliamentary investigatory committee or the person replacing him or her.

Chapter V
Report of a Parliamentary Investigatory Committee

Section 13. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall, upon completing the activity thereof, prepare a final report which shall include the following information:

1) the composition of the committee;

2) the task assigned by the Saeima, if any;

3) the work completed by the committee;

4) the established facts of the committee and the evaluation thereof;

5) findings of the committee;

6) proposals of the committee for the elimination of the established deficiencies, indicating the authorities competent to eliminate the relevant deficiencies.

(2) The final report shall be adopted by a parliamentary investigatory committee by an absolute majority of votes of the members of the committee. The final report shall be signed by the chairperson and the secretary of the committee.

(3) Members of a parliamentary investigatory committee who completely or partly disagree with the final report may attach their separate opinions thereto.

(4) A parliamentary investigatory committee is entitled to prepare an interim report in accordance with the same procedures as laid down for the preparation of the final report.

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Section 14. (1) A parliamentary investigatory committee shall submit the final report to the Presidium of the Saeima. In the absence of any motion or request for convening of an extraordinary session or extraordinary sitting of the Saeima, the Presidium of the Saeima shall include the final report on the agenda of the next ordinary sitting of the Saeima.

(2) The final report of a parliamentary investigatory committee shall be published in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis not later than within seven days after the examination thereof at the sitting of the Saeima.

(3) After publication of the final report in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis, the proposals for the elimination of the established deficiencies described therein shall be sent by a parliamentary investigatory committee for assessment to the committees of the Saeima, the Cabinet, ministries, or another authority of a public person which has competence in implementing the relevant proposals.

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Section 15. The activity of a parliamentary investigatory committee shall terminate on the eight day after examination of the final report at the sitting of the Saeima unless the Saeima has decided otherwise.

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Section 16. (1) The final report or interim report of a parliamentary investigatory committee and the facts included therein shall not be binding on courts or judicial officers, and also other persons.

(2) The authorities specified in the final report of a parliamentary investigatory committee which have competence in eliminating the relevant deficiencies shall evaluate the information included in the final report and decide on the elimination of the deficiencies established in the final report.

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The Law shall come into force on 1 June 2003, but Section 7, Paragraph two of this Law - after making of the relevant amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 8 May 2003.

President V. Vīķe-Freiberga

Rīga, 22 May 2003

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2022 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)