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

End-of Life Vehicles Management Law

Chapter I
General Provisions

Section 1. Terms Used in the Law

The following terms are used in the Law:

1) treatment - any activity which is performed by a treatment facility of the end-of life vehicles (also a car scrap yard (hereinafter - a treatment facility) after the end-of life vehicle has been handed over to a facility or collection facility including storage, dismantling, shearing, shredding, processing or preparation of the shredded wastes for disposal, and any other operation carried out for the recovery or disposal of the end-of life vehicle and its components;

2) treatment facility - a merchant which deals with treatment of the end-of life vehicles and has received a permit in accordance with the procedures laid down in the law On Pollution;

2¹) re-use - actions, as a result of which parts of end-of life vehicles are used for their original purpose;

2²) energy recovery - incineration of waste as a means to generate energy, using the heat generated in the waste incineration process;

3) end-of life vehicle - a vehicle, which its owner disposes of, has decided or is forced to dispose of and which conforms to any one of the categories laid down in the waste classifier;

3¹) preventive measures - measures which are taken to reduce the volume and harmful impact on the environment of end-of life vehicles and the materials and substances thereof;

3²) recycling - production process, except energy recovery, the aim of which is to acquire such materials from waste, which may be used for the original purpose or for other purposes;

4) producer - a vehicle manufacturer or a person which according to its economic activities imports vehicles to any Member State of the European Union.

[22 December 2004; 10 June 2010; 10 December 2015]

Section 2. Purpose of the Law

The purpose of this Law is:

1) to reduce waste from vehicles and end-of life vehicles, and determine requirements for the production of new vehicles;

2) to facilitate re-use, recovery and recycling of the end-of life vehicles and the materials, components and substance thereof;

3) to ensure the treatment and disposal of the end-of life vehicles in a safe and sound manner as regards human health and the environment, in accordance with the laws and regulations governing safety at work, emission of pollution into the environment and the quality of the environment.

[10 June 2010]

Section 3. Scope of Application of the Law

(1) This Law shall apply to:

1) passenger cars intended for carriage of passengers with no more than eight seats in addition to the driver seat and at least four wheels; lorries with laden weight not more than 3,5 tonnes which are intended for the carriage of freight and which have at least four wheels (except vintage vehicles - vehicles of value to collectors, kept in a proper and environmentally sound manner, either ready for use or stripped into parts); tricycles and quadricycles;

2) the end-of life vehicles of the categories referred to in Clause 1 of this Paragraph and their components and materials irrespective of whether the vehicle is equipped with original components or they have been replaced by spare parts.

(2) For tricycles and quadricycles, the only requirement of this law that is applicable is they must be accepted free of charge at the end-of life vehicle collection facilities.

Chapter II
Preventive Measures

Section 4. Requirements for Vehicle Producers

The vehicle producers, in liaison with the material and equipment manufacturers shall:

1) limit the use of hazardous substances in vehicles (starting from the conception of the vehicle onwards), so as to prevent the release thereof into the environment, make dismantling, re-use and recycling of vehicles and the components and mechanisms thereof easier and avoid the need to dispose of hazardous waste;

2) label or make identifiable by other means the materials and components of vehicles that can be stripped off before further treatment;

3) in order to facilitate the identification of those components suitable for the re-use and recovery, use component and material coding standards approved by the European Commission;

4) as much as possible in production use materials that may be recycled;

5) as much as possible increase the use of recycled materials in manufacturing of vehicles and other products.

[10 June 2010]

Section 5. Requirements in Respect of Components and Materials of Vehicles

(1) The components and materials of vehicles that are put on the market may not contain lead, mercury, cadmium or hexavalent chromium except the components and materials intended for use in the vehicles manufactured before 1 July 2003, as well as the components and materials stipulated by the Cabinet.

(2) The exceptions laid down in Paragraph one shall not apply to the following components: wheel balance weights, carbon brushes of electric motors and brake linings.

[22 December 2004]

Chapter III
Management of End-of Life Vehicles

Section 5.¹ System for Collection of End-of Life Vehicle

Participants of economic processes - producers, distributors, insurers or merchants which deal with collection, dismantling, shredding, recovery, recycling or other type of processing of end-of life vehicles, parts and materials thereof - shall establish systems for the collection of all end-of life vehicles, within which collection of used parts which are dismantled during repairing of passenger cars is ensured as much as possible, or shall participate in such systems.

[10 June 2010]

Section 6. Rights and Duties of Vehicle Owner and Treatment Facility

(1) A vehicle owner shall ensure that any end-of life vehicle in his or her possession is transferred to a treatment facility. The owner of a vehicle or his or her authorised person who has been authorised in writing shall transfer a vehicle to the treatment facility.

(2) In accepting the vehicle, a treatment facility shall issue to the owner of the vehicle a certificate of destruction, as well as transfer electronically data regarding the vehicle accepted for destruction to the Road Transport Safety Directorate. The Cabinet shall determine the data to be indicated in the certificate of destruction and the procedures for completing and issuing the certificate of destruction.

(3) An owner of a vehicle or a treatment facility after the transferring of the vehicle to the treatment facility shall write this vehicle off by presenting a certificate of destruction to the Road Traffic Safety Directorate. The Cabinet shall determine the cases when a vehicle may be written off without presenting a certificate of destruction.

(4) A treatment facility shall ensure that the owner of the end-of life vehicle is able to deliver this vehicle to a collection facility of the treatment facility without any cost if the end-of life vehicle contains these essential components - engine, steering gear, chassis, transmission, as well as no additional waste has been added to the vehicle and the vehicle is not registered in the Commercial Pledge Register.

(5) An end-of life vehicle registered in Latvia shall also be written off on the basis of a certificate of destruction issued in another Member State of the European Union.

[22 December 2004; 28 November 2013]

Section 7. Management of Abandoned End-of Life Vehicles

(1) In territories owned by a local government and designated for public use, the local government shall organise a forcible removal of a vehicle parked outside on a road by placing such vehicle in a special parking place if, in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Cabinet, this vehicle can be declared to be an abandoned end-of life vehicle. The Cabinet shall determine the procedures and requirements for transferring of abandoned end-of life vehicles to a treatment facility.

(2) A treatment facility shall ensure that the vehicles referred to in Paragraph one of this Section may be transferred to a collection facility of the treatment facility free of charge.

[22 December 2004; 10 December 2015]

Section 8. Duties of Producer

(1) [10 June 2010]

(2) A producer or an authorised representative thereof, provided that he or she has concluded the relevant agreements with treatment facilities, may conclude an agreement with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development regarding the setting up of a system for the management of the end-of life vehicles and the application thereof, providing for the acceptance of the vehicle in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 of this Law.

(3) The Cabinet shall determine the time periods and the scope to which participants of economic processes shall ensure re-use, recycling and recovery of end-of life vehicles (except special vehicles - ambulance cars, funeral cars, motor vans or armoured cars), the materials and components thereof.

[22 December 2004; 10 June 2010; 16 December 2010]

Section 9. Requirements for Treatment Facility

(1) A treatment facility shall keep the documentation regarding all received end-of life vehicles, as well as the copies of certificates of destruction issued for at least five years.

(2) A treatment facility shall draw up and submit to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development a plan for the re-use, recovery and recycling of end-of life vehicles and the elements and materials thereof. Several treatment facilities may draw up and submit to the relevant regional environmental office of the State Environmental Service a joint plan for the re-use, recovery and recycling of end-of life vehicles and the elements and materials thereof. The Cabinet shall determine the mandatory information to be included in the plans.

(3) A treatment facility operator shall receive a permit in accordance with the procedures laid down in the law On Pollution, and also conform to the requirements of laws and regulations regulating the waste management in respect of each equipment wherein the end-of life vehicles are collected (also for temporary storage) or treated.

(4) The Cabinet shall determine the requirements for environmental protection to be conformed to by a treatment facility.

[10 June 2010; 10 December 2015]

Section 10. Subsidisation of the Management of End-of Life Vehicles

[10 June 2010]

Section 11. Board for Management of End-of Life Vehicles

(1) The Board for management of the end-of-life vehicles (hereinafter - the Board) is a consultative authority the decisions of which in the field of management of the end-of life vehicles have a recommendatory nature. The representatives from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and the Ministry of Transport or the authorities under the supervision or control thereof, as well as the representatives of importers of new and used cars and treatment facilities shall be included in the Board.

(2) The Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development shall approve the by-laws and personnel of the Board after co-ordination with the Minister for Transport.

(3) The Board shall encourage the implementation of this Law, provide proposals in respect of the improvement of laws and regulations and the financing of the end-of life vehicles management system, as well it shall co-operate with producers and the relevant non-governmental organisations.

[16 December 2010]

Chapter IV
Reports and Information

Section 12. Information Provided by Producers

(1) Producers shall make accessible to the prospective buyers of vehicles information regarding:

1) the design of vehicles and their components, as well as regarding the possibilities for the recyclability and recoverability thereof;

2) the environmentally sound treatment of the end-of life vehicles, the removal of all fluids and dismantling of the vehicle;

3) the development and optimisation of ways to re-use, recycle and recover the end-of life vehicles and the components thereof;

4) the technical possibilities in the field of recycling and recovery in order to reduce the waste to be disposed.

(1¹) The information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section shall be included in the informative materials which are published upon launching of new vehicles on the market.

(2) Producers and manufacturers of the components used in vehicles shall provide the information regarding the dismantling of the vehicle (including the data regarding the different vehicle materials and components, as well as the location of the hazardous substances in the vehicle) to the treatment facilities of the end-of life vehicles within six months after the vehicle has been placed on the market as far as it is needed by the treatment facilities in order to conform to the provisions of this Law.

(3) Upon request of a treatment facility the manufacturers of the components used in vehicles shall provide information regarding the dismantling, storage and testing of reusable components, as far as such information is not considered as a commercial secret.

[10 June 2010]

Section 13. Information Provided by the Treatment Facility of End-of Life Vehicles

(1) The treatment facility of end-of life vehicles shall, each year by March 1, submit the report on the previous calendar year to valsts sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību "Latvijas Vides, ģeoloģijas un meteoroloģijas centrs" [State limited liability company Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre] (hereinafter - the merchant). The assignment for the merchant to accept such reports has been delegated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development under a delegation agreement concluded in accordance with the procedures laid down in the State Administration Structure Law. The Cabinet shall determine the information to be included in the report and the sample report form.

(2) The merchant referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, with regard to the assignment delegated thereto - to accept reports from treatment facilities of end-of life vehicles for the previous calendar year - shall be subordinated to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.

[10 June 2010; 16 December 2010; 10 December 2015]

Section 14. Information for the Public and for the European Commission

(1) The merchant to which the assignment has been delegated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development under a delegation agreement concluded in accordance with the procedures laid down in the State Administration Structure Law shall compile information regarding the reports of treatment facilities of end-of life vehicles and prepare a report for the European Commission according to the report form stipulated by the European Commission. The public shall have free access to the information submitted to the European Commission. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development shall post the referred-to information on its website.

(2) The merchant referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, with regard to the assignment delegated thereto - to compile information regarding the reports of treatment facilities of end-of life vehicles and prepare a report for the European Commission according to the report form stipulated thereby - shall be subordinated to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.

[10 June 2010; 16 December 2010; 10 December 2015]

Chapter V
Administrative Offences in the Field of End-of Life Vehicles Management and Competence in Administrative Offence Proceedings

[3 October 2019 / Chapter shall come into force on 1 July 2020. See Paragraph 3 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 15. Failure to Comply with the Requirements Laid Down in Laws and Regulations for the Acceptance, Treatment or Destruction of End-of-Life Vehicles

(1) For the treatment of end-of life vehicles without complying with the environmental protection requirements laid down in laws and regulations, a fine from twenty to two hundred and eighty units of fine shall be imposed on the treatment facility.

(2) For the failure to comply with the procedures for completing and issuing the certificate of destruction of vehicles laid down in laws and regulations, a warning or a fine from twenty to fifty-six units of fine shall be imposed on the treatment facility.

(3) For the refusal of treatment facility to accept free of charge an end-of life vehicle which has all the essential components - the engine, steering gear, chassis, transmission -, which has no additional waste added to it and is not registered in the Commercial Pledge Register, a fine from forty-two to fifty-six units of fine shall be imposed on the treatment facility.

[3 October 2019 / Section shall come into force on 1 July 2020. See Paragraph 3 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 16. Competence in Administrative Offence Proceedings

The administrative offence proceedings for the offences referred to in Section 15 of this Law shall be conducted by the State Environmental Service.

[3 October 2019 / Section shall come into force on 1 July 2020. See Paragraph 3 of Transitional Provisions]

Transitional Provisions

1. Section 7 of this Law shall come into force on 1 April 2005.

[22 December 2004]

2. Section 6, Paragraph four, Section 8, Paragraph one and Section 10 of this Law shall come into force concurrently with the relevant amendments to the law On Natural Resources Tax.

3. Chapter V of this Law shall come into force concurrently with the Law on Administrative Liability.

[3 October 2019]

Informative Reference to the Directives of the European Union

[22 December 2004]

The Law contains legal norms arising from Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2002 on end-of life vehicles.

The Law shall come into force on 1 May 2004.

The Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 29 January 2004.

Acting for the President,
Chairperson of the Saeima I. Ūdre

Rīga, 17 February 2004

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2021 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)