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

Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing

[13 June 2019]

Chapter I
General Provisions

Section 1. Terms Used in this Law

(1) The following terms are used in this Law:

1) funds - financial resources or other corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable property;

2) financial resources - financial instruments or means of payment (in the form of cash or non-cash resources) held by a person, documents (in hard copy or electronic form) in the ownership or possession of a person that give the right to gain benefit from them, as well as precious metals in the ownership or possession of a person;

2¹) group - a group of legal persons or legal arrangements:

a) which consists of the parent undertaking and its subsidiary, as well as of the arrangements where the parent undertaking or the subsidiary holds a participatory interest;

b) which is a group of companies within the meaning of Law on Annual Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements;

2²) crypto-asset - a digital representation of value which may be traded or transferred digitally and which may be used for payments or investments. A crypto-asset does not include a digital representation of a currency emitted by countriesʼ central banks, security, or another financial asset;

2³) crypto-asset service provider - a natural or legal person who, in the course of his professional or commercial activity, performs one or more of the following activities on behalf of, or for the benefit of, a customer:

a) exchange of crypto-assets for a currency emitted by countriesʼ central banks;

b) exchange between one or several types of crypto-assets;

c) transfer of crypto-assets;

d) storage or management of crypto-assets or such instruments which ensure control over crypto-assets;

e) provision of financial services and participation in the provision of financial services in relation to an offer of an issuer or selling of crypto-assets;

2⁴) transfer of crypto-assets - any transaction the objective of which is to move crypto-assets from one distributed ledger address, crypto-asset account or device which allows storage of crypto-assets to another distributed ledger address, crypto-asset account or device and which is carried out by at least one crypto-asset service provider acting on behalf of the originator or beneficiary of crypto-assets, regardless of whether the originator and the beneficiary of crypto-assets is the same person and regardless of whether the crypto-asset service provider of the originator and the crypto-asset service provider of the beneficiary of crypto-assets is the same person;

3) business relationship - a relationship between the subject of the Law and a customer that originates when the subject of the Law performs an economic or professional activity and that has an element of duration at the time when the contact is established;

3¹) individual transaction - a transaction between the subject of the Law and the customer without the establishment of a business relationship within the meaning of this Law;

4) customer - a natural or legal person or a legal arrangement, or an association of such persons, or an association of arrangements to whom the subject of the Law provides services or sells goods;

5) beneficial owner - a natural person who is the owner of the customer which is a legal person or legal arrangement or who controls the customer, or on whose behalf, for whose benefit or in whose interests business relationship is being established or an individual transaction is being executed, and it is at least:

a) as regards legal persons - a natural person who owns, in the form of direct or indirect participation, more than 25 per cent of the capital shares or voting stock of the legal person or who directly or indirectly controls it;

b) as regards legal arrangements - a natural person who owns or in whose interests a legal arrangement has been established or operates, or who directly or indirectly exercises control over it, including who is the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiary of such legal arrangement or, if the natural persons who are beneficiaries have not been determined yet, the group of persons in the interests of which a legal arrangement has been established or operates, and also another natural person who directly or indirectly exercises control over a legal arrangement;

6) credit institution - a credit institution registered in the Republic of Latvia, another Member State or third country, a branch or representative office of a credit institution of a Member State, third country;

6¹) correspondent banking relationship - a relationship where one credit institution (correspondent) provides services to another credit institution (respondent), including services that involve making payments and settlements, according to a mutually concluded contract. The correspondent banking relationship shall also be deemed to include the relationship between credit institutions and financial institutions or the relationship between financial institutions if the correspondent institution provides to the respondent institution services similar to the services referred to in the first sentence of this Clause according to a mutually concluded contract;

6²) private banker - an employee of a credit institution who provides individual services to wealthy customers who are natural persons, ensuring a complex asset management of the customer, including advice in the financial planning, investment, tax and inheritance issues, special lending terms, special procedures for servicing such customers and their transactions, as well as an increased confidentiality conditions of the customer information;

6³) central contact point - a person designated by the payment institution or electronic money institution of the Member State in the Republic of Latvia who ensures conformity of the financial institution of the relevant Member State with the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing of the Republic of Latvia and also the necessary information and document exchange with Latvijas Banka;

7) financial institution - a merchant, branch or representative office registered with the Commercial Register, or a merchant registered with the relevant register of another Member State or a third country which is not a credit institution and which provides one or more financial services within the meaning of the Credit Institution Law. Including the following shall be regarded as a financial institution:

a) an insurance merchant, insofar as it carries out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and a private pension fund;

b) an insurance intermediary, insofar as it provides life insurance or other insurance services related to the accumulation of funds;

c) an investment firm;

d) an investment management company;

e) a capital company engaged in the buying and selling of the foreign currency cash;

f) a payment institution;

g) an electronic money institution;

h) a savings and loan association;

i) other payment service provider not referred to in Sub-clauses "f", "g", and "h" of this Clause;

j) a manager of alternative investment funds;

k) a provider of re-insurance services;

l) a provider of financial leasing services;

m) a person engaged in the provision of consumer credit services and to whom the Consumer Rights Protection Centre issues a special permit (licence) for the provision of credit services;

n) [Sub-clause shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions];

8) legal arrangement - an arrangement which is not a legal person but has a permanent legal capacity and capacity to act and the structure of which may involve the settlor, the trustee, the protector (manager) or statuses similar thereto, and a beneficiary, and in cases where the natural person gaining the benefit is not yet identified - a person in whose interests the legal arrangement has been established or operates, any other natural person who is actually exercising ultimate control over the legal arrangement by means of ownership or otherwise;

8¹) senior management - the executive board, if any is established, or a specially appointed member of the executive board, official or employee who has sufficient knowledge of the exposure of the subject of the Law to the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks and holding a position of sufficiently high level to take decisions concerning exposure of the subject of the Law to the abovementioned risks;

9) [26 October 2017];

10) provider of services for the establishment of a legal arrangement or legal person and securing its operation - a natural or legal person having a business relationship with the customer and providing the following services:

a) assists in the establishment of a legal arrangement or a legal person;

b) fulfils the duties of a director or secretary of a merchant or another legal arrangement or legal person, or a member of a partnership and also other similar duties, or ensures that they are fulfilled by another person;

c) provides a registered office, correspondence address, business address for a legal arrangement or a legal person and also provides other related services;

d) fulfils the duties of a fiduciary under a direct authorisation or a similar legal document or ensures that such duties are fulfilled by another person;

e) represents a shareholder or a member of such commercial company whose financial instruments are not listed on a regulated market and that is subject to the requirements for the disclosure of information in conformity with the European Union legislation or equivalent international standards, or ensures that such activity is performed by another person;

11) Member State - a European Union Member State or a country of the European Economic Area;

12) third country - a country other than a Member State;

12¹) high-risks third countries - countries or territories where in the opinion of an international organisation or an organisation setting the standards in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, there is no efficient system for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing in place, including countries or territories which have been determined by the European Commission as having strategic deficiencies in the regimes for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, posing significant threats to the financial system of the European Union;

13) supervisory and control authority - a State authority or professional organisation carrying out activities related to supervision and control of compliance with the requirements of this Law;

14) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 38 of Transitional Provisions];

15) shell bank - a credit institution or financial institution, or another institution which performs activities equivalent to those of a credit institution or financial institution, and which is registered or licensed in the country where it is not physically located (also its actual management), and which is unaffiliated with such financial group that is regulated and subject to efficient consolidated supervision. Also the person who provides services equivalent to those of a credit institution by making non-cash transfers on behalf of a third party, and whose operation is not controlled by a supervisory and control authority, except when such transfers are made by an electronic money institution or they are made between commercial companies of one group which are such within the meaning of the Financial Conglomerates Law, or between commercial companies which have the same beneficial owner, shall be considered a shell bank;

15¹) shell arrangement - a legal person characterised by one or several of the following indications:

a) has no affiliation of a legal person to an actual economic activity or the operation of a legal person generates a minor economic value or no economic value at all, and the subject of the Law has no documentary information at its disposal that would prove the contrary;

b) legal acts of the country where the legal person is registered do not provide for an obligation to prepare and submit financial statements for its activities to the supervisory bodies of the relevant country, including annual financial statements;

c) the legal person has no place (premises) for the performance of economic activity in the country where the relevant legal person is registered;

16) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 38 of Transitional Provisions];

17) suspicious transaction - a transaction or action creating suspicions that the funds involved therein are directly or indirectly obtained as a result of criminal offence or are related with terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions;

18) politically exposed person - a person who in the Republic of Latvia, other Member State or third country holds or has held a significant public office, including a higher official of the public authority, a head of the State administrative unit (local government), the Prime Minister, the Minister (the Deputy Minister or the Deputy of the Deputy Minister if there is such an office in the relevant country), the State Secretary or another official of high level in the government or State administrative unit (local government), a Member of Parliament or a member of similar legislation entity, a member of the management entity (executive board) of the political party, a judge of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court or a court of another level (a member of the court authority), a member of the council or executive board of the supreme audit institution, a member of the council or executive board of the central bank, an ambassador, a chargé d'affaires, a high-ranking officer of the armed forces, a member of the supervisory or executive board of a State capital company, a head (a director, a deputy director) and a member of the executive of an international organisation, or a person who holds equal position in such organisation;

18¹) family member of a politically exposed person - a person who is the following for a person referred to Clause 18 of this Section:

a) a spouse or a person equivalent to a spouse. A person shall be considered a person equivalent to a spouse only if he or she is given such a status in accordance with the legislation of the relevant country;

b) a child or a child of a spouse or a person equivalent to a spouse of a politically exposed person, his or her spouse or a person equivalent to a spouse;

c) a parent;

d) a brother or a sister;

18²) person closely related to a politically exposed person - a natural person regarding whom it is known that he or she has business or other close relations with any of the persons referred to in Clause 18 of this Section or he or she is a stockholder or shareholder in the same commercial company with any of the persons referred to in Clause 18 of this Section, and also a natural person who is the only owner of a legal arrangement regarding whom it is known that it has been actually established in the favour of the person referred to in Clause 18 of this Section;

19) freezing of funds - prevention of any move and transaction with funds, and also transfer, amending, alteration, use, access to them or dealing with them in any way that would result in any change in their volume, amount, location, ownership, possession, character, destination or other change that would enable the use of the funds, including portfolio management.

(2) [Paragraph shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 69 of Transitional Provisions]

(3) [Paragraph shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 69 of Transitional Provisions]

[31 March 2011; 7 June 2012; 12 September 2013; 13 August 2014; 4 February 2016; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021; 23 November 2023; 19 September 2024 / Clauses 2.², 2.³, and 2.⁴ of Paragraph one shall be repealed on 29 December 2024. See Paragraph 68 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 2. Purpose of this Law

The purpose of this Law is to prevent money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

[13 June 2019]

Section 3. Subjects of the Law

(1) The subjects of this Law are persons performing an economic or professional activity:

1) credit institutions;

2) financial institutions;

3) outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, and tax advisors, as well as any other person undertaking to provide assistance in tax issues (for example, consultations or financial assistance) or acting as an intermediary in the provision of such assistance regardless of the frequency of its provision and existence of remuneration;

4) sworn notaries, sworn advocates, other independent providers of legal services when they, acting on behalf and for their customer, assist in the planning or execution of transactions, participate therein or perform other professional activities related to the transactions for their customer concerning the following:

a) buying and selling of immovable property, shares of a commercial company capital;

b) managing the customer's money, financial instruments and other funds;

c) opening or managing all kinds of accounts in credit institutions or financial institutions;

d) establishment, management or securing the operation of legal persons or legal arrangements, as well as in relation to making contributions necessary for the establishment, operation or management of a legal person or a legal arrangement;

5) providers of services for the establishment of a legal arrangement or legal person and securing its operation;

6) real estate agents;

7) organisers of lotteries and gambling;

8) persons providing cash collection services;

9) other natural or legal persons trading in means of transport, cultural monuments, precious metals, precious stones, articles thereof or trading in other goods, and also acting as intermediaries in the abovementioned transactions or engaged in provision of services of other type, if payment is made in cash or cash for this transaction is paid in an account of the seller with a credit institution in the amount of EUR 10 000 or more, or in a currency the amount of which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting in the beginning of the day of the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 10 000 regardless of whether this transaction is made in a single operation or in several mutually linked operations;

10) debt recovery service providers;

11) crypto-asset service providers;

12) persons operating in handling of art and antique articles by importing them into or exporting them from the Republic of Latvia, storing or trading in them, including such persons who carry out the actions provided for in this Clause in antique shops, auction houses, or ports, if the total amount of the transaction or several seemingly linked transactions is EUR 10 000 or more;

13) administrators of insolvency proceedings.

(1¹) The subjects of the Law specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall retain the status of the subject of the Law also during the course of insolvency or liquidation proceedings.

(2) The subjects of the Law which are part of a group shall implement group-wide policies and procedures at least in relation to the fulfilment of the requirements laid down in Section 7, Paragraph one, Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8.¹, 10, 11 and Sections 9 and 10 of this Law, the personal data processing policy, and also the information exchange policy established within the group for the purpose of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing. The abovementioned group-scale policy and procedures shall be efficiently implemented in Member States and the third countries also at the branch level and at the level of those subsidiaries where the subjects of the Law hold the majority of capital shares.

(2¹) The subjects of the Law which belong to a certain group shall, at the group level, ensure that the structural units responsible for compliance, audits or execution of the functions for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing have access to the information necessary for the execution of the abovementioned functions from the branches and subsidiaries, including information on customers, accounts, and payments.

(3) The subjects of the Law whose branches or legal representatives operate (offer services) in another Member State shall ensure that the abovementioned branches and legal representatives comply with the requirements of the laws and regulations of the relevant Member State in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(3¹) If the subjects of the Law have branches or subsidiaries where they hold the majority of capital shares in Member States or the third countries where the minimum requirements in relation to prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing are not as strict as the requirements laid down in the laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia, the branches and subsidiaries of these subjects where they hold the majority of capital shares, established in the Member State or the third country, shall implement the requirements laid down in the laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia, insofar as they are not in contradiction with the requirements laid down in the legal framework of Member States or the third countries in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(3²) If the legal framework of the Member State or the third country precludes application of Paragraph two, Clause 2.¹ or 3.¹ of this Section, the subjects of the Law shall ensure that the branches and subsidiaries where they hold the majority of capital shares take additional measures to efficiently restrict the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk in the abovementioned Member State or the third country, and inform their supervisory and control authority in the Republic of Latvia. If additional measures are not sufficient, the supervisory and control authority of the Republic of Latvia shall take additional supervisory measures, including request the group not to commence or terminate the business relationship and not to make the transactions and, if necessary, request the group to terminate its activities in the Member State or the third country.

(4) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 38 of Transitional Provisions]

(5) The requirements of Regulation (EU) 2015/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on information accompanying transfers of funds and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1781/2006 (hereinafter - Regulation No 2015/847) shall not apply to transfers of funds made in Latvia to a payment account of the payee if a payment is being made for goods purchased in Latvia or services received in Latvia and all the conditions of Article 2(5) of Regulation No 2015/847 are met.

(6) Persons when providing financial services, i.e. credit services, financial leasing, issuance of guarantees and such other letters of commitment that impose an obligation to assume liability towards the creditor for a third partyʼs debt (except for cooperative societies when providing services of the attraction of deposits and other repayable funds), only within the scope of the group or to the members of a cooperative society for ensuring their principal activity or in relation to the liabilities of the group or members of a cooperative society shall not be regarded as the subjects of this Law.

(7) Outsourced accountants shall not be regarded as the subjects of this Law when they perform their professional activities, operating within the scope of one group.

(8) A merchant which is part of a group and which performs intermediary activities of an immovable property transaction in relation to the management of immovable property belonging to a merchant of another group, when alienating, renting, or leasing it, including to the third parties, shall not be regarded as the subject of this Law.

[31 March 2011; 31 October 2013; 13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 November 2023; 19 September 2024 / Amendment regarding the deletion of Clause 11 of Paragraph one and amendment in Paragraph five shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 3.¹ Obligation of Other Persons in Relation to Provision of Information On Suspicious Transactions

In order to prevent activities related to money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, the persons which have not been indicated in Section 3 of this Law and also State authorities, derived public entities and their authorities have an obligation to provide to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia information on each suspicious transaction, and also the information and documents at their disposal which the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia needs for the fulfilment of its duties in accordance with the requirements of this Law. The legal protection mechanisms intended for the subjects of the Law shall be applied to the persons referred to in this Section.

[13 June 2019 / Section shall come into force on 17 December 2019. See Paragraph 39 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 4. Proceeds of Crime

(1) Funds shall be considered as the proceeds of crime in accordance with that laid down in the Criminal Law.

(2) The term "proceeds of crime" shall be used in the meaning of the term "criminally acquired property" used in the Criminal Law.

(3) In addition to that laid down in the Criminal Law, funds which belong to the following person or are directly or indirectly controlled by the following person shall also be considered proceeds of crime:

1) who is included on any list of those persons suspected of being involved in terrorist activity or production, possession, transportation, use or distribution of weapons of mass destruction compiled by the countries or international organisations stipulated by the Cabinet;

2) who is included on the list of subjects of sanctions drawn up by the Cabinet on the basis of the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia with the view to combat the involvement in terrorist activity or production, possession, transportation, use, or distribution of weapons of mass destruction;

3) [19 September 2024].

(3¹) In addition to that laid down in the Criminal Law, such funds shall be considered as the proceeds of crime which have been used or which are intended to be used for committing crimes related to terrorism.

(4) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall maintain information on the persons referred to in Paragraph three, Clauses 1 and 2 of this Section on its website by making it accessible to the subjects of the Law and their supervisory and control authorities.

(5) Funds shall be declared to be proceeds of crime in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Criminal Procedure Law.

[10 December 2009; 13 August 2014; 4 February 2016; 22 June 2017; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 5. Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing

(1) The following actions are money laundering:

1) the conversion of proceeds of crime into other valuables, change of their location or ownership while being aware that these funds are the proceeds of crime, and if such actions have been carried out for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illegal origin of funds or assisting another person who is involved in committing a criminal offence in the evasion of legal liability;

2) the concealment or disguise of the true nature, origin, location, disposition, movement, ownership of the proceeds of crime, while being aware that these funds are the proceeds of crime;

3) the acquisition, possession, use or disposal of the proceeds of crime of another person while being aware that these funds are the proceeds of crime;

4) [22 June 2017]

(1¹) The actions referred to in Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Section, when a person deliberately assumed the funds to be criminally acquired, shall also be regarded as money laundering.

(2) Money laundering shall also be recognised as such if a criminal offence which is provided for in the Criminal Law and in the result of which such funds have been directly or indirectly acquired has been committed outside the territory of the Republic of Latvia.

(2¹) Money laundering shall be recognised as such regardless of whether the exact criminal offence has been identified from which the proceeds have originated.

(3) Terrorism financing is the direct or indirect collection or transfer of financial funds or other property acquired by any form with a view to use them or by knowing that they will be fully or partly used to carry out one or several of the following activities:

1) terrorism;

2) the activities referred to in Article 1 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft;

3) the activities referred to in Article 3 of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 10 March 1988;

4) the activities referred to in Article 1 of the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages;

5) the activities referred to in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings;

6) the activities referred to in Article 7 of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material;

7) the activities referred to in Article 1 of the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to Civil Aviation Safety;

8) the activities referred to in Article 2 of the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation;

9) the activities referred to in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons;

10) the activities referred to in Article 2 of the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf, 10 March 1988;

11) travelling for terrorist purposes;

12) involvement in a terrorist group, organisation or directing thereof;

13) recruiting or training of a person for terrorism, or self-training for terrorism;

14) justification of terrorism, invitation to terrorism, or terrorism threats;

15) the activities referred to in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, 13 April 2005.

(4) Terrorism financing is also the direct or indirect collection or transfer at the disposal of a terrorist group or an individual terrorist of financial funds or property acquired by any means.

(5) Financing of manufacture, storage, movement, use, or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (hereinafter - proliferation) is the direct or indirect collection or transfer of financial resources or other property acquired by any form with a view to use them or by knowing that they will be fully or partly used to finance proliferation (hereinafter - proliferation financing).

[31 March 2011; 13 August 2014; 22 June 2017; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 5.¹ Accessibility of the Information Necessary for the Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Law from the Information Systems of the Republic of Latvia

(1) For the purposes of the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law, the subjects of the Law and the supervisory and control authorities have the right to request and receive online records and information on shareholders and beneficial owners from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, as well as to store and otherwise process the abovementioned information in order to assess the information on the customer and its counterparties and the necessity to report a suspicious transaction to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia or refrain from execution of a suspicious transaction, as well as in order to establish whether insolvency proceedings of a legal person have been declared or legal protection procedure has been initiated for the customer.

(2) For the purposes of the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law, the subjects of the Law, except for the subjects referred to in Section 41, Paragraph two of this Law, have the right to request and receive for a fee in the amount stipulated by the Cabinet entries and information from registers of the State Revenue Service, the Punishment Register, the State Unified Computerised Land Register, the State Register of Vehicles and Their Drivers, and the Register of Natural Persons in the amount referred to in Section 10.¹, Paragraph one, Clause 2 and Section 41, Paragraph two, Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of this Law, and also to store and otherwise process the abovementioned information.

(3) For the purposes of the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law, the supervisory and control authorities have the right to request and receive for a fee in the amount stipulated by the Cabinet information from the Punishment Register and also to store and otherwise process information on the subject of the Law to be supervised who is a natural person, participants of the subject of the Law to be supervised, beneficial owners, senior management, and the person responsible for the fulfilment of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(4) When using the information systems of the Republic of Latvia in accordance with this Law, the subjects of the Law and the supervisory and control authorities shall be responsible for their use only for the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law.

(5) In order to preclude a possibility for the subjects of the Law and the supervisory and control authorities to use the information systems of the Republic of Latvia for purposes not provided for in this Law, the subjects of the Law and the supervisory and control authorities shall document the requests made and the information received.

(6) The Cabinet shall determine the amount of the fee for the receipt of the information referred to in Paragraphs two and three of this Section and the procedures for the collection thereof.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 13 October 2022 / Amendments to Section regarding availability of information from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall come into force concurrently with the amendments to the law On the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia in relation to the provision of free-of-charge issuance of information to any person from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. See Paragraph 44 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 5.² General Conditions for Processing of Personal Data

(1) Processing of personal data for the achievement of the purpose of this Law in the amount specified in this Law is performed in the interests of the society.

(2) The subjects of the Law, the providers of the closed or open shared Know-Your-Customer utility service, supervisory and control authorities, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, and the administrators of the registers referred to in Section 41 of this Law shall not provide information to the data subject on the processing of data performed within the framework of this law in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, except for the publicly available data.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Chapter II
Internal Control

Section 6. Obligation to Perform Risk Assessment and to Create an Internal Control System

(1) The subject of the Law, according to its type of activity and the extent thereof, shall conduct and document the assessment of the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks in order to identify, assess, understand, and manage the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks inherent to its own activities and customers, and, on the basis of such assessment, shall establish an internal control system for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including by developing and documenting the relevant policies and procedures, which shall be approved by the executive board of the subject of the Law, if any is appointed, or the senior management body of the subject of the Law.

(1¹) When performing the risk assessment and creating the internal control system, the subject of the Law shall take into account:

1) risks identified by the European Commission in the European Union money laundering and terrorism financing risk assessment (hereinafter - the European Union risk assessment);

2) the risks identified in the national money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment report;

3) other risks inherent to the activities of the relevant subject of the Law.

(1²) When performing the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment and creating the internal control system, the subject of the Law shall take into account at least the following circumstances affecting the risks:

1) customer risk inherent to the legal form, ownership structure of the customer, economic or personal activities of the customer or the beneficial owner of the customer;

2) country and geographical risk, i.e., the risk that the customer or the beneficial owner of the customer is affiliated to the country or territory whose economic, social, legal or political circumstances may be indicative of a high money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing risk inherent to the country;

3) risk of the services and products used by the customer, i.e., the risk that the customer may use the relevant service or product for the purposes of money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing;

4) service or product delivery channel risk related to the type (channel) through which the customer obtains and uses the service or product.

(2) An internal control system is a set of measures comprising activities directed towards the provision of compliance with the requirements of the Law, providing for the relevant resources and carrying out training of the employees, so the participation of the subject of the Law in money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing is prevented as much as possible.

(3) When creating the internal control system a credit institution, insurance company and investment firm shall comply with the requirements of the Credit Institutions Law, the Financial Instrument Market Law, the Insurance and Reinsurance Law, and the laws and regulations issued in accordance with these laws.

(4) [26 October 2017]

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 7. Internal Control System

(1) When creating the internal control system, the subject of the Law shall provide at least for the following:

1) [26 October 2017];

2) the procedures by which the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk associated with the customer, the state of residence (registration) thereof, the economic or personal activity of the customer, the services and products used and their delivery channels, as well as transactions executed shall be assessed, documented and reviewed;

3) the procedures for carrying out the customer due diligence and the extent thereof based on the assessment of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk carried out by the subject of the Law and by complying with the minimum requirements for customer due diligence determined in this Law and other laws and regulations;

4) the procedures for monitoring the transactions of the customer based on the assessment of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk carried out by the subject of the Law;

5) the procedures for discovering suspicious transactions, and the procedures by which the subject of the Law shall refrain from making a suspicious transaction;

6) the procedures for reporting suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

6¹) the procedures by which the threshold declaration shall be submitted to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

7) the procedures for storing and destroying information and documents obtained in the process of the customer due diligence, as well as while monitoring transactions of the customer;

8) the rights, obligations and liability of employees, as well as the professional qualification and conformity standards of employees in the fulfilment of the requirements of this Law;

8¹) the procedures by which, in conformity with the risk profile of the subject of the Law, the suitability (fitness) of such employees for the duties of employment or for office is checked who are directly involved in the risk management of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

9) the procedures for providing anonymous internal reporting on violations of the requirements of this Law and assessment of such reports, if such reporting is possible considering the number of employees of the subject of the Law;

10) the independent audit function in order to examine the compliance of the internal control system with the requirements of the laws and regulations in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and to assess the efficiency of its operation, if appropriate, taking into account the risk of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and the amount and essence of economic activity of the subject of the Law. The function of an independent internal and external audit shall be provided by credit institutions, the function of an independent external audit - by licensed payment institutions and licensed electronic money institutions, investment firms, and crypto-asset service providers, except when the the decision of the supervisory and control authority has been taken not to apply the audit function, and the function of an independent internal audit - by financial institutions, except when the decision of the supervisory and control authority has been taken not to apply the internal audit function;

11) the requirements and procedures for regular reviewing of the functioning of policies and procedures according to changes in the laws and regulations or the operational processes of the subject of the Law, services provided thereby, governance structure, customer base or regions of operations thereof.

(1¹) The supervisory and control authority in relation to the subjects of the Law to be supervised and controlled, in conformity with the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks inherent to the activities of the subject of the Law, may set additional requirements, not referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, to be complied with by the subject of the Law when creating the internal control system. The additional requirements referred to in the first sentence of this Paragraph in relation to the subjects of the Law under supervision and control of the Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors, the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings, the National Heritage Board, and the State Revenue Service may be stipulated by the Cabinet.

(2) The supervisory and control authorities referred to in Section 45 of this Law shall determine methodology for the detection and risk assessment of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing in conformity with the activities of the subjects of this Law to be supervised and controlled by them.

(3) Credit institutions and financial institutions, except for capital companies carrying out the buying and selling of foreign currency cash, shall, in addition to that specified in Paragraph one of this Section, provide that the employee who is responsible for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing has an obligation to inform the executive board on a regular basis about the operation of the internal control system for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing at the relevant credit institution or financial institution.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 8. Updating of the Risk Assessment and Improvement of the Internal Control System

(1) The subject of the Law shall, on a regular basis, but at least once per each three years, review and update the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment in accordance with the inherent risks.

(2) The subject of the Law shall, on a regular basis, but at least once per each 18 months, assess the efficiency of the operation of the internal control system, including by reviewing and updating the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment related to the customer, its country of residence (registration), economic or personal activity of the customer, services and products used and their delivery channels, as well as the transactions made, and, if necessary, shall implement measures for improving the efficiency of the internal control system, including shall review and adjust the policies and procedures for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(3) The subject of the Law, regardless of the regularity of the risk assessment specified in Paragraph one of this Section, shall carry out the risk assessment and implement measures for improving the internal control system in the following cases:

1) the subject of the Law or the supervisory and control authority has grounds to believe that there are deficiencies in the internal control system of the subject of the Law;

2) the subject of the Law plans to introduce changes in its operational processes, governance structure, services and products provided and their delivery channels, customer base or geographical regions of operation, as well as before introducing new technologies or services.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019]

Section 9. Training of Employees

The subject of the Law shall ensure that the employees of the subject of the Law, in conformity with their office duties, are familiar with the risks inherent to money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing in conformity with the type of activity of the subject of the Law and amount thereof, laws and regulations governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and the requirements for personal data protection in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and also shall train the employees on regular basis in order to improve their skills to identify suspicious transactions and their features and fulfil the activities provided for in the internal control system.

[15 June 2021 / The new wording of the Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 54 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 10. Appointment of Employees Responsible for the Compliance with the Requirements of the Law

(1) The subject of the Law who is a legal person shall appoint one or several employees (persons responsible for the fulfilment of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing), including from senior management, who are entitled to take decisions and are directly liable for the compliance with the requirements of this Law and for ensuring the exchange of information with the relevant supervisory and control authority (hereinafter - the employees responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law). The subject of this Law shall, within 30 days after obtaining the status of the subject of the Law or changes in the composition of the employees responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law, notify the relevant supervisory and control authority thereof.

(2) Credit institutions, licensed payment institutions, and licensed electronic money institutions, as well as investment firms shall appoint the employee responsible for the fulfilment of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing both in the senior management which ensures supervision of the fulfilment of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and in the internal control unit which ensures the practical fulfilment of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(2¹) Unless it has been laid down otherwise in external laws and regulations, the subject of the Law has an obligation to develop:

1) the policy for assessing the suitability of the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law (including from the senior management), and to document the assessment which attests that the relevant employee (including from the senior management) complies with the requirements specified in the laws and regulations and internal policies and procedures of the subject of this Law to ensure the compliance of the activity of the subject of this Law with the requirements of this Law;

2) the procedure by which the powers and obligations of the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law (including from the senior management) in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing shall be distributed, and the procedures by which supervision of the activities of the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law (including from the senior management) shall be ensured.

(3) The subject of the Law who is a legal person, the supervisory and control authority thereof, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and its officials and employees do not have the right to disclose to a third party information on the persons or employees of the structural units referred to in Paragraph one of this Section which is at its disposal.

(4) [13 June 2019]

[13 August 2014; 26 May 2016; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019]

Section 10.¹ Requirements for the Subject of the Law who is a Natural Person, the Beneficial Owner of the Subject of the Law, a Member of the Senior Management and the Employee Responsible for the Compliance with the Requirements of this Law and Conformity Assessment of the Applicant

(1) The following person may be a member of the senior management or the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law:

1) who has an impeccable reputation;

2) who has not been sentenced for committing an intentional criminal offence against the State, property or administrative order, or for committing an intentional criminal offence in national economy or while in service in a State authority, or for committing a terrorism related criminal offence, or who has been sentenced for such offences, however, the criminal record thereon has been set aside or extinguished;

3) to whom sanction (except for a warning) for a violation of the laws and regulations in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing or international and national sanctions has not been imposed or to whom such sanction has been imposed, however, at least one year has passed since the day of its application;

4) who complies with other requirements laid down in external laws and regulations.

(1¹) Unless it is otherwise provided for in other laws and regulations, the beneficial owner of the subject of the Law who is a legal person or legal arrangement within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 5 of this Law or the subject of this Law who is a natural person may not be the person who has been sentenced for committing intentional crime against the State, property or administrative order, committing intentional crime in the national economy or service of State authorities or for committing such crime which is related to terrorism, unless the criminal record is set aside or extinguished.

(2) The subject of the Law may, on the basis of the risk assessment-based approach, also specify other requirements not referred to in Paragraph one of this Section in relation to a person who is applying for the position of a member of the senior management or the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law.

(3) In order to achieve the purpose of this Law, protect the reputation of the subject of the Law, prevent involvement of the subject of the Law in illegal activities, identify and prevent other risks significant for the subject of the Law, protect the secret of a customer, transaction and occasional transaction:

1) a person especially authorised by the subject of the Law shall ensure appropriate procedures by which the suitability of the person for the position of the member of the senior management or employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law is evaluated, including shall examine the veracity of the information provided by such person;

2) the supervision and control authority shall ensure appropriate procedures by which the conformity of the beneficial owner of the subject of the Law or the subject of the Law who is a natural person with the requirements of Paragraphs 1.¹ of this Section during the entire operation of the subject of the Law is evaluated, including shall examine the veracity of the information provided by such person.

(4) In order to assess the conformity of the person who is applying for the position of a member of the senior management or the person responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law with the requirement of Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Section, a person especially authorised by the subject of the Law shall request, receive, and process personal data from the Punishment Register in accordance with the procedures laid down in laws and regulations.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021 / The new wording of Paragraphs 1.¹ and two shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 55 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter III
Customer Due Diligence

[26 October 2017]

Section 11. Obligation to Conduct the Customer Due Diligence

(1) The subject of the Law shall conduct the customer due diligence:

1) before establishing the business relationship;

2) before an occasional transaction if:

a) the amount of transactions of the customer or the total sum of several seemingly linked transactions is EUR 15 000 or more or is in a foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 15 000;

b) transfer of funds is being made, including also a credit transfer, direct debt transfer, money remittance, or transfer made by a payment card, electronic money instrument, mobile telephone, digital or another information technology device is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 1000;

c) foreign currency cash purchase or sale transaction is executed the amount of which or the total sum of several seemingly linked transactions exceeds EUR 1500;

d) [Sub-clause shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions];

3) if the subject of the Law is engaged in trade of goods, as well as in intermediation or provision of other type of services within the scope of an individual transaction and if the payment is made in cash or cash for such transaction is paid into the account of the seller in the credit institution in the amount equivalent to or exceeding EUR 10 000, or in a foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 10 000, regardless of whether such transaction is executed as a single operation or as several mutually linked operations;

4) if the subject of the Law who is the organiser of lotteries and gambling executes a transaction with the customer for the sum equal to or exceeding EUR 2000, including if the customer wins, purchases means for participation in the game or lottery tickets, or exchanges foreign currency for this purpose, regardless of whether such transaction is executed as a single operation or as several mutually linked operations;

5) if there are suspicions of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt of such actions;

6) if there are suspicions that the previously obtained customer due diligence data is not true or appropriate;

7) if such crypto-asset service is provided the amount of which is equal to EUR 1000 or exceeds such amount.

(2) If at the moment of executing the transaction it cannot be identified whether the sum of transaction would be equal to or exceed EUR 15 000 or in foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 15 000, the customer due diligence shall be performed as soon as it becomes known that the sum of the transaction with the customer is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 15 000 or is in a foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 15 000.

(3) If, on the basis of a documented money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment, a low risk is detected and in accordance with the requirements of this Law enhanced customer due diligence need not be applied, then in order not to interrupt the usual course of the transaction, verification of the identification of the customer and verification of the designated beneficial owner may be carried out at the moment of establishing a business relationship as soon as it is possible after the initial contact with the customer, but prior to executing the transaction.

(4) If, on the basis of a documented money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment, a low risk is detected and in accordance with the requirements of this Law enhanced customer due diligence need not be applied, an insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and an insurance intermediary, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, may carry out verification of the identification of the customer and verification of conformity of the determined beneficial owner also after establishing a business relationship or prior to the disbursement of indemnity to the person obtaining benefit from insurance, or before it exercises the rights provided for in the insurance contract.

(5) If the subject of the Law applies the provisions of Paragraph three or four of this Section, it shall implement the following measures:

1) document the risk assessment;

2) determine the measures mitigating the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks in policies and procedures, including limitations on the amount, number or type of transactions.

(6) If the subject of the Law has suspicions of money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing and there are grounds to believe that the further application of customer due diligence measures may reveal the suspicions of the subject of the Law to the customer, the subject of the Law has the right not to continue the customer due diligence, but to report a suspicious transaction to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia. In its report to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the subject of the Law shall also indicate the considerations forming the basis for the conclusion that the further application of customer due diligence measures might reveal the suspicions of the subject of the Law to the customer.

(7) If the subject of the Law is not able to apply the customer due diligence measures specified in this Law, then the subject of the Law shall not commence a business relationship, including shall not open an account, shall terminate the business relationship without delay, and shall not execute an occasional transaction with the relevant person or legal arrangement. The subject of the Law shall document and assess each such case and, in case of suspicions of money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, shall report to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(8) The provisions of Paragraph seven of this Section shall not apply to sworn notaries, sworn attorneys, other independent representatives of legal professions, tax advisors, outsourced accountants, certified auditors in cases when they defend or represent a customer in pre-trial criminal proceedings or court proceedings, or provide advice on the commencement of the court proceedings or avoidance thereof.

(9) The subject of the Law referred to in Section 3, Paragraph one, Clause 6 of this Law shall apply the customer due diligence measures in relation to the person with whom the customer is concluding a transaction for buying, selling, or leasing immovable property, and shall do it prior to concluding such transaction.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 November 2023; 19 September 2024 / Clause 7 of Paragraph one shall be repealed on 29 December 2024. See Paragraph 68 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 11.¹ Customer Due Diligence Measures and Risk Factors

(1) Customer due diligence measures are a set of risk assessment-based activities within the scope of which the subject of the Law:

1) identifies the customer and verifies the identification data obtained;

2) ascertains the beneficial owner and, on the basis of the risk assessment, verifies that the relevant natural person is the beneficial owner of the customer. For a legal arrangement and a legal person the subject of the Law also ascertains the shareholding structure of the relevant person and the way how the control of the beneficial owner over such legal arrangement or legal person manifests itself;

3) obtains the information necessary to understand the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship and occasional transaction;

4) after establishment of the business relationship carries out its supervision, including inspections to confirm that transactions entered into during the course of the business relationship are being executed according to the information at the disposal of the subject of the Law regarding the customer, its economic activity, risk profile, and origin of funds;

5) ensures the storage, regular assessment and updating of the documents, personal data and information obtained during the course of the customer due diligence according to the inherent risks and taking into account the quality of the information obtained during the last customer due diligence, but at least once per each five years.

(2) When determining the extent of and procedures for customer due diligence, as well as the regularity of assessment of the documents, personal data and information obtained during the course of the customer due diligence, the subject of the Law shall take into consideration the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks posed by the customer, its state of residence (registration), type of economic or personal activity of the customer, services and products to be used and their delivery channels, as well as the transactions executed. When determining the extent of and regularity for the customer due diligence, the subject of the Law shall also take into account the following risk affecting indicators:

1) the purpose of the business relationship;

2) the regularity of the transactions intended and executed by the customer;

3) the duration of the business relationship and regularity of transactions;

4) the scale of the transactions, including deposits, intended and executed by the customer.

(3) When conducting the customer due diligence, the subject of the Law shall take into account at least the following risk increasing factors:

1) the business relationship is carried out under unusual circumstances;

2) the customer or its beneficial owner is affiliated with a higher risk jurisdiction, i.e.:

a) a high risk third country;

b) a country or territory with a high corruption risk;

c) a country or territory with high level of criminal offences as a result of which proceeds from crime may be obtained;

d) a country or territory on whom to financial or civil legal restrictions have been imposed by the United Nations Organisation, the United States of America or the European Union;

e) a country or territory which provides financing or support to terrorist activities or in the territory of which such terrorist organisations operate that are included in lists of countries or international organisations recognised by the Cabinet which have prepared lists of persons suspected of engaging in terrorist activities or in the production, storage, transportation, use or distribution of weapons of mass destruction;

f) a country or territory which has refused to cooperate with international organisations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

3) the customer is a legal arrangement which is a private asset management company;

4) the customer is a legal person which is issuing or is entitled to issue bearer shares (equity securities) or which has owners who are the registered owners of the capital shares held in favour of the beneficial owner;

5) the customer executes large-scale cash transactions;

6) the ownership or shareholding structure of the customer - legal person - is not characteristic to the economic activity of the customer or is complicated;

7) the customer uses the services of a private banker;

8) the customer uses services, products or delivery channels thereof that favour anonymity;

9) the customer uses services, products or delivery channels thereof that restrict the possibilities of customer identification or acquiring knowledge inherent to its personal and economic activity;

10) the customer receives payments from an unknown third party;

11) the customer uses new services, products or delivery channels thereof, or new technologies;

12) the customer is a third-country national who requests or has received a temporary residence permit in relation to an investment in the equity capital of a capital company, the acquisition of an immovable property, the acquisition of interest-free State securities, or subordinate liabilities with a credit institution of the Republic of Latvia.

(4) The subject of the Law may, when assessing the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks, take into account the following risk mitigating factors:

1) efficient systems for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing are operating in the country;

2) such requirements have been specified in the country in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing which meet the international standards specified by the organisations determining standards in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and the country complies with these requirements;

3) there is a low corruption risk in the country;

4) the country has a low level of such criminal offences as a result of which the proceeds may be obtained from crime;

5) the customer who is a natural person uses only the principal account within the meaning of the Payment Services and Electronic Money Law.

(5) The subject of the Law should be able to prove that the extent of the customer due diligence corresponds to the existing money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks.

(6) Upon establishing a business relationship, the subject of the Law shall, on the basis of the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment, obtain and document information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, including the services the customer plans to use, the planned number and scope of transactions, the type of economic or personal activity of the customer within the scope of which it will use the relevant services, and, if necessary, the origin of funds of the customer and the origin of wealth characterising the financial situation of the customer.

(7) The subject of the Law shall apply the customer due diligence measures not only when establishing a business relationship, but also during the course of the business relationship (including for existing customers), on the basis of the risk assessment-based approach, including without delay in cases:

1) when changes in significant customer-related circumstances occur;

2) when the subject of the Law has a legal obligation to contact the customer within the specified period of time in order to review any significant information related to the beneficial owner;

3) when such obligation has been imposed on the subject of the Law in the law On Taxes and Fees.

(8) Upon applying the customer due diligence measures, the subject of the Law shall obtain and process the personal data of natural persons in accordance with the purposes of this Law, only and solely for the purposes of preventing money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and shall not further process them in a manner that does not correspond to the abovementioned purposes. Processing of personal data for other purposes, including commercial purposes, is prohibited.

(9) The subject of the Law, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance services related to the accumulation of funds, shall asses the existing money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks, including the risk inherent to the beneficiary of insurance indemnity, and, in addition to the customer due diligence measures, shall conduct the following due diligence measures with respect to the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity, as soon as it is identified or determined:

1) if the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity is a specific natural or legal person, shall ascertain the given name, surname of the natural person or the firm name of the legal person;

2) if the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity is determined based on indications, shall obtain information on the beneficiary of the indemnity to such extent that would allow to determine the identity of the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity at the moment of the disbursement of insurance indemnity;

3) if the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity is a legal person or a legal arrangement, shall conduct an enhanced due diligence thereof to determine the beneficial owner of the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity at the moment of the disbursement of insurance indemnity.

(10) The activities referred to in Paragraph nine of this Section shall be carried out prior to the disbursement of insurance indemnity. If a life insurance contract or another insurance contract related to the accumulation of funds is assigned to another insurance merchant, the beneficiary of the insurance indemnity shall be identified before executing the assignment.

(11) If the beneficial owner of a legal arrangement is determined within the scope of the management of a legal arrangement according to special indications, the subject of the Law shall obtain information on the beneficial owner to such extent that would allow to determine the identity of the beneficial owner during the disbursement of funds (benefit) or during the time when the beneficial owner will exercise the rights provided thereto.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 11.² Additional Requirements to be Brought Forward for Crypto-asset Service Providers in Relation to Transfers of Crypto-assets

(1) In addition to the customer due diligence measures specified in Section 11.¹ of this Law in case of transfers of crypto-assets if their amount is equal to or exceeds EUR 1000, a crypto-asset service provider shall obtain the following information on the originator and beneficiary of crypto-assets:

1) the given name, surname, date and place of birth or personal identity number (national identification number assigned by the country) of the originator who is a natural person or the customer identification number assigned by the crypto-asset service provider;

2) the name, address, or registration number (national identification number assigned by the country) of the originator who is a legal person or the customer identification number assigned by the crypto-asset service provider;

3) the account number of the originator if such account is used for processing the transfer of crypto-assets;

4) the given name, surname of the beneficiary who is a natural person;

5) the name of the beneficiary who is a legal person;

6) the account number of the beneficiary if such account is used for processing the transfer of crypto-assets.

(2) If the amount of a transfer of crypto-assets is less than the amount specified in Paragraph one of this Section, namely, EUR 1000, the crypto-asset service provider shall obtain information on the given name, surname of the originator and beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets who are natural persons, the name and unique transaction identifier of the originator and beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets who are legal persons.

(3) If the originator of a transfer of crypto-assets does not have an account, the unique transaction identifier which ensures traceability of the transfer of crypto-assets is indicated for transfers of crypto-assets.

(4) If several individual transfers of crypto-assets from one originator are joined in a batch file transfer of crypto-assets for sending to beneficiaries, the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section need not be submitted provided that the account number of the originator or the unique transaction indicator is indicated for transfers of crypto-assets and the batch file transfer of crypto-assets includes the requested and current information on the originator and the beneficiary which is fully traceable in the country of the beneficiary.

(5) Prior to carrying out a transfer of crypto-assets, if the amount thereof is equal to or exceeds EUR 1000, the crypto-asset service provider of the originator of the transfer of crypto-assets shall verify the information referred to in Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Section and the crypto-asset service provider of the beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-services shall verify the information referred to in Paragraph one, Clauses 4, 5, and 6 of this Section. If there are suspicions that a customer of the crypto-asset service provider is connected to money laundering or terrorism or proliferation financing, the abovementioned verification shall be performed regardless of the amount of the transfer of crypto-assets.

(6) When making inland payments upon assignment of a customer, if the amount of the transfer is equal to or exceeds EUR 1000, the crypto-asset service provider shall, without delay, transfer the information on the originator or beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets to the crypto-asset service provider of the beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets, other financial institutions, and credit institutions also in another manner accessible to the beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets.

(7) If the amount of a transfer of crypto-assets is less than EUR 1000, the crypto-asset service provider shall, without delay but not later than within three working days from the day of receiving the request, submit the information referred to in Paragraph two of this Section to another crypto-asset service provider, financial institution, or credit institution which has received the transfer of crypto-assets.

(8) The crypto-assets service provider shall, without delay and upon request, submit the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section to the State Revenue Service, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, and the law enforcement authorities regardless of the amount of the transfer of crypto-assets.

(9) If the beneficiary of a transfer of crypto-assets is unable to ensure receipt of the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section from the crypto-asset service provider of the originator of the transfer of crypto-assets, the crypto-asset service provider of the originator of the transfer of crypto-assets shall, without delay but not later than within three working days from the day of receiving the request, submit the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section to another crypto-asset service provider, financial institution, or credit institution which has received the transfer of crypto-assets.

(10) The beneficiary of a transfer of crypto-assets shall monitor transfers of crypto-assets after or during their execution to ascertain that the information referred to in Paragraphs one and two of this Section on the originator and beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets has been included in the transfer of crypto-assets or a batch file transfer of crypto-assets or is sent to the beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets afterwards.

(11) If the beneficiary of a transfer of crypto-assets establishes that the information referred to in Paragraphs one, two, and four of this Section has not been submitted or has been submitted incompletely, it shall, on the basis of the risk assessment, take one of the following decisions:

1) reject the transfer of crypto-assets or send the transferred crypto-assets back to the account of the originator of the transfer or crypto-assets;

2) suspend the transfer of crypto-assets until the moment when the missing information on the originator and beneficiary of the transfer of crypto-assets has been submitted. After elimination of deficiencies, the crypto-asset service provider shall execute the transfer of crypto-assets.

[23 November 2023 / Section shall be repealed on 29 December 2024. See Paragraph 68 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 12. Identification of Natural Persons

(1) A natural person shall be identified by verifying his or her identity based upon the personal identification document where the following information is provided:

1) regarding a resident - the given name, surname, personal identity number;

2) regarding a non-resident - the given name, surname, date of birth, the photograph of the person, number and date of issue of the personal identification document, country and authority which issued the document.

(2) Only a personal identification document valid for entry into the Republic of Latvia shall be used for the identification of a natural person who is a non-resident and who is a face-to-face customer of the subject of the Law in the Republic of Latvia.

(3) An inland passport of the relevant country, another personal identification document recognised by the relevant country or a document giving the right to enter the country where the identification of a person is carried out may be used for the identification of a natural person who is a non-resident at the state of residence thereof if he or she is a non-face-to-face customer of the subject of the Law.

(3¹) Upon verifying the identity of a natural personal according to the personal identification documents, the subject of the Law shall ascertain that the personal identification document is not included in the Register of Invalid Documents.

(4) Sworn notaries shall establish the identity of a natural person in accordance with the procedures specified in the Notariate Law.

(5) If a natural person is represented by another natural person, the subject of the Law shall identify the person authorised to represent the natural person in relations with the subject of the Law in accordance with Paragraph one of this Section and shall obtain a document or a copy of the relevant document which confirms its right to represent the natural person.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017]

Section 13. Identification of Legal Persons and Legal Arrangements

(1) A legal person shall be identified:

1) by requesting to present documents attesting to the firm name, legal form and incorporation or legal registration of the legal person;

2) by requesting to provide information on the registered address and, if it differs from the registered address, the actual place of performance of economic activity of the legal person;

3) by requesting to present the incorporation document of the legal person (memorandum of incorporation, articles of association) and identifying the persons authorised to represent the legal person in relations with the subject of the Law, including by clarifying the given names and surnames of the relevant persons who hold positions in the management body of the legal person, and obtaining a document or a copy of the relevant document which confirms their rights to represent the legal person, as well as by verifying identity of such persons.

(1¹) A legal arrangement shall be identified:

1) by requesting to present documents attesting to the status of the legal arrangement, the purpose of its establishment, and its firm name;

2) by requesting to provide information on the registered address and, if it differs from the registered address, the actual place of performance of economic activity of the legal arrangement;

3) by clarifying the structure and mechanisms of governance of the legal arrangement, including the beneficial owners and members of the senior management, and also the authorised persons of the legal arrangement or the persons holding an equivalent position.

(2) The subject of the Law may identify a legal person and legal arrangement by obtaining the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section from a publicly available, reliable and independent source.

(3) Sworn notaries shall establish the identify of a legal person and legal arrangement in accordance with the procedures specified in the Notariate Law.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 14. Making of Copies of Personal Identification Documents

(1) When establishing a business relationship or executing the transactions referred to in Section 11 of this Law, the subject of the Law shall make copies of those documents on the basis of which the identification of a customer has been performed.

(2) If the information that identifies a customer - a legal person and a legal arrangement - is obtained in the way specified in Section 13, Paragraph two of this Law, the subject of the Law shall document the information specified in Section 13, Paragraphs one and 1.¹ of this Law and the information on the source thereof.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 15. Prohibition to Maintain Anonymous Accounts and Anonymous Individual Strong-boxes

The subject of the Law is prohibited from opening and maintaining anonymous accounts, accounts with fictitious names (non-conforming to personal identification documents), and anonymous individual strong-boxes.

[13 June 2019]

Section 16. Obligation to Conduct the Customer Due Diligence

[26 October 2017]

Section 17. Customer Due Diligence

[26 October 2017]

Section 17.¹ Closed Shared Know-Your-Customer Utility

(1) In order to make full-fledged customer due diligence and supervision of transactions and verify veracity of data provided by the customer by having regard to significant public interests in the effective prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and taking into account threats caused by these illicit activities to the democratic society and public security, the subjects of this Law and other subjects of the Law of the European Union Member States for the implementation of the objectives of this Law have the right to use the closed shared Know-Your-Customer utility which is ensured by a shared outsourced service provider.

(2) In order to provide closed shared Know-Your-Customer utility services to the subjects of the Law who are not part of one group, the relevant service provider must obtain a licence.

(3) A licensable provider of the closed shared Know-Your-Customer utility service shall insure civil liability of its economic activity.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 17.² Open Shared Know-Your-Customer Utility

(1) In order to make full-fledged customer due diligence and supervision of transactions and verify veracity of data provided by the customer by having regard to significant public interests in the effective prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and taking into account threats caused by these illicit activities to the democratic society and public security, the subjects of this Law and other subjects of the Law of the European Union Member States for the implementation of the objectives of this Law have the right to provide the information to open shared Know-Your-Customer utility and acquire information from it.

(2) In order to provide the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility services, a licence needs to be obtained.

(3) Only the following information shall be processed in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility:

1) generally accessible information;

2) information on customers who are legal persons or legal arrangements and on natural persons who hold a position in the executive body or supervisory body of the customer, are authorised to act on behalf of the customer who is a legal person or legal arrangement, owners of the customer and beneficial owners, persons through intermediation of whom the beneficial owners exercise control if such information is obtained:

a) from the State information systems which contain restricted access information which the subjects of the Law may use in conformity with this Law or other laws and regulations, except for the information on criminal records of committed criminal offences;

b) in conformity with the permit laid down in other laws and regulations for the subjects of the Law to obtain information through intermediation of the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility;

3) information which the subjects of the Law exchange within the framework of the information exchange referred to in Section 29 and Section 38, Paragraph four of this Law;

4) information on natural persons, legal persons, and legal arrangements which are identified as being subject to international sanctions, but are not directly referred to in the lists of international sanctions, and other natural persons, legal persons, and legal arrangements which are used in evading international sanctions;

5) acquired information on a customer who is a natural person that is necessary for customer due diligence and for the processing of which by using the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility the consent of the relevant person is received.

(4) The provider of the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility service:

1) shall not use the information referred to in Paragraph three of this Section for other purposes than transfer thereof to the subjects of the Law and other subjects of the Law of the European Union Member States for the achievement of the objectives laid down in Paragraph one of this Law;

2) shall ensure that the information referred to in Paragraph three of this Section is available separately, is comparable and it is possible to reflect therein the contradictions established;

3) shall ensure that the information referred to in Paragraph three, Clause 2, Sub-clause "a" of this Section is not stored in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility after transfer of the information;

4) shall insure the civil liability of its economic activity;

5) may not disclose the subject of the Law who has provided information thereto for entering in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility.

(5) Provision of information in good faith within the framework of this Section in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility shall not be regarded to be disclosure of restricted information and legal, including civil, liability shall not set in for the subjects of this Law in relation thereto.

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is entitled to access information in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility at any time and without prior notice. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may also use the acquired information in the cooperation coordination group referred to in Section 55, Paragraph two of this Law. Other State authorities shall acquire information from the subjects of the Law in accordance with the procedures laid down in laws and regulations and may not request the information directly in the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility, unless it is provided for in laws and regulations.

(7) The Cabinet shall determine:

1) the requirements for updating information, including personal data, by using the open share Know-Your-Customer utility;

2) the time periods for the storage of the information referred to in Paragraph three of this Section.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 17.³ Licence of the Open Shared Know-Your-Customer Utility Service Provider and Licence of the Closed Shared Know-Your-Customer Utility Service Provider and Supervision of the Activities

(1) A licence of the provider of the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility or closed shared Know-Your-Customer utility service (hereinafter also - the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider) shall be issued by the State Data Inspectorate for five years.

(2) Activities of the open shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider to be licensed in respect of the personal data processing of natural persons shall be supervised by the State Data Inspectorate.

(3) When supervising the activity of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider in respect of the personal data processing of natural persons, the State Data Inspectorate has the following rights:

1) to take the decision to re-register, suspend or cancel the operation of the licence of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider;

2) to carry out inspection in the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider in order to evaluate the conformity of its activities with the requirements of this Law and other laws and regulations;

3) to receive from the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider free of charge the information and documents which are necessary for the inspection of the activities of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider or examination of a received customer complaint regarding its activities;

4) to request that the data entered incorrectly or illegally in the shared Know-Your-Customer utility are corrected or deleted from it;

5) to request an inspection of the information systems, devices and procedures of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provided, and determine an independent expert-examination for the investigation of the issues to be examined.

(4) If the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider to be licensed terminates its activity or loses its licence, the accumulated information which has been processed in accordance with this Law shall be deleted, except when it is transferred to the State Archives in the amount laid down in the law or to another shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider to be licensed within the time period laid down by the State Data Inspectorate.

(5) The shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider to be licensed shall pay the following State fees:

1) for the issuing and re-registration of the licence;

2) once in a quarter - for the acquisition of restricted access information from the State Information Systems;

3) once a year - for the supervision of the activity implemented by the State Data Inspectorate.

(6) The Cabinet shall determine:

1) the requirements for obtaining the licence of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider, including the requirements in respect of the civil liability insurance of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider;

2) the procedures for the issuing of the licence of the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider, suspension of its operation, re-registration and cancellation of the licence and cases when such actions are taken;

3) the amounts of the State fees referred to in Paragraph five of this Section and procedures for their payment;

4) the information to be published on the website of the State Data Inspectorate on the shared Know-Your-Customer utility service provider to be licensed, and also the procedures and time periods for updating such information.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 18. Determination of the Beneficial Owner and Ascertaining the Conformity of the Determined Beneficial Owner

(1) The subject of the Law shall, in cases when, in accordance with the requirements of this Law, the customer due diligence is required, determine the beneficial owner of the customer in the ways indicated in Paragraph three of this Section and, on the basis of the risk assessment, shall implement the measures necessary to ascertain that the determined beneficial owner is the beneficial owner of the customer. The subject of the Law shall use a reliable and independent source of information for the verification of the beneficial owner.

(2) The subject of the Law shall determine the beneficial owner of the customer by obtaining at least the following information on them:

1) on a resident - the given name, surname, personal identity number, date, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence, as well as the specific share of the capital shares or stock belonging to the customer and also directly or indirectly controlled by such person, including the direct and indirect shareholding, in the total number, as well as the type of directly or indirectly exercise control over the customer;

2) on a non-resident - the given name, surname, date, month and year of birth, nationality, country of permanent place of residence, and also the specific share of the capital shares or stock of the customer belonging to the person and being directly or indirectly controlled, including the direct and indirect shareholding, in the total number thereof, and also the type of directly or indirectly exercised control over the customer. If there is a high risk of money laundering or terrorism or proliferation financing, the subject of the Law is entitled, in conformity with an approach based on the risk assessment, to request information on the number and date of issue of the personal identification document, the country and authority that has issued the document;

3) if the persons referred to in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Paragraph are exercising control indirectly, on the person with whose intermediation the control is being exercised - the given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person does not have a personal identity number - the date, month, and year of birth), and on a legal person or legal arrangement - the name, registration number, and registered address. If intermediation is implemented with the intermediation of a legal arrangement, the given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person does not have a personal identity number - the date, month, and year of birth) of the authorised person or person holding an equivalent position shall be determined.

(3) The subject of the Law shall, using information or documents from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, determine the beneficial owner of the customer. In addition, on the basis of risk assessment, the subject of the Law shall determine the beneficial owner of the customer in one or several of the following ways:

1) by receiving a statement on the beneficial owner approved by the customer;

2) by using information or documents from the information systems of the Republic of Latvia or foreign countries;

3) by determining the beneficial owner on its own if information on him or her cannot be obtained in any other way.

(3¹) The subjects of the Law, and also the control and supervisory authorities, upon establishing that the information on the beneficial owner obtained during the course of the customer due diligence does not conform to the information registered in the registers kept by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, shall, without delay but not later than within three working days, notify the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia thereof, explaining the nature of the non-conformity and also indicating that the information may be false as to the substance or that a typing error is established in the information. The supervisory and control authorities shall provide to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia the identifying data, contact information, and other information on the subjects of the Law registered by the supervisory and control authority and employees thereof who are delegated to notify of false information and to request and receive the information referred to in Section 5.¹, Paragraph two of this Law that is necessary for the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia to ensure the operation of the notification system and to transfer information to the Data Distribution and Management Platform.

(3²) Upon receiving a notification according to the procedures referred to in Paragraph 3.¹ of this Section that the registered information on the beneficial owner of the relevant legal person may be false as to the substance, the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall, without delay but not later than within one working day, without taking a separate decision, register the warning that the registered information on the beneficial owner may be false.

(3³) For the fulfilment of the requirements of this Law, the information on the warnings registered according to the procedures referred to in Paragraph 3.² of this Section is available to the subjects of the Law, and also to the law enforcement authorities, supervisory and control authorities until the moment when the person who has submitted the notification according to the procedures referred to in Paragraph 3.¹ of this Section revokes it, or the law enforcement authority informs the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia that there are no grounds to believe that the registered information on the beneficial owner is false.

(3⁴) If an application is submitted for the registration of changes to the information on the beneficial owner during the period when the warning has been registered that the registered information on the beneficial owner may be false, the historical information on the warning shall be retained.

(3⁵) If the notification submitted according to the procedures referred to in Paragraph 3.¹ of this Section is submitted in good faith, then irrespective of whether the fact that the information given on the beneficial owner is false is proved or not proved during the pre-trial criminal proceedings or on trial, as well as irrespective of the provisions of the contract between the customer and the subject of the Law, the submission of the notification to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall not be deemed to be the disclosure of confidential information and, therefore, the subjects of the Law and also supervisory and control authorities shall not be subject to legal (including civil) liability.

(4) [15 June 2021]

(5) [15 June 2021]

(6) An insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and an insurance intermediary, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, is entitled to ascertain that the beneficial owner indicated by the customer is the beneficial owner of the customer also after the establishment of a business relationship, but not later than at the time when the person gaining the benefit starts to use the rights specified for him or her in the insurance contract.

(7) The subject of the Law may, by duly justifying and documenting the activities performed to determine the beneficial owner, consider that the beneficial owner of a legal person or a legal arrangement is a person holding the position in the executive body of such legal person or legal arrangement, if all the means of determination have been exhausted and it is not possible to determine any natural person who is a beneficial owner within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 5 of this Law, as well as the doubts that the legal person or legal arrangement has another beneficial owner have been excluded.

(8) If, in accordance with the procedures laid down in Paragraph seven of this Section, an administrator of insolvency proceedings should be considered the beneficial owner insofar as he or she is acting within the scope of activity of his or her position, the status of the administrator of insolvency proceedings as the beneficial owner is not linked to his or her status of the beneficial owner as a private individual.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 13 October 2022; 19 September 2024 / Amendment to the Section regarding the supplementation of Paragraph seven with the words "of Paragraph one" after the number and word "Section 1" shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 18.¹ Reporting Obligation and Obligation to Determine the Beneficial Owner

(1) A natural person, if he or she has the grounds for believing that he or she has become the beneficial owner of a legal person, partnership or a foreign legal person or legal arrangement which registers a branch or representative office in the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter - the foreign subject), has an obligation to immediately report such fact to the legal person, partnership or the foreign subject by indicating the information referred to in Paragraph four of this Section.

(2) The natural person referred to in Section 1, Clause 5, Sub-Clause "a" of this Law shall immediately report to the legal person, partnership, or the foreign subject if he or she acts for the benefit of another person and shall identify such person by indicating the information referred to in Paragraph four of this Section.

(3) The legal person, partnership and the foreign subject shall, upon its own initiative, determine and identify its beneficial owners, if it has reasonable grounds to doubt the information submitted in accordance with the procedures specified in Paragraphs one and two of this Section, or if such information has not been submitted, but the legal person, partnership or the foreign subject has reasonable grounds to believe that it has a beneficial owner.

(4) The legal person and partnership, and also the foreign subject shall store and continuously update at least the following information on its beneficial owners: given name, surname, personal identity number (if any) and the date, month, and year of birth, the number of the personal identification document and the date of issue thereof, the country and body issuing the document, nationality, country of residence, and also the manner of exercising control over the legal person, partnership, or foreign subject, including by indicating the given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person has no personal identity number - the date, month, year of birth, the number of the personal identification document and the date of issue thereof, the country and body issuing the document) of a shareholder (stockholder), member, owner, or another person through which the control is exercised, but for legal persons, partnerships, and foreign subjects - the name, registration number, and registered address, and also the documentary justification of the control exercised, keeping all documentary justification of beneficial owners justifying the control of the specified beneficial owners in using natural persons, legal persons, partnerships, and foreign subjects.

(5) After exclusion of the legal person or partnership from the relevant register maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, storage of the information referred to in Paragraph four of this Section shall be ensured in accordance with the procedures laid down in the law or regulation governing the activity of the relevant legal person or partnership.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 18.² Obligation of a Legal Person to Disclose its Beneficial Owner

(1) A legal person or a partnership which is registered in the public registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, shall, without delay, but not later than within 14 days from getting to know the relevant information, submit to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia the application for the registration of information on the beneficial owners or for the registration of changes in such information by indicating the information laid down in Section 18.¹, Paragraph four of this Law. Documentary justification of the exercised control and also a document certifying the compliance of the information identifying the beneficial owner (a notarised copy of the personal identification document, a statement from a foreign population register, or other documents equivalent to the abovementioned documents) or documents justifying the certification that it is not possible to determine the beneficial owner shall be submitted upon request of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia so that it could ascertain the credibility of the information submitted. Information on the date, month, and year of birth, number of the personal identification document and the date of issue thereof, country and body issuing the document need not be indicated for the persons who have a personal identity number assigned in Latvia.

(2) When submitting an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia for the registration (incorporation) of a legal person or partnership or changes in shareholders (stockholders) or members of the executive board of a capital company or changes in the composition of the management bodies and persons with the representation right of other legal persons or partnerships, information on the beneficial owner of the legal person or partnership and foreign subject shall be indicated in the application in conformity with the requirements of this Section and Section 18.¹, Paragraph four. If the legal person or partnership has exhausted all the means of determination and has concluded that it is not possible to determine any natural person who is a beneficial owner within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 5 of this Law and also the doubts that the legal person or partnership has a beneficial owner have been excluded, the applicant shall certify it in the application, indicating the justification.

(3) If the shareholder (stockholder), member, owner, or another person through whom the beneficial owner exercises control over the legal person or legal arrangement loses its status in the relevant legal person or legal arrangement, the legal person or legal arrangement shall immediately, but not later than within 14 days from getting to know the relevant information, submit an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia for the change of the beneficial owner or an application confirming that the beneficial owner has not changed, and shall indicate the shareholder (stockholder), member, owner, or another person through whom the beneficial owner exercises control.

(4) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 43 of Transitional Provisions]

(5) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 43 of Transitional Provisions]

(6) The legal person may omit the submission of information to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia on the beneficial owner, if the beneficial owner is a stockholder in such joint stock company the stock whereof is listed on a regulated market, and the manner of exercising control over the legal person stems only from the status of the stockholder.

(7) The foreign subject shall comply with the requirements of this Section by submitting information to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia (if the branch or representative office of the foreign subject has been or is being registered in registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia) or to the State Revenue Service (if the representative office of the foreign subject has been or is being registered as the permanent representation of a non-resident (foreign merchant) in Latvia in the taxpayer register).

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 18.³ Availability of Information on Beneficial Owners

(1) In order to efficiently limit the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks, to promote the confidence in transactions executed by legal persons and foreign subjects and the financial system, and the business environment as a whole, to minimise the possibility to use legal persons and foreign subjects for unlawful activities (particularly, corrupt practices and tax evasion), to protect the rights of other persons, and to ensure the availability of the information on the beneficial owners of the counterparties of the transaction who are legal persons and foreign subjects, any person has the right to receive information on the beneficial owners from the State Revenue Service and online information - from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. The relevant information shall be provided in accordance with the procedures laid down in the laws and regulations governing the operation of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia and the State Revenue Service.

(1¹) Information on the beneficial owners of non-residents (foreign merchants) which have registered their permanent representative offices in the taxpayer register maintained by the State Revenue Service shall be provided by the State Revenue Service in accordance with the laws and regulations governing issuance of information from the taxpayer register.

(2) Information on a beneficial owner who has not attained 18 years of age or whose capacity to act is limited at the moment of issuing the information shall be restricted access information.

(3) An informative notice on the natural person as the beneficial owner of a legal person or foreign subject and on the changes in such status shall be sent to the official electronic address of the natural person who has been indicated as the beneficial owner of the legal person or the foreign subject and whose official electronic address is included in the official directory of electronic addresses.

(4) Information on the beneficial owners of legal persons and foreign subjects shall be available in the registers referred to in this Section for not more than 10 years after the legal person or the branch or representative office of the foreign subject has been excluded from the relevant register.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021 / Amendments to Section regarding availability of information from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall come into force concurrently with the amendments to the law On the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia in relation to the provision of free-of-charge issuance of information to any person from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. The new wording of Paragraph two shall come into force on 1 August 2021. See Paragraphs 44 and 57 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 18.⁴ Obligation to Determine the Beneficial Owner of a Legal Arrangement

(1) The trustee (manager) of a legal arrangement or a person who holds an equivalent position in the legal arrangement (hereinafter - the trustee (manager)) shall store and continuously update information on the beneficial owners of the legal arrangement, including the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiaries, or the categories of beneficiaries of such arrangement and other natural persons who exercise control over the legal arrangement.

(2) The information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section shall include the given name, surname, personal identity number (if any), date, month, year of birth of the beneficial owner, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document and the country and body issuing the document, the nationality, the address of the permanent place of residence, and also the manner of exercising control over the legal arrangement, including by indicating the given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person does not have a personal identity number, then the date, month, and year of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the country and body issuing the document) of the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiary, or another person through whom control is exercised, but for legal persons, partnerships, and foreign subjects - the name, registration number, and legal address.

(3) The trustee (manager) shall store and update the documentary justifications regarding the implemented control of the beneficial owners of a legal arrangement, i.e. store all documentary justifications with which control of the indicated beneficial owners has been justified, using natural persons, legal persons, partnerships, and foreign subjects.

(4) If beneficiaries who are natural persons have not been determined for a legal arrangement, the trustee (manager) shall store and update information on the group of persons in the interests of which the legal arrangement has been established or is operating.

[23 November 2023 / See Paragraph 66 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 18.⁵ Obligation to Disclose the Beneficial Owner of a Legal Arrangement

(1) If the trustee (manager) who is a natural person is a resident or the trustee (manager) who is a legal person is registered in Latvia, it shall, without delay but not later than within 14 days from becoming aware of the relevant information, submit an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia for the registration of information on the beneficial owners of a legal arrangement. The given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person does not have a personal identity number, then the date, month, and year of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the country and body issuing the document) of the beneficial owner, including the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiary, or another person through whom control is exercised over the legal arrangement and also the manner of exercising control over the legal arrangement, including by indicating the given name, surname, personal identity number (if the person does not have a personal identity number, then the date, month, and year of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the country and body issuing the document) the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiary, or another person through whom control is exercised, but for legal persons, partnerships, and foreign subjects the name, registration number, and legal address shall be indicated in the application. Documentary justification of the exercised control and also a document certifying the conformity of the information identifying the beneficial owner (a notarised copy of the personal identification document, a statement from a foreign population register, or other documents equivalent to the abovementioned documents) or documents justifying that it is not possible to determine the beneficial owner shall be submitted upon request of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia so that it could ascertain the credibility of the information submitted.

(2) If the country of residence of the trustee (manager) who is a natural person is outside the European Union or the trustee (manager) who is a legal person of a legal arrangement is registered outside the European Union, the trustee (manager) shall, prior to commencement of a business relationship or acquiring of immovable property on behalf of the legal arrangement, submit an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia on the beneficial owners of the legal arrangement. The information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section shall be indicated in the application.

(3) The trustee (manager) shall, without delay but not later than within 14 days from becoming aware of the relevant information, submit an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia for the registration of amendments made to the information referred to in Paragraph one or two of this Section, including on the expiry of the status of the beneficial owner due to the termination of the operation of a legal arrangement.

(4) If the beneficial owners of a legal arrangement are registered in a register kept by another Member State, the application referred to in Paragraph one or two of this Section need not be submitted to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia.

(5) If the trustee (manager) has exhausted all possible means of determination and has concluded that it is not possible to determine any beneficial owner who is a natural person within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 5, Sub-clause "b" of this Law, and also the doubts that the legal arrangement has a beneficial owner have been excluded, the applicant shall certify it in the application, indicating the justification.

[23 November 2023]

Section 18.⁶ Register of the Beneficial Owners of Legal Arrangements

(1) The register of the beneficial owners of legal arrangements (hereinafter in this Section - the register) shall be kept by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia.

(2) The information shall be registered on the basis of an application of the trustee (manager).

(3) The following information on a legal arrangement shall be registered in the register:

1) the name;

2) the identification number assigned by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia;

3) the address of communication;

4) the country according to the legal acts of which the legal arrangement has been established;

5) the given name, surname, personal identity number (if any), the date, month, year of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the country and body issuing the document, and the address of communication of the trustee (manager) who is a natural person, but the name, registration number, and legal address - for legal persons;

6) the following in relation to the beneficial owner of the legal arrangement (including the settlor, the trustee (manager), the protector (if any), the beneficiary, and another natural person who exercises control over the legal arrangement):

a) the given name, surname, personal identity number (if any), the date, month, year of birth, the number and date of issue of a personal identification document, the country and body issuing the document;

b) the nationality;

c) the address of the permanent place of residence;

d) the manner of exercising control over the legal arrangement;

7) the date when information was registered.

(4) If it is indicated in the application that it is not possible to determine natural persons who are beneficial owners, information on the group of persons which is indicated in the application and in the interests of which the legal arrangement has been established or is operating shall be registered in the register.

(5) Information on the beneficial owners of legal arrangements shall be available in the register for five years from the moment when the information on expiry of the status of the beneficial owner of a legal arrangement is registered.

[23 November 2023]

Section 19. Obtaining of Information on the Purpose and Intended Nature of a Business Relationship

[26 October 2017]

Section 20. Supervision of Business Relationships and Occasional Transactions and Liability of the Subject of the Law

(1) After establishment of a business relationship or when executing occasional transactions, the subject of the Law shall, on the basis of a money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment, continuously:

1) update information on the economic or personal activity of the customer;

2) conduct monitoring of the activities and transactions of the customer in order to ascertain that the transactions are not considered suspicious.

(2) Upon supervising the business relationship or occasional transactions, the subject of the Law shall, in compliance with the risk-assessment based approach, examine the nature and aim of a transaction in order to ascertain whether the transaction qualifies as suspicious, ensuring enhanced supervision of the following transactions:

1) untypically large transaction, complex transactions, seemingly mutually linked transactions of the customer which does not seem to have an apparent economic or clearly lawful purpose;

2) transaction involving a person from high-risk third countries.

(3) The subject of the Law shall not be subject to legal liability (including the civil liability) for the termination of the business relationship with a customer or for requesting the early fulfilment of the customer's obligations in the cases provided for and in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 21. Prohibition of Cooperation with Shell Banks

(1) The subject of the Law is prohibited from executing transactions of any kind with shell banks.

(2) Creation and operation of shell banks in the Republic of Latvia is prohibited.

Section 21.¹ Prohibition on the Cooperation with Shell Arrangements

(1) Credit institutions, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, investment firms, and - in relation to the management of individual portfolios of customers and the distribution of certificates of open investment funds - also investment management companies are prohibited from establishing and maintaining business relationship or executing an occasional transaction with a shell arrangement, if it concurrently conforms to the indications specified in Section 1, Clause 15.¹, Sub-clauses "a" and "b" of this Law.

(2) Latvijas Banka shall issue regulations in which the minimum measures are determined which must be performed by the subjects of the Law referred to in Paragraph one of this Section in order to ascertain the conformity of the shell arrangement with the indication specified in Section 1, Clause 15.¹, Sub-clause "a" of this Law.

[26 April 2018; 23 September 2021 / Amendment regarding the deletion of the word "normative" and the replacement of the words "the Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" shall come into force on 1 January 2023. See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 22. Enhanced Customer Due Diligence

(1) The enhanced customer due diligence is risk assessment-based activities which are performed in addition to the customer due diligence and, on the basis of the risk assessment-based approach, shall include one or several of the following measures:

1) to obtain and assess additional information on the customer and its beneficial owner, as well as to ascertain the veracity of the additional information obtained;

2) to obtain and assess additional information on the intended nature of a business relationship;

3) to obtain and assess additional information on the compliance of the transactions executed by the customer with the economic activity indicated;

4) to obtain and assess information on the origin of the funds and welfare of the customer and its beneficial owner;

5) to obtain and assess information on the justification of the intended or executed transactions;

6) to receive a consent from the senior management for the commencement or continuation of a business relationship;

7) to perform in-depth supervision of a business relationship by increasing the number and frequency of controls applied and specifying the types of a transaction for which reverification is necessary;

8) to apply other measures which are necessary to ascertain the legal and economic nature of a business relationship or an occasional transaction.

(2) The subject of the Law shall apply enhanced customer due diligence in the following cases:

1) upon establishing and maintaining a business relationship or executing an occasional transaction with a customer who has not participated in the onsite identification procedure in person, except in the case when the following conditions are fulfilled:

a) the subject of the Law ensures adequate measures for mitigating the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks, including drafting of policies and procedures and carrying out of staff training on the performance of remote identification;

b) the customer identification, by means of technological solutions including video identification or secure electronic signature, or other technological solutions, is being performed to the extent and in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Cabinet;

2) on the basis of the risk assessment when establishing and maintaining a business relationship or executing an occasional transaction with a customer who is a politically exposed person, a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely related to a politically exposed person;

3) [19 September 2024];

4) when establishing and maintaining the correspondent banking relationship of credit institutions with the credit institution or financial institution (respondent);

4¹) [Clause shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. / See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions];

5) in other cases when establishing and maintaining a business relationship or executing an occasional transaction with the customer, if an increased money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing risk exists.

(2¹) On the basis of the risk assessment, the subject of the Law shall apply one or several enhanced customer due diligence measures referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, when establishing and maintaining a business relationship or executing an occasional transaction with a customer whose beneficial owner is a politically exposed person, a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person.

(3) In accordance with Paragraph two, Clause 1, Sub-clause "b" of this Section the Cabinet shall determine the extent of and procedures for the customer identification by means of technological solutions including video identification or secure electronic signature, or other technological solutions.

(3¹) The supervisory and control authority of the subjects of the Law shall prepare recommendations on the possible types of additional information which must be obtained and shall publish them on its website.

(4) In relation to the subjects of the Law to be supervised and controlled by the supervisory and control authority, taking into account the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks inherent to the activity of the relevant subject of the Law, in addition to that referred to in Paragraph one of this Section and in Section 25.¹ of this Law it may determine such categories of customers in relation to which the enhanced due diligence should be performed, the minimum amount of the enhanced due diligence for different categories of customers, and the requirements for the enhanced due diligence of such customers and for the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk management, as well as may determine the factors increasing the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk. The additional requirements referred to in the first sentence of this Paragraph in relation to the subjects of the Law to be supervised and controlled by the Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors, the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, the State Revenue Service, the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings, and the National Heritage Board may be determined by the Cabinet.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 23. Non-participation of the Customer in the Onsite Identification Procedure in Person

(1) If the customer identification is performed without the participation of the customer in the onsite identification procedure in person, the subject of the Law shall apply one or several of the following measures, using the risk-assessment based approach:

1) obtain additional documents or information attesting to the customer's identity;

2) carry out verification of the additionally submitted documents or obtain confirmation of another credit institution or financial institution registered in the Member State attesting that the customer has a business relationship with this credit institution or financial institution, and the credit institution or financial institution has carried out the onsite customer identification;

3) ensure that the first payment within the scope of the business relationship is carried out through the account which has been opened in the customer's name at the credit institution to which the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing requirements arising from this Law and the legal acts of the European Union apply;

4) request personal presence of the customer in the execution of the first transaction;

5) if the customer is a natural person who is a resident, obtain information attesting to the customer's identity from the document which the customer has signed with a secure electronic signature.

(1¹) If the subject of the Law has performed the customer identification without the customer's physical presence in the onsite identification procedure in accordance with the requirements of laws and regulations, the subject of the Law is not required to apply the requirements of Section 14 of this Law.

(2) [15 June 2021]

(3) When authorising a person who is not an employee of the subject of the Law to identify a customer, the subject of the Law shall be responsible for the identification of the customer in accordance with the requirements of this Law.

(4) The subject of the Law, on the basis of the risk assessment, may carry out the customer identification without the participation of the customer in the onsite identification procedure in person when the customer has not been identified by the subject of the Law, its employee or authorised person, if the subject of the Law has performed the risk assessment, and the customer identification measures implemented without the participation of the customer in the onsite identification procedure in person correspond to the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 24. Correspondent Relationship of Credit Institutions and Financial Institutions

(1) A credit institution and a financial institution shall, when entering into correspondent relationship with a credit institution or financial institution (respondent), including when entering into correspondent relationship which includes execution of transactions with a high-risk third country respondent, take the following measures in addition to the customer due diligence measures:

1) acquire information on the respondent in order to fully understand the nature of the transaction of the respondent, including acquire information on whether the respondent holds a valid authorisation (licence) for the provision of financial services and whether its activity is supervised, and also ascertain whether the requirements of the legal acts adopted in the Member State or third country where the supervision of the respondent takes place for fields of the risk management of the prevention of and sanctions for money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing are equivalent to the requirements of the laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia;

2) obtain information from the publicly available sources on the respondent in violation of the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing or international or national sanctions, and on the sanctions imposed on the respondent with respect to the abovementioned violations;

3) assess the measures for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing taken by the respondent;

4) obtain approval from the executive board or a specially authorised member of the executive board;

5) document its own liability and the liability of the respondent in the fields of risks of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and international and national sanctions;

6) ascertain whether the respondent which uses services related to direct access to the accounts of the correspondents has verified the identity of the customers to whom permission to access the accounts of the correspondent institution has been given and has conducted enhanced customer due diligence regarding such customers, and is able to provide relevant customer due diligence data upon request.

(2) A credit institution and financial institution shall not enter into or shall terminate the correspondent banking relationship with the credit institution or financial institution which is known to be engaged in a business relationship with a shell bank or allows it to use the account of the credit institution or financial institution.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 25. Business Relationship with a Politically Exposed Person, a Family Member of a Politically Exposed Person and a Person Closely Associated to a Politically Exposed Person

(1) When establishing a business relationship with a customer, the subject of the Law shall determine, by carrying out risk-assessment based measures, whether the customer or the beneficial owner is a politically exposed person or a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person.

(2) The internal control system of the subject of the Law shall ensure, on the risk assessment basis, a possibility to determine that a customer, who at the time of establishing a business relationship is not a politically exposed person or a family member of a politically exposed person or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person, or has become such after the establishment of the business relationship.

(2¹) An insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and an insurance intermediary, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, shall ascertain that the beneficiary of the indemnity or other funds under the life insurance contract with accumulation of funds or - in the respective case - the beneficial owner of the beneficiary of the indemnity is a politically exposed person or a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely related to a politically exposed person. The abovementioned activities shall be carried out prior to the disbursement of the insurance indemnity or other payment or before assigning the insurance contract to another insurance merchant. If an increased risk is identified, the insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and the insurance intermediary, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, in addition to the customer due diligence measures specified in Section 11.¹ of this Law shall apply the measures specified in Paragraph three of this Section, as well as enhanced customer due diligence, and shall assess the necessity to report to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(3) If, prior to establishment of a business relationship or during the business relationship, it is detected that the customer or its beneficial owner is a politically exposed person or a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely related to a politically exposed person, the subject of the Law shall take the following measures:

1) receive a consent from the senior management prior to entry into a business relationship. The condition referred to in this Clause shall apply to the subject of the Law - a legal person and a legal arrangement;

2) implement and document the risk-assessment based measures for determining the origin of funds and the origin of wealth characterising the material status of the customer and its beneficial owner.

(4) When maintaining business relationship with a politically exposed person or a family member of a politically exposed person, or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person, the subject of the Law shall carry out ongoing monitoring of the transactions executed by the customer.

(5) The subject of the Law shall, on the basis of the risk assessment, terminate the application of enhanced customer due diligence laid down in Section 22 of this Law in relation to his or her conformity with the status of a politically exposed person, a family member of a politically exposed person or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person if:

1) the politically exposed person has died;

2) the politically exposed person does not hold a prominent public office anymore in conformity with Section 1, Clause 18 of this Law for at least 12 months and business relationship of whom does not cause increased money laundering risk anymore.

(6) The State Revenue Service shall provide information on a politically exposed person of the Republic of Latvia (except for the head (director, deputy director) and a member of the executive board of an international organisation or a person who holds an equivalent position in such organisation), his or her spouse, parents, children, brothers, sisters, or a partner with whom partnership has been registered. The Cabinet shall determine the amount of such information which may be received by the subject of the Law from the database of politically exposed persons of the State Revenue Service on the persons referred to in the first sentence of this Paragraph, as well as the procedures for requesting, issuing, and storing such information.

[13 August 2014; 4 February 2016; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 25.¹ Business Relationship with a Customer from a High-risk Third Country

(1) If prior to the commencement of a business relationship or also during a business relationship or occasional transaction it is established that the customer is from a high-risk third country, the subject of the Law shall take the following enhanced customer due diligence measures:

1) obtain and assess additional information on the customer and its beneficial owner, as well as ascertain the veracity of the additional information obtained;

2) obtain and assess additional information on the intended nature of the business relationship;

3) obtain and assess information on the origin of the funds and welfare of the customer and its beneficial owner;

4) obtain and assess information on the justification of the intended or executed transactions;

5) receive a consent from the senior management for the commencement or continuation of the business relationship;

6) perform in-depth supervision of the business relationship by increasing the number and frequency of controls applied and specifying the types of a transaction for which reverification is necessary.

(2) The subject of the Law may request a customer from a high-risk third country to ensure that the first payment made within the scope of the business relationship is made with the intermediation of such account which has been opened in the name of the customer with a credit institution to which the requirements of this Law or legal acts of the European Union regarding the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing apply.

(3) In addition to the measures referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, the subject of the Law may, by taking into account the international liabilities of the European Union, as well as the evaluations, assessments, or reports which have been prepared by international organisations and institutions prescribing standards in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing in relation to the risks caused by high-risk third countries, apply one or several additional risk-mitigating measures to customers executing transactions in which high-risk third countries are involved, and shall notify the supervisory and control authority thereof. The abovementioned measures shall include one or several of the following elements:

1) to apply the additional requirements for enhanced customer due diligence;

2) to introduce a heightened supervision mechanism in relation to the business relationship or occasional transaction with a customer from a high-risk third country, including an obligation to systematically report on financial transactions of such customer within the scope of the subject of the Law;

3) to restrict the business relationship or occasional transactions with natural or legal persons or legal arrangements from high-risk third countries.

(4) In addition to the measures referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, the supervisory and control authorities may, by taking into account the international liabilities of the European Union, as well as the evaluations, assessments, or reports which have been prepared by international organisations and institutions prescribing standards in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing in relation to the risks caused by high-risk third countries, apply one or several of the following measures:

1) to refuse the establishment of a subsidiary, branch, or representative office to a customer from a high-risk third country;

2) to prohibit the establishment of a subsidiary, branch, or representative office to the subjects of the Law in a high-risk third country;

3) to assign the performance of an enhanced due diligence or heightened supervision to transactions or to apply increased external audit requirements to the branches, representative offices, or subsidiaries of the subjects of the Law which are located in a high-risk third country;

4) to apply stricter external audit requirements to financial groups in relation to any branches, representative offices, or subsidiaries which are located in a high-risk third country;

5) to request credit institutions and financial institutions to review, amend, and, if necessary, terminate correspondent banking relationship with respondent institutions from a high-risk third country.

(5) The supervisory and control authority has an obligation to notify the European Commission of the intended measures prior to the application of Paragraphs three and four of this Section.

[13 June 2019]

Section 25.² Transfers of Crypto-assets to or from a Self-hosted Address

[30 December 2024 / See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 26. Simplified Customer Due Diligence

(1) If there is a low risk of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing which is not in contradiction with a risk assessment, including the national risk assessment report on money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk is present, and if measures have been taken to determine, assess and understand the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks inherent to own activities and the customer, the subject of the Law is entitled to conduct the customer due diligence by performing the customer identification activities referred to in Sections 12, 13, and 14 of this Law and implementing the customer due diligence measures referred to in Section 11.¹ of this Law, within the scope corresponding to the nature of the business relationship or occasional transaction and the level of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks.

(2) When assessing the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk of the customer in accordance with Paragraph one of this Section, the subject of the Law is entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence in cases when the customer is:

1) the Republic of Latvia, a derived public entity, institution of direct or indirect administration, or a capital company controlled by the State or a local government characterised by a low risk of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

2) a merchant whose stocks are admitted to trading on a regulated market in one or several Member States.

(3) In addition to that specified in Paragraph two of this Section, the subject of the Law is entitled to conduct a simplified customer due diligence in cases when the services provided conform to all of the following indications:

1) the transaction has a written contractual base;

2) the transaction is executed, using a bank account which is opened by a credit institution registered in a Member State;

3) [13 June 2019 / See Paragraph 38 of Transitional Provisions];

4) the transaction does not arouse suspicions or no information is available that attests to money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions;

5) the total amount of the transaction is not more than EUR 15 000 or is in a foreign currency which in accordance with the exchange rate to be used in accounting in the beginning of the day of the transaction is not more than EUR 15 000;

6) the income from the transaction cannot be used for the benefit of third parties, except in case of death, disability, obligation to provide subsistence or in similar events;

7) if at the time of the transaction the conversion of funds into financial instruments or insurance or any other claims is impossible, or if such conversion of funds is possible and the following conditions are conformed to:

a) the income from the transaction are only realisable in the long term - not earlier that after five years from the day of entering into the transaction;

b) the subject-matter of the transaction cannot be used as collateral;

c) during the term of validity of the transaction no early payments are made, the assignment of the claim rights and early termination of the transaction are not used.

(3¹) In providing the account information or payment initiation service, payment service providers are entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence by obtaining and using for the customer due diligence only such information that is available to them when providing the specific service.

(4) An insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, and an insurance intermediary, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, is entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence with respect to:

1) persons whose life insurance contracts provide for the annual insurance premium of not more than EUR 1000 or is in a foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is not more than EUR 1000, or if the single premium does not exceed EUR 2500 or is in a foreign currency which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting at the beginning of the day of executing the transaction is not more than EUR 2500;

2) persons concluding lifelong pension insurance contracts and such contracts do not provide for the possibility of early disbursement, and it cannot be used as a collateral.

(4¹) Insurance intermediaries and investment brokerage companies are entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence in respect of the financial transactions which do not provide for transactions with financial funds.

(5) A private pension fund is entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence in relation to contributions to pension plans if the customer cannot use the abovementioned contributions as a collateral and cannot assign them, and in relation to such contributions to pension plans which are made by way of deduction from wages.

(6) When making the transaction provided for in Section 11, Paragraph one, Clause 2, Sub-clause "c" of this Law, the subject of the Law is entitled to conduct the simplified customer due diligence, if the transaction does not raise suspicions of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions.

(7) The supervisory and control authorities may, in addition to that provided for in this Section, determine requirements for simplified customer due diligence to the subjects of the Law the operation of which is under their supervision in accordance with this Law and also may determine additional risk reducing factors other than laid down in Section 11.¹, Paragraph four of this Law. The additional requirements and also additional risk reducing factors referred to in the first sentence of this Paragraph in relation to the subjects of the Law to be supervised and controlled by the Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors, the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, the State Revenue Service, the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings, and the National Heritage Board may be determined by the Cabinet.

(8) Simplified customer due diligence shall not be applied in the cases referred to in this Section, if, on the basis of the risk assessment, the subject of the Law detects, or there is information at its disposal regarding money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions, or an increased risk of such actions, including if the risk increasing factors referred to in Section 11.¹, Paragraph three of this Law are present.

(9) Simplified customer due diligence shall not be applied with respect to a customer who performs economic activity in high-risk third countries.

(10) When applying simplified customer due diligence, the subject of the Law shall obtain and document information attesting to the conformity of the customer with the exemptions referred to in Paragraph one, two or three of this Section, and after establishment of a business relationship shall supervise them.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 27. Exemptions from Customer Due Diligence

[12 September 2013]

Section 27.¹ Exemptions from Customer Due Diligence

(1) The subject of the Law is entitled not to apply the customer due diligence measures referred to in Section 11.¹, Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Law in relation to transactions with electronic money if a low risk of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing is present, the subject of the Law has carried out risk assessment and adequate risk mitigating measures, including by fulfilling all of the following conditions:

1) the amount of money stored electronically in the payment instrument cannot be supplemented and the amount of money stored electronically by the electronic money holder does not exceed EUR 150;

2) the payment instrument may be used only for the acquisition of goods and services which are ensured by the issuer of electronic money or which are ensured in the network of service providers;

3) the payment instrument is not linked to a payment account and it does not permit the amount stored to be exchanged for cash or crypto-assets;

4) the issuer of electronic money carries out sufficient supervision of the transaction or business relationship in order to be able to discover suspicious transactions.

(2) Credit institutions and financial institutions which accept payment cards shall not accept payments made by anonymous pre-payment cards issued in the third countries, except for cases which are specified in the directly applicable legal acts of the European Union and when, on the basis of the risk assessment, low risk of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing has been established for the anonymous pre-payment cards issued in the third countries.

[19 September 2024]

Section 28. Obtaining Information Necessary for Customer Due Diligence, and Responsibility of a Customer

(1) In order to comply with the requirements of this Law, the subject of the Law is entitled to request its customers and the customers have an obligation to provide true information and documents necessary for the customer due diligence, including information on the beneficial owners, transactions executed by the customers, economic and personal activity, financial position, sources of money or other funds of the customers and beneficial owners.

(2) If the subject of the Law does not obtain the true information and documents necessary for the compliance with the requirements of customer due diligence in the amount enabling it to perform an examination on the merits, the subject of the Law shall terminate the business relationship with the customer and decide on early fulfilment of obligations from the customer. In such cases the subject of the Law shall decide on the termination of business relationships also with other customers having the same beneficial owners, or requesting early fulfilment of obligations from such customers.

(3) [26 October 2017]

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 29. Recognition and Acceptance of the Results of Customer Due Diligence

(1) A credit institution and a financial institution have the right to recognise and accept the outcomes of such customer due diligence with respect to the fulfilment of the measures specified in Section 11.¹, Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Law which have been carried out by the credit institutions and financial institutions in the Member States or the third countries, if all of the following conditions have been met:

1) the credit institution and the financial institution which use the recognition and acceptance of the customer due diligence results shall immediately obtain the information from the credit institution and the financial institution to which it has applied on the customer due diligence results referred to in Section 11.¹, Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Law and, if necessary, all results of the customer due diligence and the customer due diligence data examination, including the available information which has been obtained by using means of electronic identification, certification services within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 10 of the Electronic Documents Law in conformity with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC, or other technological solutions in the amount and in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Cabinet.

2) the credit institution and financial institution which uses the recognition and acceptance of the outcomes of the customer due diligence ascertains that the credit institution and financial institution it has addressed applies the customer due diligence and information retention requirements similar to the requirements of this Law, as well as that they are supervised and controlled at least to the same extent as laid down in this Law;

3) the subject of the Law has assessed the risk related to the credit institution or financial institution, or the country of their operation, and has taken the respective risk mitigating measures;

4) the credit institution and financial institution does not accept the outcomes of such customer identification and customer due diligence which have been conducted by credit institutions and financial institutions whose operation or country of operation is characterised by a high risk of money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing.

(2) If in accordance with Paragraph one of this Section the subject of the Law recognizes the customer due diligence conducted by another credit institution or financial institution, it does not give the right for the credit institution or financial institution to rely upon supervision carried out by such credit institution and financial institution. The subject of the Law has an obligation to perform ongoing supervision of the business relationship of the customer.

(3) The subject of the Law shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the requirements of this Law also in the case if the customer due diligence has been conducted by using the results of the customer due diligence conducted by the credit institution and financial institution referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.

(4) The supervisory and control authorities may assume that the credit institution and financial institution complies with the provisions of this Section by its group policies and procedures in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, if all of the following conditions are met:

1) the credit institution and financial institution relies upon the information provided by a credit institution and financial institution belonging to the same group;

2) the customer due diligence measures, information storage requirements, and requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing applied within the scope of the group are equivalent to the requirements of this Law;

3) the efficient implementation of the requirements referred to in Clause 2 of this Paragraph at a group level is supervised by the supervisory and control authority of the home Member State or a third country.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Chapter IV
Reporting on Suspicious Transactions

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 30. Reporting Obligations

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31. Content of the Report on a Suspicious Transaction

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.¹ Receipt and Processing of Information

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter IV.¹
Threshold Declaration

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.² Submission of the Threshold Declaration

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.³ Cases, Content and Procedures for Submitting the Threshold Declaration

[15 June 2021 / See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter IV.²
Reporting on Suspicious Transactions and Submission of the Threshold Declaration

[16 June 2021 / Chapter shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.⁴ Reporting Obligation and Obligation to Submit the Threshold Declaration

(1) The subject of the Law has an obligation to:

1) register in the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (hereinafter - the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System) in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Cabinet;

2) immediately report to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System on every suspicious transaction. The reporting obligation shall also apply to the funds causing suspicions that they have been directly or indirectly obtained as a result of a criminal offence or are related to terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt of such criminal offence, but are not yet involved in a transaction or its attempt, and also to the cases when there were sufficient grounds for establishing a suspicious transaction, however, the reporting obligation has not been carried out due to insufficient attention or negligence;

3) submit to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia the threshold declaration in the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System in the cases and in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Cabinet.

(2) In order for the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia to be able to fulfil its obligations in accordance with the requirements of this Law, the subject of the Law shall, upon request of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, submit the information and documents at the disposal of the subject of the Law in the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System within the following time periods:

1) immediately, but not later than within three working days after receipt of the relevant request, if it is related to the order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on temporary freezing of the funds for five working days or according to the urgency indicated therein;

2) within seven working days - in other cases.

(3) If the subject of the Law is not able to submit the requested information and documents within the time period specified in Paragraph two of this Section due to objective reasons, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may extend this period of time.

(4) The subject of the Law shall ensure to supervisory and control authorities availability of the reports and threshold declarations submitted to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (including their registration data).

(5) The requirements of this Section shall not be applied to tax advisors, outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, sworn notaries, sworn advocates, and other independent providers of legal services in respect of the information obtained when they defend or represent their customers in pre-trial criminal proceedings or court proceedings, or provide an advice on the initiation of court proceedings or avoiding that (except for the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing).

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia does not have the right to disclose the data of such persons who have provided information on suspicious transactions and threshold declarations, except for the cases provided for in Section 55 and 56, Paragraph one of this Law.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.⁵ Content of the Report on a Suspicious Transaction

The information received by the subject of the Law shall be considered a report on a suspicious transaction, if the information submitted contains at least:

1) the customer identification data and copies of the due diligence documents referred to in Section 37.² of this Law, insofar as it applies to the report of the subject of the Law on a suspicious transaction;

2) the description of the planned, reported, advised, commenced, deferred, executed, or approved transaction, method of action, as well as the identification data of the person involved in the transaction and the amount of the transaction, the time and place for the execution or reporting of the transaction and, if there are documents attesting to the transaction at the disposal of the subject of the Law, the copies of such documents;

3) justification why the subject of the Law is of the opinion that the transaction is suspicious;

4) other information specified in laws and regulations.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 31.⁶ Receipt and Processing of Information

(1) The information referred to in Section 31.⁴, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law shall be submitted electronically to the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System and shall be regarded to be received at the time of its registration. The Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System is a State information system the manager and holder of which is the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(2) The report referred to in Section 31.⁴, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law is registered if the content of the information submitted complies with the requirements of Section 31.⁵ of this Law. If deficiencies are found in the content of the information submitted, the report is not accepted and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall inform the subject of the Law thereof.

(3) The Cabinet shall determine:

1) the functions and tasks of the manager of the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System, the scope of information and procedures for its inclusion therein, and also the conditions and procedures for ensuring access to the Financial Intelligence Data Receipt and Analysis System;

2) the procedures for the provision of reports on suspicious transactions and the content thereof;

3) cases when a threshold declaration must be submitted and also the procedures for the submission and the content of the threshold declaration;

4) the procedures by which the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia sends the reports on suspicious transaction and threshold declaration in the field of taxation of the subject of the Law to the State Revenue Service.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter V
Refraining from Executing a Transaction and Freezing of Funds

[13 August 2014]

Section 32. Refraining from Executing a Transaction

(1) The subject of the Law shall take the decision to refrain from executing a transaction if the transaction is related with or there are reasonable suspicions that it is related with money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, or there are reasonable suspicions that the funds are directly or indirectly obtained as a result of a criminal offence or are related with terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt of such criminal offence.

(2) In compliance with the requirements of this Law the subject of the Law shall, without delay, but not later than on the following working day, notify the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia of refraining from executing a transaction.

(3) When refraining from executing a transaction, the subject of the Law shall not carry out any actions with the funds involved in the transaction until receipt of an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia to terminate the refraining from executing a transaction. If the subject of the Law receives an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia regarding freezing of funds, it shall act in accordance with Section 32.¹, Paragraph three of this Law.

[13 August 2014; 13 June 2019]

Section 32.¹ Order on Freezing of Funds

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to issue an order binding on the subject of the Law or the State information system manager to freeze the funds if there are reasonable suspicions that a criminal offence is being committed or has been committed, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt of such criminal offences. The order on freezing of funds of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall include information which serves as basis for the order issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia to the extent that it does not jeopardise the achievement of the objectives of criminal proceedings or the rights of other persons or public interest.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall issue an order on freezing of funds:

1) after receipt of the report of the subject of the Law on refraining from executing a transaction;

2) upon its own initiative;

3) upon a request of foreign authorised institutions referred to in Section 62, Paragraph one of this Law to freeze the funds.

(3) After receipt of the order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia to freeze funds, the subject of the Law or the State information system manager has an obligation to ensure immediate freezing of funds until the date indicated in the order of such Unit or until receipt of the order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia to terminate the freezing of funds.

(4) The subject of the Law or the State information system manager shall inform the customer in writing of the order on freezing of assets of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and send to the customer a copy of such order of the Unit, specifying the grounds for the freezing of assets and the right to submit an explanation of the lawfulness of the origin of the frozen funds within 20 days after the day of notification of the order and explaining the procedures for contesting thereof.

[13 August 2014; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 32.² Procedures by which the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall Issue an Order on Freezing of Funds

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, not later than within five working days, but, if additional information needs to be requested, within eight working days, after receipt of the report of the subject of the Law on the refraining from executing a transaction, assess whether the subject of the Law has taken the decision provided for in Section 32 of this Law in accordance with the provisions of this Law and whether the restriction of the rights determined for the particular person is commensurate, and shall issue an order to terminate the refraining from executing a transaction or to carry out temporary freezing of funds. An order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia according to which the subject of the Law terminates the refraining from executing a transaction shall be substantiated.

(2) If the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has issued an order on temporary freezing of funds on the basis of the report of the subject of the Law on the refraining from executing a transaction, then such Unit shall compile and analyse the obtained information and not later than within 40 days after receipt of the report of the subject of the Law on the refraining from executing a transaction, but - in exceptional case - within an additional time period determined by the Prosecutor General or his or her specially authorised prosecutor (not longer than 40 days) that is necessary for the receipt of significant requested information, including from abroad, shall carry out one of the following actions:

1) issue an order on freezing of funds for a certain period of time if:

a) money or other funds are to be considered proceeds of crime pursuant to Section 4, Paragraph three of this Law. In such case, funds shall be frozen for a period of time determined in the order, however, no longer than for six months;

b) on the basis of the information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, there are suspicions that a criminal offence is being committed or has been committed, including money laundering or an attempt of such criminal offence. In such case, funds shall be frozen for a period of time determined in the order, however, no longer than for 45 days;

2) provide a written notification to the subject of the Law or the State information system manager that further temporary freezing of funds shall be terminated because there are no grounds for the issue of the order referred to in Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Section;

3) not later than on the fortieth day from the time when the report of the subject of the Law on the refraining from executing the transaction has been received, notify the subject of the Law or the State information system manager with a written order on the extension of the time period for freezing of funds of an additional time period determined by the Prosecutor General or his or her specially authorised prosecutor provided for in Paragraph two of this Section.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to, upon its own initiative or upon a request of the foreign authorised institutions or authorities referred to in Section 62, Paragraph one of this Law to freeze the funds, issue an order on temporary freezing of funds for a time period of up to five working days on the basis of the information at its disposal.

(4) If the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has, upon its own initiative or upon a request of the foreign authorised institutions or authorities referred to in Section 62, Paragraph one of this Law to freeze the funds, issued an order on temporary freezing of funds on the basis of the information at its disposal, then such Unit shall, not later than within five working days after issue of the order referred to in Paragraph three of this Section, carry out one of the following actions:

1) issue an order on freezing of funds for a certain period of time if:

a) money or other funds are to be considered proceeds of crime pursuant to Section 4, Paragraph three of this Law. In such case, funds shall be frozen for a period of time determined in the order, however, no longer than for six months;

b) on the basis of the information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, there are suspicions that a criminal offence is being committed or has been committed, including money laundering or an attempt of such criminal offence. In such case, funds shall be frozen for a period of time determined in the order, however, no longer than for 45 days;

2) notify the subject of this Law or the State information system manager with a writing that further temporary freezing of funds shall be terminated because there are no grounds for the issue of the order on freezing of funds for a certain period of time.

(5) In the cases specified in Paragraphs two and four of this Section, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to determine with an order the freezing of funds for a time period of up to 45 days by previously not issuing the order on temporary freezing of funds.

(5¹) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to, upon its own initiative or upon a request of the foreign authorised institutions or authorities referred to in Section 62, Paragraph one of this Law to freeze the funds, immediately issue the order for an unspecified time period in cases when suspicions of circumvention of international and national sanctions or an attempt of such circumvention arise, on the basis of the information at its disposal.

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall revoke the issued order on freezing of funds if the customer has provided justified information on the lawfulness of the origin of funds. The customer shall submit the abovementioned information to the subject of the Law or the State information system manager who shall immediately transfer it to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(7) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to revoke the order on freezing of funds. If the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has issued an order on freezing of funds for an indefinite period of time and has provided information to investigating institutions or the Office of the Prosecutor, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to revoke freezing of funds by an order on the basis of the information submitted by investigating institutions.

(8) If the order on freezing of funds has not been revoked, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, within 10 working days after its issuing, provide information to the investigating institutions or the Office of the Prosecutor in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 55 of this Law.

(9) [15 June 2021]

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 33. Order Issued to the State Information System Manager

(1) In the cases provided for in Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 and Paragraph four of this Law the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may issue an order to the State information system manager to implement the relevant measures within the competence thereof in order to prevent the re-registration of the property during the time period specified in the order.

(2) The State information system manager shall execute the order without delay and shall notify the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia of the way of execution and the outcome.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, within 10 working days after issuing the order, if it has not revoked the order, provide information to investigating institutions or the Office of the Prosecutor in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 55 of this Law.

[13 August 2014; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 33.¹ Objects Subject to Orders of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) Orders issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 and Paragraph four and Section 33, Paragraph one of this Law shall be applicable to proceeds of crime, including property that has originated by converting proceeds of crime into other valuables.

(2) If proceeds of crime have been fully or partially added to the funds acquired from lawful sources, orders of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be applied to the total amount of the proceeds of crime and funds acquired from lawful sources, not exceeding the value of the proceeds of crime.

(3) If fruits are being received from the funds to which orders of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be applied in accordance with Paragraphs one and two of this Section, then the orders of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall also apply to the fruits received or a part thereof corresponding to the value of the fruits received from the proceeds of crime.

[10 December 2009; 13 August 2014; 13 June 2019]

Section 33.² Order on the Monitoring of Transactions

If there are reasonable suspicions that a criminal offence has been committed or is being committed, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall issue an order to the subject of the Law to monitor transactions in the account of the subject of the Law for a period of time not exceeding three months. If necessary, this term may be extended for a time period not exceeding three months by the Prosecutor General or his or her specially authorised prosecutor.

[15 June 2021]

Section 33.³ Notification of an Order to the Land Registry Office

(1) The Land Registry Office shall be notified of an order issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 and Paragraph four of this Law, if it contains an issue that is within the competence of the Land Register. If until receipt of an order or within the time period specified in the order the Land Register receives a request for corroboration regarding the voluntary corroboration of rights in respect of the immovable property specified in the order issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, a judge of the Land Register shall take the decision to suspend the examination of the corroboration request for the time period specified in the order. The Land Registry Office shall send the decision taken to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(2) After receipt of the order issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia referred to in Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 and Paragraph four of this Law, the Land Registry Office shall provide a written notification to the person subject to the order by sending to the person a copy of the order in which the procedures for contesting the order are explained.

[10 December 2009; 13 August 2014; 13 June 2019]

Section 34. Procedures for Contesting an Order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The subject of the Law or the State information system manager and persons whose funds are frozen may contest the orders issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in the cases and in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law before an investigating judge according to the location of the subject of the Law or the State information system manager within the time periods specified in this Law.

(2) The submitter of a complaint shall address the complaint to a court, but submit to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia which shall, within three working days, send it to the court together with the materials which served as grounds for issuing the contested order. Submission of a complaint shall not suspend the execution of the order. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, in the cases specified in this Law, when sending information to investigating institutions, notify the court thereof.

(3) The judge shall examine the complaint concerning the order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and take a decision in a written procedure within 30 days after receipt of the complaint at the court.

(4) When examining a complaint, the judge shall verify the conformity of the order with the provisions of this Law. The materials which served as grounds for issuing the contested order shall be verified and assessed only by the judge.

(5) If during the examination of the complaint the judge establishes that the submitted complaint does not conform to the requirements of this Law or criminal proceedings have been initiated in relation to the order issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and arrest is imposed on funds, the complaint shall be left without examination.

(6) The decision of the judge and materials shall be sent to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia. A true copy of the decision shall be sent to the submitter of a complaint. The decision shall not be subject to appeal.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 60 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 35. Terms for the Submission of Complaints

A complaint regarding an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may be submitted by the persons specified in Section 34, Paragraph one of this Law within 30 days after they have received a copy of the order.

[13 June 2019]

Section 36. Exemption in Relation to Refraining from Executing a Suspicious Transaction

(1) If refraining from executing such a transaction in relation to which there are reasonable suspicions that it is associated with money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing may serve as information that would help the persons involved in money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing to avoid the responsibility, the subject of the Law has the right to execute the transaction by reporting it to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with Section 31.⁵ of this Law after execution of the transaction.

(2) Paragraph one of this Section shall not be applicable to the transactions executed by the persons on whom financial restrictions have been imposed by the United Nations Security Council or the European Union.

(3) In the cases specified in the European Union legal acts, credit institutions have the right to make payments from accounts of such persons who are suspected of committing a criminal offence related to terrorism and proliferation or money laundering, or of participating in such an offence, if a credit institution has taken a decision on such accounts to refrain from the performance of a specific type of debit operations, or if an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on refraining from a specific type of debit operations has been received.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021 / Amendment to Paragraph one regarding the replacement of the number "31" with the number "31.⁵" shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter VI
Record Keeping and Release from Responsibility

Section 37. Storage, Updating and Destruction of Customer Due Diligence Documents

(1) [26 October 2017]

(2) The subject of the Law shall, for five years after termination of a business relationship or execution of an occasional transaction, store the following:

1) all information obtained during the course of the customer due diligence, including information on domestic and international transactions of the customer, domestic and international occasional transactions and such accounts, copies of documents certifying the customer identification data, the results of the customer due diligence and results of the carried out analyses on the customer, the information on the customer's transactions obtained during supervision of the customer's transactions and purposes of transactions, as well as the available information which has been obtained by using means of electronic identification, certification services within the meaning of Section 1, Clause 10 of the Electronic Documents Law in conformity with Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC, or other technological solutions in the amount and in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Cabinet;

2) information on all the payments made by the customer;

3) correspondence with the customer, including electronic correspondence.

(2¹) Upon expiry of the term for the storage of the documents and information specified in this Section, the subject of the Law shall destroy the documents and information on the person at its disposal.

(3) Upon assessing the necessity, commensurability, and justification of further storage to prevent, discover, or investigate money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing cases, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the supervisory and control authority, the body performing operational activities, including the State security institution, as well as upon instruction of the investigating institution, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court, may extend the time period referred to in Paragraph two of this Section for a period not exceeding five years.

(4) The subject of the Law has the right to electronically process the data obtained as a result of the customer identification and due diligence on the customers, their representatives and beneficial owners.

(5) Sworn notaries shall store the customer due diligence documents pursuant to the requirements provided for in the Notariate Law. Sworn auditors and commercial companies of sworn auditors shall store the customer due diligence documents pursuant to the requirements provided for in the Law on Audit Services.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 37.¹ Provision of the Customer Due Diligence Documents and Information to Latvijas Banka

The subjects of the Law referred to in Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law shall provide information to Latvijas Banka which has been obtained as the result of the customer identification and due diligence and also information on the transactions executed by the customer and other information related to the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk management. Latvijas Banka has the right to issue regulations for the subjects of the Law referred to in Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law regarding the amount of information to be provided, the requirements for the collection of information and the procedures for the provision thereof.

[26 May 2016; 13 June 2019; 23 September 2021 / Amendment regarding the replacement of the word "normative" and the replacement of the words "the Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" shall come into force on 1 January 2023. See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 37.² Provision of the Customer Due Diligence Documents and Information to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, Supervisory and Control Authorities

The subject of the Law shall document the customer due diligence measures, as well as information on all payments made and received by the customer and, upon request of the supervisory and control authority or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, within the time period specified in such request, present such documents to the supervisory and control authority of the subject of the Law, or shall submit copies of such documents to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019]

Section 38. Prohibition to Disclose the Reporting Fact

(1) The subject of the Law, its management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees shall not be permitted to notify a customer, beneficial owner, as well as other persons, except for the supervisory and control authorities, of the fact that data on the customer or the transaction (transactions) thereof have been provided to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and that the analysis of such data may be or is being performed or that pre-trial criminal proceedings are or may be commenced in relation to the commitment of a criminal offence, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions.

(2) The prohibition to disclose information specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to exchange of information within the scope of one group, also to cases when information is exchanged between credit institutions and financial institutions and between branches or subsidiaries of credit institutions and financial institutions in which they hold the majority of capital shares, in the third countries if group-scale policy and procedures are being implemented, including the exchange of information policy and procedures specified in the group for the purpose of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(2¹) The prohibitions laid down in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to information exchange between the subject of the Law and a person who provides services to the subject of the Law which are related to the assessment of conformity of the internal control system and efficiency of the activity of the subject of the Law or identification, assessment, management and supervision of the present and potential risks of the activity of the subject of the Law. Prior to the provision of information in the cases laid down in this Paragraph, the subject of the Law shall apply measures to ensure the protection of information against its further disclosure.

(2²) Paragraph two of this Section shall not apply to cases when the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has prohibited to disclose the relevant information to the subjects of the Law.

(2³) The prohibition specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to cases when the subject of the Law provides information to pre-trial investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court.

(3) The information disclosure prohibition laid down in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to exchange of information between tax advisors, outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, sworn notaries, sworn advocates, administrators of insolvency proceedings and other independent providers of legal services of the Member States, if they perform their professional activities as employees of the same legal person or when working within the framework of the same group.

(4) The prohibition specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to the exchange of information between credit institutions, financial institutions, tax advisors, outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, sworn notaries, sworn advocates, administrators of insolvency proceedings and other independent providers of legal services in the cases when:

1) two or more subjects of the Law participate in the transaction;

2) the same person is involved in the transaction;

3) the subjects of the Law involved in the transaction are registered or operate in a Member State or third country where such requirements have been specified in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing which conform to the requirements specified in this field in the legal acts of the European Union, and the country complies with these requirements;

4) the subjects of the Law involved in the transaction belong to the same professional category and are subject to equivalent obligations regarding the professional secrecy and personal data protection;

5) the information exchanged is being used only for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(5) The prohibition specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to exchange of information between the subjects of the Law and the authorities referred to in Section 55, Paragraph two of this Law, if information is exchanged in accordance with Section 55.

[13 August 2014; 26 May 2016; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 39. Permission to Disclose the Reporting Fact

(1) [26 October 2017]

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall inform the subject of the Law of the following:

1) the fact that the information has been provided to investigating institutions or the Office of the Prosecutor in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 55 of this Law;

2) the fact that, due to refraining from executing the transaction, it is impossible to provide the information specified in Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Section.

[10 December 2009; 7 June 2012; 13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 40. Release of the Subject of the Law from Liability

(1) If the subject of the Law complies with the requirements of this Law, actions of its management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees may not be regarded as a violation of the norms governing the professional activity or the requirements of the supervisory and control authorities.

(2) If the subject of the Law has reported or provided other information in good faith to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with the requirements of this Law, irrespective of whether the fact of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions, or another associated criminal offence is proved or not proved during the pre-trial criminal proceedings or court proceedings, as well as irrespective of the provisions of the contract between the customer and the subject of the Law, the reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall not be deemed to be the disclosure of confidential information and, therefore, the subject of the Law, its management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees shall not be subject to legal liability, including the civil liability.

(3) If the subject of the Law has, in good faith, refrained from executing the transaction in accordance with Section 32 of this Law, has terminated business relationship or has requested early fulfilment of obligations pursuant to Section 28, Paragraph two of this Law, the subject of the Law, its management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees shall not be subject to legal liability, including the civil liability, due to such refraining or delay of the transaction, termination of business relationship or request for the early fulfilment of obligations.

(4) If tax advisors, outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, sworn notaries, sworn advocates and other independent providers of legal services refrain a customer from engaging in criminal offences, it shall not be deemed to be disclosure of confidential information and, therefore, the subjects of the Law referred to in this Paragraph, their management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees shall not be subject to legal liability, including the civil liability.

(5) If the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has issued an order on freezing of funds in accordance with the requirements of this Law, then, irrespectively of the outcome of the freezing of funds, the subject of this Law, its management (members of the supervisory or executive board) and employees shall not be subject to legal liability, including the civil liability.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019]

Chapter VII
Special Provisions Applicable to Credit Institutions and Financial Institutions

Section 41. Availability of Information Necessary for the Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Law

(1) In order to evaluate the compliance of a person with the requirements of Section 10.¹, Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Law, credit institutions and insurance merchants, insofar as they are carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, have the right to request and receive free of charge information from the Punishment Register regarding the criminal record related to the criminal offences committed by the employee and the person who wishes to establish an employment legal relationship with the credit institution or the insurance merchant regardless of whether the criminal record has been extinguished or set aside.

(2) In order to fulfil the obligations specified in the Law, credit institutions and insurance merchants, insofar as they are carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, have the right to request and receive free of charge, as well as store and otherwise process information from the following registers:

1) [26 October 2017]

2) registers of the State Revenue Service - data on the following regarding the income of a customer, representatives thereof and beneficial owners, and also a person who has expressed a wish to establish business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant, representatives thereof and beneficial owners:

a) income of the last five years;

b) disbursers of income;

3) the Invalid Document Register - data on a customer, the beneficial owners and representatives thereof, and also on a person who has expressed a wish to establish a business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant, the beneficial owners and representatives of such a person, in order to ascertain that the personal identification documents presented by the abovementioned persons have not been declared invalid;

4) the Punishment Register - data on the criminal record related to criminal offences in the national economy which has not been extinguished or set aside of a customer, the beneficial owners and representatives thereof, as well as of a person who has expressed a wish to establish a business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant, the beneficial owners and representatives of such a person, when carrying out the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment of the customer, as well as in the cases when the necessity of reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on a suspicious transaction or the necessity to refrain from executing a suspicious transaction is being evaluated;

5) the State Unified Computerised Land Register - data on the owned or previously owned immovable property of a customer and the beneficial owners thereof, the business partners of the customer and the beneficial owners thereof, as well as of a person who has expressed a wish to establish a business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant, the beneficial owners and representatives of such a person, as well as the spouses and relatives of the first degree of kinship of the abovementioned persons, in order to ascertain that the information at the disposal of the credit institution or insurance merchant regarding the customer's operations related to the immovable property comply with the data of the Land Register, and that the financial status of the customer's beneficial owner indicates that this person could possibly be the beneficial owner of the relevant customer, as well as in the cases when the necessity of reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on a suspicious transaction or the necessity to refrain from executing a suspicious transaction is being evaluated;

6) the State Register of Vehicles and Their Drivers - data on the owned or previously owned vehicles of a customer, the beneficial owners thereof, the business partners of the customer and the beneficial owners thereof, as well as of a person who has expressed a wish to establish a business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant, the beneficial owners and representatives of such a person, as well as the spouses and relatives of the first degree of kinship of the abovementioned persons, in order to ascertain that the information at the disposal of the credit institution or insurance merchant regarding the customer's operations related to the vehicles comply with the data of the State Register of Vehicles and Their Drivers, and that the financial status of the customer's beneficial owner indicates that this person could possibly be the beneficial owner of the relevant customer;

7) the Register of Natural Persons:

a) the personal data of a customer, its beneficial owners, and also of a person who has expressed a wish to establish business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant insofar as it performs life insurance activities or other insurance activities related to accumulation of funds, its beneficial owners, i.e. the given name, surname, personal identity number, data on the status in the Register of Natural Persons and nationality, the country of the place of residence, the type, number, term of validity of a personal identification document, and the date of birth and death of a person, the information on restriction of the capacity to act of a person or reviewing the restriction of the capacity to act, the information (given name, surname, personal identity number) on the spouse, partner with whom partnership has been registered, children, parents, the information on guardians, trustees, or member of the foster family of the person, the information on the establishment, termination of out-of-family care or trusteeship, or the discontinuation, removal, or renewal of the custody rights, child care institution, in order to verify the identity of the abovementioned persons, the right of representation and the extent thereof and to determine mutually linked customers, and carry out the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment in relation to such customers;

b) the personal data of a customer and a person who has expressed a wish to establish business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant insofar as it performs life insurance activities or other insurance activities related to accumulation of funds, of the representative who is the parent, guardian, trustee, or member of the foster family, i.e. the given name, surname, personal identity number, data on the status in the Register of Natural Persons and nationality, the country of the place of residence, the type, number, term of validity of a personal identification document, the date of birth and death of a person, the information on restriction of the capacity to act of a person or reviewing the restriction of the capacity to act, the information (given name, surname, personal identity number) on the spouse, partner with whom partnership has been registered, children, parents, in order to verify the identity of the abovementioned persons and also to determine mutually linked customers and carry out the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment in relation to such customers;

c) the personal data of a customer and a person who has expressed a wish to establish business relationship with the credit institution or insurance merchant insofar as it performs life insurance activities or other insurance activities related to accumulation of funds, of the representative who is not the parent, guardian, trustee, or member of the foster family, i.e. the given name, surname, personal identity number, data on the status in the Register of Natural Persons and nationality, the type, number, term of validity of a personal identification document, the date of birth and death, the information on restriction of the capacity to act of a person or reviewing the restriction of the capacity to act, in order to verify the identity of the abovementioned persons and also to determine mutually linked customers and carry out the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment in relation to such customers.

(2¹) [Paragraph shall come into force on 1 February 2025 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 1 February 2025. See Paragraph 74 of Transitional Provisions]

(3) According to Paragraphs one and two of this Section, the information received shall be used only for the fulfilment of the functions specified in this Law.

(4) If a credit institution or insurance merchant, insofar as it is carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, is a user of credit information within the meaning of the Law on Credit Bureaus, it has the right to receive the data referred to in Paragraph two, Clauses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of this Section also by intermediation of a credit bureau. The credit bureau shall, upon request of the user of credit information, request and receive the data referred to in Paragraph two, Clauses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of this Section from the relevant register. The credit bureau shall not use the data received for purposes other than the transfer of such data to users of credit information who have requested them in non-modified way and shall not store them after the data have been transferred to the user of credit information.

(5) Electronic money institutions and payment service providers which perform entrepreneurship in the Republic of Latvia in any of the ways which is not a branch and the headquarters of which is located in another Member State, if they comply with the criterion specified in Article 3(1)(a) or (b) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2018/1108 of 7 May 2018 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regulatory technical standards on the criteria for the appointment of central contact points for electronic money issuers and payment service providers and with rules on their functions (hereinafter - Regulation No 2018/1108), shall establish a central contact point.

[13 August 2014; 18 December 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 13 October 2022; 19 September 2024 / Amendments to Paragraph three of the Section shall come into force on 1 February 2025 and shall be included in the wording of the Law on 1 February 2025. See Paragraph 74 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 42. Right to Perform Identification After Opening of an Account

Credit institutions have the right to open an account for customers prior to determining the identification and the beneficial owner thereof, if pursuant to the requirements of this Law enhanced customer due diligence is not to be conducted and if it is ensured that the customer cannot execute transactions prior to the absolute completion of the customer due diligence.

Section 43. Termination of a Business Relationship

(1) [26 October 2017]

(2) If in the cases specified in this Law a credit institution or financial institution, upon its own initiative, terminates the business relationship with a customer by closing the relevant accounts of the customer, the credit institution or financial institution shall, according to the instructions of the customer, transfer the monetary funds present in the accounts to the current account of the same customer at another credit institution or financial institution or to the indicated current account at another credit institution or financial institution, if such action corresponds to the assessment of risks related to the transfer of the abovementioned funds, or to the account from which the monetary funds have been received previously. If the customer does not have a current account in another credit institution or financial institution or it is not possible to make a transfer to another account or to the account from which the monetary funds have been received previously, the monetary funds shall be disbursed in cash if the total amount does not exceed EUR 7200. If there are suspicions of money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, the credit institution or financial institution shall notify the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia thereof in accordance with the provisions of Section 31⁴ of this Law. If the credit institution or financial institution has grounds to refrain from executing a transaction, it shall not transmit and disburse the monetary funds in its accounts, but shall act in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of this Law. If a temporary account which has been opened for the purpose of founding commercial activity is being closed, the monetary funds shall be disbursed, in accordance with the procedures provided for in this Paragraph, to the person who has paid them in.

(3) If a financial instruments account has been opened for a customer with a credit institution or financial institution, the credit institution or financial institution shall, when terminating the business relationship with the customer in the cases laid down in Section 28, Paragraph two of this Law or in other cases laid down in this Law, close the financial instruments account of the customer and transfer the financial instruments present in such account to another credit institution or financial institution, or, if it is not possible or it is indicated by the customer, sell the financial instruments in the account for the market value thereof in conformity with the instruction by the customer during a year or within the time period of use of the financial instrument. If within a year or during the term of use of the financial instrument the customer does not request to sell the financial instruments, the credit institution or financial institution shall, without delay, after expiry of the relevant term sell the financial instruments in the account for the market value on the day of selling thereof. The credit institution or financial institution shall manage the acquired monetary funds in accordance with that specified in Paragraph two of this Section.

(4) [13 June 2019]

[13 August 2014; 11 June 2015; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 13 October 2022]

Section 44. Exchange of Information Between Credit Institutions and Financial Institutions

(1) For the implementation of the purposes of this Law, a payment institution or an electronic money institution shall, upon request of the correspondent bank or another payment institution or electronic money institution involved in making of the payment, provide the information and documents applying to the transaction in relation to which the payment is being made, obtained during the course of identification and due diligence of its customers and their beneficial owners or authorised persons.

(2) For the implementation of the purposes of this Law, credit institutions and financial institutions have the right to mutually exchange, directly or with the intermediation of the authorised bodies of the abovementioned institutions, the information obtained during the course of identification and due diligence of their customers and the beneficial owners or authorised persons thereof, as well as the information on persons in relation to whom a business relationship has not been established or has been terminated in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law.

(3) For the implementation of the purposes of this Law, credit institutions and financial institutions or the authorised bodies thereof, including within the scope of a group, have the right to create, maintain, and electronically process the personal data, to create and maintain personal data processing systems regarding the customers and persons in relation to whom a business relationship has not been established or has been terminated in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law, the beneficial owners and authorised persons of such persons. In such cases the right of a data subject to request information on data processing, including its purposes, recipients, source from which it has been obtained, right to access his or her data and request their amending, destruction, discontinuation or prohibition of the processing thereof shall not apply to the personal data processing performed.

(4) The relevant credit institution and financial institution shall not be subject to legal liability (including the civil liability) for the provision of the data referred to in Paragraphs one, two, and three of this Section. The data obtained in accordance with the procedures laid down in Paragraphs one and two of this Section shall be deemed to be the confidential data.

(5) A credit institution or financial institution which has received the information referred to in Paragraph one, two, or three of this Section shall store it as long as it maintains a business relationship or executes an occasional transaction with the customer, but after termination thereof - in accordance with Section 37 of this Law. If information on persons who are not customers of the credit institution or financial institution at the time of receipt of the information is received, the credit institution or financial institution shall store it for five years from the day of receipt thereof and may extend such period of time by applying the procedures referred to in Section 37, Paragraph three of this Law.

[13 June 2019]

Chapter VIII
Rights and Obligations of Supervisory and Control Authorities

Section 45. Supervisory and Control Authorities of the Subject of the Law

(1) Supervision and control of compliance of the subjects of the Law with the requirements of this Law shall be carried out by the following authorities:

1) Latvijas Banka - credit institutions, electronic money institutions, insurance companies, insofar as they are carrying out life insurance or other insurance activities related to the accumulation of funds, private pension funds, insurance intermediaries, insofar as they are providing life insurance services or other insurance services related to the accumulation of funds, investment firms, managers of alternative investment funds, investment management companies, savings and loans associations, providers of re-insurance services, payment institutions, and capital companies which are dealing with the purchase and sale of foreign currency in cash;

2) the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates - sworn advocates;

3) the Council of Sworn Notaries of Latvia - sworn notaries;

4) the Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors and the State Revenue Service in part regarding application of sanctions - sworn auditors and commercial companies of sworn auditors;

5) [26 October 2017 / See Paragraph 28 of Transitional Provisions]

6) [23 September 2021 / See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions];

7) the Lottery and Gambling Supervisory Inspection - organisers of lotteries and gambling;

8) [1 December 2009];

9) [10 December 2009].

10) the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings and the Insolvency Control Service in the part regarding the imposition of sanctions - administrators of insolvency proceedings.

(1¹) The National Heritage Board shall supervise:

1) transactions involving cultural monuments of State significance included in the List of State Cultural Monuments;

2) persons operating in handling of art and antique articles by importing them into or exporting them from the Republic of Latvia, storing or trading in them, including such persons who carry out the actions provided for in this Clause in antique shops, auction houses, or ports, if the total amount of the transaction or several seemingly linked transactions is at least EUR 10 000.

(2) The State Revenue Service shall supervise the following subjects of the Law not specified in Paragraph one of this Section:

1) outsourced accountants, sworn auditors, commercial companies of sworn auditors, and tax advisors, as well as any other person providing assistance in tax issues (for example, consultations or financial assistance) or acting as an intermediary in the provision of such assistance regardless of the frequency of its provision and existence of remuneration;

2) independent providers of legal services when they, acting on behalf of their customers, assist in the planning or execution of transactions, participate therein or carry out other professional activities related to the transactions or approve a transaction for the benefit of their customer concerning the following:

a) buying and selling of an immovable property, undertaking;

b) managing the customer's money, financial instruments and other funds;

c) opening or managing all kinds of accounts in credit institutions or financial institutions;

d) establishment, management, or securing the operation of legal arrangements, as well as in relation to the making of contributions necessary for the establishment, operation, or management of a legal person or a legal arrangement;

3) providers of services for the establishment of a legal arrangement or legal person and securing its operation;

4) real estate agents;

5) other natural or legal persons trading in means of transport, precious metals, precious stones, the articles thereof and trading in other goods, and also acting as intermediaries in the abovementioned transactions or engaged in provision of services of other type, if payment is made in cash or cash for this transaction is paid in an account of the seller with a credit institution in the amount of EUR 10 000 or more, or in a foreign currency the amount of which according to the exchange rate to be used in accounting in the beginning of the day of the transaction is equivalent to or exceeds EUR 10 000 regardless of whether this transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several mutually linked operations;

6) other natural or legal persons which are not referred to in Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law and which provide the following services:

a) credit services, including financial leasing, if provision of services is not subject to licensing;

b) issuance of guarantees and such other letters of commitment by which an obligation is imposed;

c) advising the customers in issues of financial nature;

d) cash collection service;

e) crypto-asset services.

(2¹) The Consumer Rights Protection Centre shall supervise:

1) the subjects of the Law - persons engaged in the provision of consumer credit services and to whom the Consumer Rights Protection Centre issues a special permit (licence) for the provision of credit services;

2) the subjects of the Law - persons engaged in provision of debt recovery services and to whom the Consumer Rights Protection Centre issues a special permit (licence) for the provision of debt recovery services.

(3) The subjects of the Law referred to in Paragraph two of this Section, except for the subjects of the Law referred to in Paragraph two, Clause 5 of this Section, shall, within 10 working days after registration with the Enterprise Register or the Taxpayers' Register of the State Revenue Service, submit a report on its type of activity to the State Revenue Service.

(4) The subjects of the Law referred to in Paragraph two, Clause 5 of this Section shall, within 10 working days after the day of the establishment of a business relationship, agreement between transaction partners on a transaction, provision and receipt of services, submit a report on its type of activity to the State Revenue Service.

(5) The supervising and control authorities of the subjects of the Law shall supervise and control the subjects of the Law also during the course of their insolvency or liquidation proceedings.

[1 December 2009; 10 December 2009; 31 March 2011; 12 September 2013; 31 October 2013; 13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021; 23 November 2023; 19 September 2024 / Amendment to the Section regarding the supplementation of Clause 1 of Paragraph one with the words "crypto-asset service providers" after the words "payment institutions" shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. Clause 6, Sub-clause "e" of Paragraph two shall be repealed on 30 June 2025. See Paragraphs 68 and 70 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 46. Obligations of a Supervisory and Control Authority

(1) A supervisory and control authority has the following obligations:

1) to keep records and to register the subjects of the Law to be supervised;

2) to conduct training of employees of the subjects of the Law which are under supervision and control and develop guidelines regarding the issues related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

3) to conduct regular inspections according to the methodology developed by it, in order to assess the compliance of the subjects of the Law with the requirements of this Law, and, when finding a violation, to decide on the drawing up of an inspection report and imposition of sanctions;

4) to report to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on suspicious transactions found during inspections and not reported by the relevant subject of the Law to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

5) upon request of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, to provide it with methodological assistance for the fulfilment of the functions provided for in this Law;

6) to impose sanctions for the violations of laws and regulations specified in laws and regulations or propose that other competent authorities impose such sanctions on the subject of the Law and the beneficial owner of the subject of the Law, and to control the measures for the prevention of the violations;

7) on its own initiative or pursuant to a request, to exchange information with foreign institutions the obligations of which are essentially similar, if the confidentiality of data is ensured and they can be used only for mutually coordinated purposes;

8) not later than by 1 February of each year, to compile and submit to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia the statistical information on the measures related to the supervision and control of the subjects of the Law which were implemented last year;

9) to implement the necessary administrative, technical and organisational measures, in order to ensure the protection of information obtained within the scope of compliance with the requirements of this Law, to prevent unauthorised access to and unauthorised tampering with, distribution or destruction of such information. The procedure for the registration, processing, storage and destruction of the information shall be determined by the head of the supervisory and control authority. The supervision and control authority shall store information for at least five years;

10) to exchange information with other supervisory and control authorities that perform equivalent functions in the relevant country, in order to carry out such activities which would minimise possibilities for money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

11) to implement supervisory measures on the basis of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment and to ensure the frequency of on-site and off-site inspections and control measures corresponding to the risk assessment;

12) to conduct the risk assessment and regular revision thereof according to the risk level in accordance with the procedures and regularity specified in internal procedures and also to conduct the revision of the risk assessment in cases when there are significant events or significant changes in the operational processes or governance structure of the subject of the Law or the group of credit institutions and financial institutions;

13) to ensure the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia with access to the information on members of the senior management of the subjects of the Law and on the employees responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law.

(1¹) Upon assessing the necessity, commensurability, and justification of further storage in order to prevent, discover, or investigate the money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing cases, upon instruction of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the bodies performing operational activities, including the State security authority, as well as upon instruction of the investigating institution, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court, may extend the time period referred to in Paragraph one, Clause 9 of this Section for a time period not exceeding five years.

(1²) The supervisory and control authority shall post the decision imposing sanctions and supervisory measures, if violations related to prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing requirements are detected, on its website, immediately after the person subject to imposition of the sanction or supervisory measure is informed of the abovementioned decision.

(1³) The supervisory and control authority, when posting the decision imposing the sanctions and supervisory measures, shall comply with the following provisions:

1) the post includes at least information on the type and nature of the violation and the identity of persons held liable, except that which is laid down in Clause 2 of this Paragraph, as well as on disputing the decision and the adopted ruling;

2) the natural person need not be identified in the post, if after performance of the initial assessment it is detected that the disclosure of his or her data may endanger the stability of the financial market or the course of the initiated criminal proceedings, or cause incommensurate harm to the persons involved;

3) if it is expected that the circumstances referred to in Clause 2 of this Paragraph may cease to exist in a reasonable period of time, the public disclosure of information may be temporarily postponed;

4) the post is available on the website of the supervisory and control authority for a time period of five years in accordance with the applicable personal data processing requirements.

(2) The Council of Sworn Notaries of Latvia, the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates, the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings and the Latvian Council of Sworn Auditors shall supervise and control the compliance with the requirements of this Law in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law, insofar as it is not in contradiction with the procedures laid down in the laws and regulations governing activities of the sworn notaries, sworn advocates, administrators of insolvency proceedings and sworn auditors. The abovementioned organisations have the following obligations:

1) to develop the procedure specifying a set of measures to be implemented by the subject of the Law in order to ensure the compliance with the requirements of this Law;

2) to ensure that the training of the subjects of the Law that are under supervision and control in the issues related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing is carried out;

3) to apply the sanctions specified in laws and regulations, if non-compliance with the requirements of this Law is found.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 47. Rights of the Supervisory and Control Authority

(1) The supervisory and control authority has the right:

1) to visit the premises owned or used by the subjects of the Law that are under the supervision and control, and related to the economic or professional activities thereof, and to conduct inspections therein;

2) to request information from the subjects of the Law under the supervision and control that is related to compliance with the requirements of this Law, to request that they present the original documents, to receive copies or certified copies of such documents, to receive relevant explanations, as well as to perform activities for the prevention or mitigation of the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing possibilities;

3) to draw up inspection reports attesting to violations of the requirements of this Law and facts related thereto;

4) to specify for the subjects of the Law a deadline for the elimination of the violations of this Law found, and to control the implementation of the violation elimination;

5) to publish statistical information on the violations of the requirements of this Law and the sanctions applied;

6) to request any information from the State authorities and authorities of derived public entities, which is at the disposal thereof, for the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law;

7) to issue recommendation for the subjects of the Law for the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law;

8) to determine that the subject of the Law needs not to perform the risk assessment of the sector of its activities, if special risks of the relevant sector have been unambiguously identified and understood before.

(1¹) The supervisory and control authority has the right to apply the supervisory and control measures provided for in Paragraph one of this Section for such persons who have not registered as the subjects of the Law, however, according to the information at the disposal of the supervisory and control authority, actually comply with the status of the subject of the Law.

(2) Latvijas Banka has the right to determine the following for the subjects of the Law referred to in Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 1 of this Law:

1) the requirements to be included in the internal control system in addition to that specified in Section 7, Paragraph one of this Law;

2) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented in order to ensure the establishment of an internal control system complying with the requirements for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and the efficiency of internal control system, and also assessment of the conformity thereof with the laws and regulations, including by determining the regularity and requirements for the assessment in accordance with which independent assessment of the internal control system shall be carried out;

3) the requirements for ensuring of personnel resources and personnel training for the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk management;

4) the requirements for cooperation with third parties for attraction of potential customers, ensuring of the requirements for customer identification and communication with a customer;

5) the requirements for ensuring technical resources for the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk management, including information technologies;

6) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented for the determination of politically exposed persons, their family members and persons closely associated thereto, and also the amount of the minimum measures to be implemented before the establishment of business relationship and when carrying out enhanced due diligence of such persons;

7) the requirements in accordance with which money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment shall be performed, an also the requirements in respect of measures for the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk management and mitigation;

8) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented for customer identification and due diligence before the establishment of business relationship and during business relationship, including for the supervision of transactions executed by customers;

9) the list of minimum indications of suspicious transactions, and also the minimum amount of measures to be implemented in order to identify the indications of a suspicious transactions;

10) the requirements for the establishment and maintenance of correspondent banking relationship and the procedures for the respondent due diligence;

11) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented to determine the origin of the funds and wealth characterising the material status of a customer;

12) the requirements for customer identification if the customer does not participate in the identification procedure in person;

13) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented for the due diligence and supervision of the transactions of customers - the subjects of this Law;

14) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented to determine the beneficial owner of the customer and ascertain that the person indicated as the beneficial owner is the beneficial owner of the customer;

15) the minimum amount of measures to be implemented by credit institutions and financial institutions, if the legal acts of the third country do not allow to implement the group level requirements in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

16) the measures to be applied in order to ensure the application of Regulation No 2015/847;

17) the requirements for the formation of central contact points, their functions and monitoring.

(2¹) Latvijas Banka may request any electronic money institution or payment service provider which performs entrepreneurship in the Republic of Latvia in any of the ways which is not a branch the headquarters of which is located in another Member State and the activities of which are supervised by Latvijas Banka to establish the central contact point if at least one of the following conditions sets in:

1) the electronic money institution or payment service provider does not provide, upon request in due time, information to Latvijas Banka which is necessary to assess the compliance of the institution with the criterion specified in Article 3(1)(a) or (b) of Regulation No 2018/1108;

2) the activity of the electronic money institution or payment service provider causes high money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing risk.

(2²) Latvijas Banka may request the central contact point to perform the following functions in addition to the obligations specified in Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation No 2018/1108:

1) prepares and submits to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia reports on suspicious transactions;

2) replies to requests of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in relation to the activities of the represented electronic money institution or payment service provider which performs entrepreneurship in the Republic of Latvia in any of the ways which is not a branch the headquarters of which is located in another Member State, and provides the requested information to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia which is related to such institutions;

3) performs supervision of transactions in order to determine suspicious transactions, taking into account the scale and nature of the transactions of the electronic money institution and payment service provider in the Republic of Latvia.

(3) [23 September 2021 / See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

(4) The Cabinet shall determine binding requirements for the subjects of the Law referred to in Section 45, Paragraph 2.¹ of this Law for the fulfilment of the obligations specified in this Law in respect of the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment, internal control system and its establishment, customer due diligence and supervision of the transactions executed by customers.

[13 August 2014; 26 May 2016; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 23 September 2021; 19 September 2024 / Amendment to Clause 16 of Paragraph two shall come into force on 30 December 2024 and shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024. See Paragraph 70 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 47.¹ Obligation to Store Information and Disclosure of Information to the Supervisory and Control Authorities of Credit Institutions and Financial Institutions

(1) The information related to the supervision and control of credit institutions and financial institutions shall be considered restricted access information within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Law. Unless it has been specified otherwise in the Law, the supervisory and control authority of credit institutions and financial institutions may disclose such information only in the form of a report or summary so that it would not be possible to identify a specific credit institution or financial institution, customers of such institutions, or individual transactions thereof.

(2) Employees of the supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions specified in this Law, as well as sworn auditors and other persons who attract supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions for the carrying out of their tasks shall be responsible for the storage of the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section which has become known to such persons upon fulfilling their obligations.

(3) Paragraphs one and two of this Section shall not preclude the supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions from exchanging restricted access information, according to their competence specified in this Law, mutually, with the supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions of another Member State, European Supervisory Authorities, and the European Central Bank, retaining the status of restricted status information for the information provided.

(4) The supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions are entitled to use the information received in Paragraph three of this Section only for the carrying out of the supervisory functions:

1) in order to ascertain the compliance of the activities of credit institutions and financial institutions with this Law and other legal acts in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and in the field of prudential regulation and supervision of credit institutions and financial institutions (including application of sanctions);

2) in order to take the decisions specified in the Law, including decisions to apply supervisory measures and impose sanctions;

3) in legal proceedings in which the administrative acts or actual action of the supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions are contested or disputes in relation to public law contracts are being examined;

4) in court proceedings initiated according to special provisions provided for in the European Union legal acts which have been adopted in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing or in the field of prudential regulation and supervision of credit institutions and financial institutions.

(5) Paragraphs one and two of this Section, without prejudice to Section 31⁴, Paragraph five of this Law, shall not preclude the supervisory and control authorities from performance of exchange of information with natural or legal persons who conduct their professional activity in accordance with Section 3, Paragraph one, Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of this Law, retaining the status of restricted access information for the information provided.

(6) Paragraphs one and two of this Section shall not preclude the supervisory and control authorities from providing the information at their disposal, according to their competence, retaining the status of restricted access information, to State institutions the competence of which includes the prevention or investigation of money laundering, terrorism or proliferation financing, and criminal offences related thereto:

1) the person directing the proceedings - in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law;

2) the bodies performing operational activities - in accordance with the laws and regulations governing their activities;

3) the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau;

4) the parliamentary investigation commissions, courts of auditors, and other structures responsible for investigation if they have been granted authorisation in accordance with the procedures laid down in laws and regulations to investigate or examine the activities of Latvijas Banka. If the origin of information is in another Member State, it shall not be disclosed without unequivocal consent of the competent authorities which have disclosed it, and it shall be disclosed only for such purposes for which the abovementioned institutions have given their consent.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021; 13 October 2022 / Amendment regarding the replacement of the words "the Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" shall come into force on 1 January 2023. See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 47.² Exchange of Information and Cooperation between the Supervisory and Control Authorities of Credit Institutions and Financial Institutions

(1) The supervisory authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions shall cooperate with one another, applying this Law and the laws and regulations issued on the basis thereof, including the supervisory authority which received a request shall, under assignment of the supervisory authority which submitted the request, request information from the subjects of the Law under their supervision, conduct investigation, and exchange the information obtained therein with the supervisory authority which submitted the request.

(2) The supervisory authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions are entitled to enter into exchange of information contracts with the supervisory authorities of foreign credit institutions and financial institutions, if the laws and regulations of such foreign country regarding disclosure of restricted access information provide for liability which is equivalent to the liability specified in the laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia for the abovementioned violation. Such information shall be used in order to perform the supervision of credit institutions and financial institutions or the functions specified for the relevant authorities in the law.

(3) The supervisory authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions and the relevant foreign institutions are entitled to use the received information only for the purpose for which it was provided and to disclose it with a written consent of the supervisory authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions and for the purpose for which such consent has been granted.

(4) The supervisory and control authorities of credit institutions and financial institutions shall cooperate with the European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority) and other members of the European System of Financial Supervision and shall ensure information which they require for the fulfilment of the obligations specified in international laws, including the information needed for the European Banking Authority's central database for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 13 October 2022]

Section 48. Prohibition of Information Disclosure

(1) The supervisory and control authorities of the subjects of this Law, the officials and employees thereof do not have the right to inform the customers and beneficial owners of the subjects of this Law, as well as other persons of the fact that the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has been provided with data on the customer, supervision of transactions in the customer's account and suspicious transactions, and that the analysis of such data may be or is being performed or that pre-trial criminal proceedings are or may be initiated in relation to the commitment of a criminal offence, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or attempts to carry out such actions.

(2) The prohibition specified for supervisory and control authorities in Paragraph one of this Section shall not apply to the cases when they provide information to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court, and also to the cases when the subject of the Law has refrained from executing a transaction.

[10 December 2009; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 49. Release from Responsibility of the Supervisory and Control Authorities

Reporting to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Chapter shall not be deemed to be the disclosure of confidential information and, therefore, the supervisory and control authorities of the subjects of the Law, the officials and employees thereof shall not be subject to legal liability irrespective of whether the fact of the criminal offence, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions, or another associated criminal offence is proved or not proved during the pre-trial criminal proceedings or court proceedings.

[13 June 2019]

Chapter IX
Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

[13 June 2019]

Section 50. Legal Status of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is an institution of direct administration under supervision of the Cabinet which, in accordance with this Law, exercises control over suspicious transactions and other information received, and acquires, receives, registers, processes, compiles, stores, analyses, and provides such information to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court which may be used for the prevention, detection, pre-trial criminal proceedings, or trial of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions, or another associated criminal offence.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is the managing authority whose purpose is to prevent the possibility to use the financial system of the Republic of Latvia for money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be independent in its activities.

(4) The Cabinet shall implement institutional supervision through the Minister for the Interior. The supervision shall not apply to the implementation of the tasks and rights assigned to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, as well as to the internal organisation issues of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, including issue of internal regulatory enactments, preparation of a statement, and decisions with regard to the employees.

(5) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall take the decisions which are related to its rights and obligations independently on the basis of the law.

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be financed from the State budget.

(7) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall have the State budget account in the Treasury, the seal with an image of the supplemented lesser State coat of arms, and the full name of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

[1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 50.¹ Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be managed and represented by the Head thereof. During the absence of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia his or her obligations shall be fulfilled by the Deputy Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, and during this time he or she shall have the same powers as the Head.

(2) The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be appointed for a term of five years by the Saeima upon recommendation of the Cabinet. The same person may be the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia for not more than two successive terms.

(3) The Cabinet shall announce an open competition for the position of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia. The Cabinet shall determine the provisions and procedures for the application of the candidates to the office of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, as well as the procedures for the selection and assessment of candidates.

(4) The candidates to the office of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be selected by a commission which is chaired by the Director of the State Chancellery. The composition of the commission shall consist of the Director of the State Chancellery, the Prosecutor General or a representative delegated by him or her, the Minister for the Interior or a representative delegated by him or her, the Minister for Finance or a representative delegated by him or her, the Director of the Constitution Protection Bureau and the Director of the State Security Service, as well as not more than three representatives delegated by the Financial Sector Development Board with advisory rights shall participate therein. The procedures for establishing the commission, as well as for the operation and decision-making thereof shall be determined by the Cabinet.

(5) Functions of the secretariat of the commission shall be carried out by the State Chancellery.

(6) The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may be a person who meets the mandatory requirements for an official laid down in the State Civil Service Law and:

1) has an impeccable reputation;

2) is competent in at least two foreign languages;

3) has acquired higher vocational or academic education (except for the first level vocational education) and the qualification of a lawyer or economist, or qualification in the financial management, and also has accumulated work experience appropriate for the position and experience in a leading position;

4) meets the requirements laid down in the law for the receipt of a special permit that provides access to the official secret;

5) does not take part in the activities of political parties or associations thereof;

6) to whom a sanction has not been applied for the violation of laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, or international and national sanctions.

(7) The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall fulfil the tasks of the head of an institution of direct administration specified in the State Administration Structure Law, as well as:

1) represent the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia without special authorisation;

2) issue internal regulatory enactments of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia without a special co-ordination;

3) determine the jurisdiction of and procedures for the examination of the cases and decision-making in the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

4) determine offices for the officials and employees in the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

5) at least once a year submit a report to the Cabinet, the Saeima, and the Financial Sector Development Board on the performance results of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in the previous calendar year, the development of the personnel policy, and the use of the State budget resources.

(8) The provisions laid down in other laws and regulations regarding assessment of the performance of the head of an institution and results thereof, disciplinary liability, as well as other legal norms restricting independence of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall not apply to the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, except for the norms on his or her suspension from the office.

[1 November 2018; 13 June 2019]

Section 50.² Suspension of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the Office, Termination of his or her Powers and Removal from the Office

(1) The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be suspended from the office in accordance with the procedures and in the cases laid down in laws and regulations. The decision to suspend the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office shall be taken by the commission referred to in Section 50.¹, Paragraph four of this Law.

(2) The powers of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall expire without a special decision:

1) within a month from the day when he or she has submitted a notice of resignation from the office to the Prime Minister and the Chairperson of the Saeima;

2) upon expiry of the term of office specified in the Law;

3) upon attaining the age necessary for granting the old-age pension specified by the State, except for when a justified decision of the Saeima has been taken for keeping the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in his or her office;

4) upon entering into effect of a ruling by which he or she has been punished for an intentional criminal offence;

5) when the final ruling to cancel a special permit for access to official secret comes into effect;

6) as a result of his or her death.

(3) The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be removed from his or her office by the decision of the Saeima, if it has been found in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law that he or she:

1) has committed an intentional breach of law or negligence during the performance of his or her office duties thus causing significant damage to the State or a person;

2) participates in the activities of political parties or associations thereof;

3) does not meet the restrictions and prohibitions laid down in the law On Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Activities of Public Officials thus causing damage to the State or a person;

4) has not fulfilled his or her office duties due to incapacity for work for more than four months in succession or six months in the period of one year.

(4) The reasons referred to in Paragraph three of this Section for the removal of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office shall be evaluated by the commission referred to in Section 50.¹, Paragraph four of this Law in the work of which no more than three representatives delegated by the Financial Sector Development Board participate with the advisory rights.

(5) If the commission does not find the reasons referred to in Paragraph three of this Section for the removal of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office, his or her removal procedure shall be discontinued. If the commission finds reasons for the removal of the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office, it shall prepare the relevant decision. The Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may appeal this decision to the Administrative Regional Court within 10 days after it has been notified.

(6) The Administrative Regional Court shall examine the matter as the court of first instance. The case shall be examined in the panel of three judges. The court shall examine the matter and take the ruling within 30 days after receipt of the application. If the law determines the term for the execution of any procedural action, but by executing the relevant procedural action within this time period, the time period laid down in this Paragraph for the examination of the matter and taking the ruling would not be complied with, the court (judge) itself shall determine an appropriate time period for the enforcement of the relevant procedural action. The ruling of the Administrative Regional Court shall not be subject to appeal.

(7) If the decision of the commission has not been appealed or has been appealed and the court has recognised that it is lawful, the commission shall send such decision to the Cabinet. The Cabinet shall prepare the relevant draft decision to remove the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office and submit it to the Saeima. The decision of the Saeima to remove the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the office shall not be subject to appeal.

[1 November 2018; 13 June 2019]

Section 51. Rights and Obligations of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the following obligations:

1) to receive, compile, store, accumulate, systematise and analyse reports of the subjects of the Law, and also information obtained by other means, in order to determine whether such information may be related to money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions, or to another associated criminal offence;

2) to provide to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and a court information that may be used for the prevention, detection, pre-trial criminal proceedings or trial of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions, or of another associated criminal offence;

3) to analyse the quality of the reports provided, the effectiveness of their use, and to inform the subjects of the Law and the control authorities thereof;

4) to conduct operational analysis of the practices of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions and research of individual cases, subjects, and types for obtaining information and the use thereof, to perform the strategical analysis in respect of the trends and typologies of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, to improve the methodology for the hindrance and detection of such actions;

5) pursuant to the procedures provided for in this Law, to cooperate with international and foreign authorities, which are engaged in the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

6) to provide supervisory and control authorities with information on the most characteristic practices and places of acquisition proceeds of crime, money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, in order to carry out the activities for the mitigation of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing possibilities, to ensure the training of the employees of supervisory and control authorities in issues related to the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

7) to provide the subjects of the Law and their supervisory and control authorities with the information specified in Section 4, Paragraph four of this Law and to ensure the updating thereof;

8) upon a request of supervisory and control authorities and according to the competence thereof, to provide data on the statistics, quality and use effectiveness of the reports provided by the subjects of the Law;

9) by taking into account the information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, to provide recommendations to the subjects of the Law, supervisory and control authorities, investigating institutions, and the Office of the Prosecutor, in order to mitigate the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing possibilities;

10) to compile and publish information on the work results of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia by indicating the number of cases investigated and the number of persons transferred for criminal prosecution during the previous year, the number of persons convicted for the criminal offences related to money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, the amount of the funds seized and confiscated;

11) to inform the supervisory and control authorities regarding the discovered violations of the requirements of this Law committed by the subjects of the Law;

12) to compile and submit the statistical information referred to in Paragraph one, Clause 8 of this Section to the Advisory Board of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, as well as the summary statistics for the purpose of efficiency assessment on the activities carried out in the field of prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including the quality of the reports provided on suspicious transactions or of other submitted information;

13) to develop recommendations for the subjects of the Law and implement measures in order to mitigate risks of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including by deciding on the reporting on the execution of suspicious transactions and refraining from executing transactions upon the initiative of the subject of the Law;

14) to analyse the laws and regulations governing the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, to prepare recommendations for the improvement of such laws and regulations, to regularly organise and carry out money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risk assessment and the development of the national risk assessment report, and also to develop proposals for the mitigation of the level of such risks;

14¹) to collect and compile statistical information which is necessary for the national and European Union risk assessment and other risk assessments which are developed by the international organisations or authorities, and also for the statistical tables prepared by the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval) of the Council of Europe by co-ordinating the collected information where necessary;

15) to maintain on the website of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia information of general nature regarding the current typologies of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, and criminal offences related thereto;

16) to provide detailed information to the supervisory and control authorities on the current typologies of money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing and criminal offences related thereto;

17) coordinate the cooperation coordination group in accordance with Section 55 of this Law;

18) to send immediately to the State Revenue Service the report on a suspicious transaction in the field of taxation (if the specified report includes a reference to submission of the report to the State Revenue Service) and the threshold declaration in the field of taxation of the subject of the Law.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the following rights:

1) in the cases specified in this Law, to order the subject of the Law to freeze a transaction or a definite type of debit operations in the customerʼs account;

2) in the cases provided for in this Law, to order the State information system manager or request the Land Registry Office to implement measures in order not to allow the re-registration of funds;

3) to instruct the subjects of the Law regarding extension of the time period for the storage of documents obtained in the process of customer identification and due diligence;

4) to request and receive information from the subjects of the Law, State authorities, and also derived public persons and authorities thereof on the basis of the information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, including the information which is received from the institutions and authorities referred to in Section 62, Paragraph one of this Law;

5) to provide information to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, court, supervisory and control authorities;

6) to exchange information with foreign authorities whose obligations are similar to the obligations of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

7) to determine the information to be accumulated for statistical purposes, to request and receive information regarding the results of activities carried out in the field of preventing money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing from investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, court, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice, also Court Administration, which is at their disposal, including statistics on pre-trial investigation, prosecution, trial results, arrest imposed on the property and amount of confiscation, international cooperation in the field of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and also information on such criminal offences by which proceeds of crime may be obtained and laundered or terrorism and proliferation may be financed;

7¹) to request and receive statistical information from the State and supervisory and control authorities which is necessary for the national and European Union risk assessment and other risk assessments developed by international organisations or authorities, and also for the statistical tables prepared by the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of the Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval);

7²) to provide recommendations for the development and improvement of the State Information Systems in order to accumulate the data necessary for the statistical registration of combating money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing;

7³) to receive and compile results of macro-economic and criminal-legal studies which are necessary for assessing the prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and, where necessary, also for conducting studies by attracting outsourced service providers;

8) to request and receive from the subjects of this Law and supervisory and control authorities the information which is necessary for the national and European Union risk assessment and other risk assessments which are developed by international organisations or authorities, and also for the statistical tables prepared by the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of the Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval);

9) not to issue the order on freezing of the funds, if there are objective reasons to believe that such action would adversely affect the operational activities measures, pre-trial investigation, the analysis provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, or might endanger human life or health, or under other emergency circumstances, or if such action would be obviously incommensurate to the lawful interests of a natural or legal person;

10) to participate in meetings of the financial intelligence units organisation Egmont Group, European Union financial intelligence units (FIU) platform, to use secure communication channels, as well as technologies in order to identify the money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing trends, risk factors at the national and international level, as well as, by ensuring personal data protection, to compare data at its disposal with the data at the disposal of similar services of other countries in order to discover the subjects of interest, including in other countries, and to identify the amount of their funds, including proceeds from crime.

11) within the framework of its tasks, to invite experts for the provision of consultations regarding the questions posed by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

12) to transfer the information necessary for the provision of the opinion to the invited expert. The invited expert shall be warned of the prohibition to disclose the information transferred to him or her and the liability laid down in laws and regulations for illegal disclosure of the information;

13) to provide data to the supervisory and control authorities, according to their competence, on the statistics, quality, and use effectiveness of the reports provided by the subjects of the Law;

14) to request, receive, process, and store the information from the institutions involved in the composition of the Advisory Board on the strategical analysis performed;

15) to access the data at the disposal of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia on the subjects of the Law and their supervisory and control authorities The interdepartamental agreement entered into by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall prescribe the procedures for the mutual exchange of information and the content thereof.

[10 December 2009; 13 August 2014; 11 June 2015; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 51.¹ Compilation and Publication of Statistical Data Necessary for the Development of the National Risk Assessment Report

(1) In order to ensure the development of the national risk assessment report based on data, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall compile and maintain comprehensive statistical data on efficiency of the system for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing which shall include at least the following information:

1) the number of the subjects of the Law in each sector and other data with which the scope of the sector is assessed;

2) the data by which the stages of reporting, investigation, and legal proceedings are assessed in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including the statistical information on the number of suspicious transactions notified to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and measures taken by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the number of cases investigated and persons transferred for criminal prosecution during the previous year, the number of persons sentenced for money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing criminal offences, the amount of suspended and confiscated resources;

3) the number of cross-border information requests which the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has submitted, received or refused, or to which it has fully or partly replied or received refusal to provide a reply;

4) human resources of supervisory and control authorities for the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and also human resources of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia for the performance of the obligations laid down in Section 51, Paragraph one of this Law;

5) the number of on-site and off-site inspections carried out by supervisory and control authorities and the number of violations established, and also the information on the sanctions imposed and supervision measures taken.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Union of Latvia shall, once a year, publish consolidated statistical data report referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 61 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 52. Liability of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

If the orders specified in this Law are issued in accordance with the requirements of this Law, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and its officials shall not be subject to legal liability, including the civil liability, for the consequences of the order.

[13 June 2019]

Section 53. Protection of Information in the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is allowed to use the information at its disposal only for the purposes and in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law. An employee of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia who has used such information for other purposes or has disclosed it to persons who do not have the right to receive the relevant information shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Criminal Law.

(2) Information which has been obtained by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia based on the supervision procedures of the Prosecutor General and specially authorised prosecutors shall not be forwarded at the disposal of or used for the needs of bodies performing operational activities, investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall apply the necessary administrative, technical and organisational measures in order to ensure protection of information, to prevent unauthorised access to, unauthorised tampering with, distribution or destruction of information. Information on transactions shall be stored at the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia for at least five years. In order to ensure, in public interests, prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, not to endanger or influence the course of investigation processes, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, by assessing the necessity and commensurability, has the right to prohibit or restrict the rights of the data subject to access its data at the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, including for the purposes of correcting and deleting the data.

(4) The information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (except for the information that shall be made public in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Law) shall have the status of restricted access information. Information on the employees of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia ensuring the performance of the basic functions of the institution, including contact information of the employees, shall be restricted access information.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Chapter X
Cooperation of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia with Law Enforcement Institutions, State and Local Government Institutions and Other Authorities

[15 June 2021]

Section 54. Cooperation Obligation of the State and Local Government Authorities

All State and local government authorities have an obligation, in accordance with the procedures stipulated by the Cabinet, to provide information requested by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia for the fulfilment of the functions thereof. When exchanging information with the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the person who performs the data processing is prohibited from disclosing to other legal or natural persons the fact of the exchange of information and the information contents, except for the cases when the information is provided to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court.

[13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 55. Coordination of Cooperation of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall provide information to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, or a court, if such information raises reasonable suspicions that the relevant person has committed a criminal offence, including has carried out money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions.

(1¹) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may provide information to investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, a court, the bodies performing operational activities, supervisory and control authorities, and other authorities if, in the opinion of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, the relevant authorities can use such information for carrying out of the tasks specified for them in laws and regulations.

(1²) Upon request of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, investigating institutions, bodies performing operational activities, the Office of the Prosecutor, and a court shall provide the information necessary for carrying out the tasks specified for it in laws and regulations.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall coordinate the cooperation between the bodies performing operational activities, investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, the State Revenue Service (hereinafter - the involved authorities), as well as subjects of the Law. Cooperation shall be coordinated by convening a cooperation coordination group. The cooperation coordination group shall be convened by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia upon its own initiative or if it is suggested by at least one of the involved authorities. If necessary, a representative from the supervisory and control authority of the subjects of the Law may be invited to the cooperation coordination group.

(3) The purpose of cooperation is to promote efficient execution of the tasks specified in the laws and regulations for the involved authorities, subjects of the Law, and the supervisory and control authorities in order to terminate the business relationship with the customer, provide a report on a suspicious transaction, to request information in accordance with the laws and regulations, or to prepare for the execution of other tasks specified in laws and regulations.

(4) The involved authorities, subjects of the Law, and the supervisory and control authorities, upon their initiative, are entitled, within the scope of the cooperation coordination group, to exchange information which is related to money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions, or another associated criminal offence, or suspicious transaction. The information provided by the subjects of the Law within the scope of cooperation shall be deemed as information provided to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia for the achievement of the purposes of this Law.

(5) Within the scope of the cooperation coordination group the involved authorities, subjects of the Law, and supervisory and control authorities are entitled also to examine specific situations in which inspections or investigations are taking place, and to exchange information in accordance with the laws and regulations determining conducting of the relevant inspection or investigation.

(6) As regards the responsibility for the exchange of information provided for in this Section within the scope of the cooperation coordination group, Section 40, Paragraphs one and two of this Law shall be applicable. The exchange of information provided for in this Chapter shall not affect the reporting obligation specified in Chapter IV.² of this Law.

(7) As regards the further disclosure of the information disclosed within the cooperation coordination group, the requirements specified in the relevant laws and regulations governing protection of information shall be conformed to.

[26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021 / Amendment to Paragraph six regarding the replacement of number "IV" with number "IV.²" shall come into force on 1 October 2021. See Paragraph 58 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 55.¹ Cooperation of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and the Ministry of Finance with the Supervisory and Control Authorities

(1) In order to facilitate mutual cooperation and exchange of information between the supervisory and control authorities, to promote uniform practice in the implementation of supervisory and control measures, effective performance of the tasks laid down in laws and regulations and uniform understanding of the risks and trends in money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, the Ministry of Finance shall coordinate cooperation between the supervisory and control authorities by convening meetings of the cooperation platform of these authorities. The Ministry of Finance shall convene a meeting of the cooperation platform of supervisory and control authorities upon its own initiative or upon the initiative of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia or at least one of the supervisory and control authorities.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall participate in the meetings of the cooperation platform of supervisory and control authorities and shall provide information to the supervisory and control authorities in accordance with Section 51, Paragraph one, Clauses 9 and 16 of this Law.

(3) The Ministry of Finance, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, and supervisory and control authorities, upon their own initiative, are entitled, within the scope of the cooperation platform, to exchange information which is related to money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to perform such actions, identified risks of the sector and performed supervisory and control measures.

[13 October 2022]

Section 56. Satisfaction of Information Requests

(1) In accordance with the requirements laid down in this Law, including also in Section 62, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall provide the information at its disposal upon request of the bodies performing operational activities, investigating institutions, or the Office of the Prosecutor in the operational activities proceedings or criminal proceedings, as well as upon request of a court in criminal proceedings. An information request and reply thereto may be sent electronically. According to the bilateral contract entered into for the purpose of inspection, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, upon request of the bodies performing operational activities, investigating institutions, or the Office of the Prosecutor in operational activities proceedings or criminal proceedings, additionally provide information on a person or his or her account, if there are reasonable suspicions that the relevant person is related to money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or an attempt to carry out such actions, or another criminal offence associated with such actions, or also he or she might have criminally acquired funds at his or her disposal. Personal data shall be encoded in the information request and reply thereto by pseudonymising them.

(1¹) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, upon request of a State security institution, provide the information at its disposal on a person who:

1) in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Immigration Law has requested a residence permit and there are substantiated suspicions that such person may cause threats to the State security or public order and security, and connection with money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing is possible;

2) in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law on Circulation of Goods of Strategic Significance has requested a licence for goods of strategic significance and there are reasonable suspicions of a suspicious transaction with goods of strategic significance by this person, and connection with money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing is possible;

3) is an owner of the airport ensuring international passenger, cargo or postal carriages by air, the operator of aircraft carrying out international passenger, cargo or postal carriages by air and the provider of air navigation services (beneficial owner) or an employee who holds a leading office or may significantly influence the activity of the undertaking by his or her decisions, and there are reasonable suspicions that such person may cause threats to the State or public security and his or her connection with money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing is possible, and if a State security institution has received information request in accordance with the law On Aviation.

(2) Upon request of the State Revenue Service the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall provide the information at the disposal thereof necessary for the examination of the income declarations of State officials provided for in laws and regulations, as well as other declarations of natural persons provided for in laws, if there are reasoned suspicions that such persons have provided false information on their financial status or income.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, upon request of supervisory and control authorities, provide thereto the information at the disposal of the Unit which is necessary for the assessment of the persons specified in laws and regulations regarding the possible connection of the relevant persons with money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing, or criminal offences related thereto.

(4) [26 April 2018]

(5) If there are objective reasons to believe that the provision of information based on the request of authorities referred to in Paragraphs one, 1.¹, two, and three of this Section would adversely affect the current operational activities, pre-trial investigation, the analysis provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, or might endanger human life or health, or under other emergency circumstances, or if the disclosure of information would be clearly disproportionate to the lawful interests of a natural or legal person or non-conforming to the purpose for which it was requested, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, explaining the reasons for refusal, does not have an obligation to fulfil the information request.

(6) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, upon international request of information within the scope of the criminal proceedings initiated abroad, is entitled to provide information to the person directing the criminal proceedings initiated abroad.

[10 December 2009; 7 June 2012; 11 June 2015; 22 June 2017; 26 October 2017; 26 April 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 57. Responsibility for the Information Request

(1) The requester of information shall be responsible for the validity of the information request.

(2) It shall be permitted to make public the information provided by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia from the moment when the relevant person is held criminally liable or sooner, if it is necessary for achieving the purpose of criminal proceedings.

[26 April 2018; 13 June 2019]

Section 58. Use of Information

(1) Information which is received from the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with the procedures laid down in this Chapter may only be used for the purpose for which the relevant information has been received. The consent of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is required to use the information for purposes which exceed the initially approved purposes. The State authorities shall provide information to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia on the results of the use of information, pre-trial investigation or the verification carried out.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may disclose the information received by it from the authorities and institutions referred to in Section 62, Paragraphs one and four of this Law upon a prior consent of such authorities and institutions and for a mutually coordinated purpose of use.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Chapter XI
Advisory Board of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

[13 June 2019]

Section 59. Task of the Advisory Board of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

In order to facilitate the work of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and to coordinate its cooperation with investigating institutions, the Office of the Prosecutor, a court, and the subjects of this Law, the Advisory Board of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (hereinafter - the Advisory Board) is established and it has the following tasks:

1) to coordinate the cooperation among the State authorities, the subjects of the Law and the supervisory and control authorities thereof in the fulfilment of the requirements of this Law;

2) to develop recommendations for the fulfilment of the obligations of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia provided for in this Law;

3) to prepare recommendations for amending the content of the threshold declaration and submit them to the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

4) to provide recommendations for the improvement of the activities of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia;

5) to examine the information on activities in the field of prevention and combating of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including on those carried out in the previous year which are related to supervision and control of the subjects of the Law, and also the quality of reports provided on suspicious transactions;

6) to request information from the authorities involved in the composition of the Advisory Board and to examine the information provided by such authorities regarding their action in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, to exchange information, within the scope of the Advisory Board, regarding money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing risks, tendencies, and cases, as well as to provide recommendations for the improvement of actions of such authorities;

7) to inform the Financial Sector Development Board regarding global tendencies of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and their impact at national level.

[13 August 2014; 1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

Section 60. The Composition of the Advisory Board

(1) The Advisory Board shall consist of:

1) two representatives, including one from the State Revenue Service, designated by the Minister for Finance;

2) one representative designated by each:

a) the Minister for the Interior;

b) the Minister for Justice;

c) Latvijas Banka;

8) [23 September 2021 / See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions];

e) the Finance Latvia Association,

f) the Latvian Insurers Association;

g) the Latvian Association of Sworn Auditors;

h) the Council of Sworn Notaries of Latvia;

i) the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates;

j) the Supreme Court;

k) the Prosecutor General.

(2) Meetings of the Advisory Board shall be convened and chaired, as well as their agenda shall be determined by the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

(3) Experts may be invited to participate in the meeting of the Advisory Board.

(4) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall ensure the record keeping of the Advisory Board.

[1 November 2018; 13 June 2019; 23 September 2021 / See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter XII
Coordination of the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing

[13 June 2019]

Section 61. Coordinating Authority

(1) A coordinating authority whose purpose of operation is to coordinate and to improve the cooperation between the State authorities and the private sector in the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing is the Financial Sector Development Board.

(2) The composition, functions, tasks, rights, the decision taking procedures and work organisation of the Financial Sector Development Board shall be determined by the Cabinet.

[13 June 2019]

Chapter XIII
International Cooperation

Section 62. Exchange of Information

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may, on its own initiative or upon request, exchange information with foreign authorised institutions the obligations of which are essentially similar to the obligations referred to in Section 50, Paragraph one and Section 51 of this Law, as well as with foreign or international anti-terrorism and proliferation financing agencies concerning the issues of the control of the movement of funds associated with terrorism and proliferation and with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) if:

1) the confidentiality of data and the use thereof for mutually agreed purposes only is ensured;

2) processing, analysis, and use of information on criminal offences is guaranteed, including in relation to money laundering or terrorism or proliferation financing, and also persons involved in criminal offences regardless of the type of the criminal offence and the fact whether such criminal offence from which the funds were obtained has been identified.

(1¹) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may, on the basis of information request received from the United Nations Security Council and auxiliary authorities established in accordance with its legal acts (hereinafter - the UN Security Council) by intermediation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs transfer to the UN Security Council the information necessary for the implementation of the sanctions regime laid down in its resolutions if data confidentiality of the provided information is ensured and the use of information only for the implementation of the sanctions regime laid down in resolutions of UN Security Council is guaranteed.

(1²) Upon receipt of a request from a notified body, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall exercise the rights provided for in this Law in order to receive and analyse the information required for the examination of its request. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall provide a reply to the request within the shortest possible time, taking into account the nature of the request, justification for urgency, and the concluded cooperation agreements.

(2) The request for information shall include information on the established facts, reasons for the request, and ways of use of information. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is entitled to enter into cooperation agreements for the purpose of information exchange with the institutions and authorities referred to in Paragraph one of this Section by agreeing on the procedures and content of the exchange of information. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia is entitled to determine for the foreign authorised institutions and international authorities other restrictions and conditions related to the use of information provided, in addition to those specified in Paragraph one of this Section, as well as to request data on the use thereof. Information shall be provided for the purpose of the analysis thereof, and a prior consent of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with the requirements specified in Paragraph one of this Section shall be required for the further forwarding of the information. If possible, the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall inform the provider of information of the use of the information received.

(3) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall, by indicating a justification, refuse to perform exchange of a full or partial amount of information or shall refuse to give its consent to further forwarding of information in the following cases:

1) such an action may prejudice the sovereignty, security, public order or other State interests of Latvia;

2) there are sufficient grounds to believe that the person will be subject to prosecution or punishment due to the race, religion, national, ethnic origin or political opinion;

3) such an action would definitely be non-commensurate with the lawful interests of the State of Latvia or a person;

(4) [13 June 2019]

(4) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia may request also from other foreign institutions not referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, information required for the analysis of the received reports on suspicious transactions and threshold declarations.

(5) Information at the disposal of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be provided to foreign investigating institutions and courts in accordance with the procedures provided for in international agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and through intermediation of the State authorities of the Republic of Latvia specified in such agreements, moreover, only about criminal offences which are criminally punishable in the Republic of Latvia, if it is not specified otherwise in the international agreements on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

(6) If the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia receives a report, in accordance with Section 31⁴ of this Law, which applies to another Member State, it shall immediately forward such report to the authorised institution of the relevant Member State the obligations of which are essentially similar to the obligations referred to in Section 50, Paragraph one and Section 51 of this Law.

[13 August 2014; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 19 September 2024]

Section 63. Issue of Orders

(1) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to issue an order upon request of the authorised institutions or international terrorism prevention authorities of other countries in accordance with the requirements of this Law.

(2) The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has the right to issue an order, if the information provided in the request creates reasonable suspicions that a criminal offence is occurring, including money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing or an attempt to carry out such actions, and such an order would also have been issued if a report on a suspicious transaction had been received in accordance with the procedures provided for in this Law.

[13 June 2019 / Amendment to Paragraph two regarding the deletion of the words "unusual or" shall come into force on 17 December 2019. See Paragraph 38 of Transitional Provisions]

Chapter XIV
Compensation of Losses Caused as a Result of Unjustified and Unlawful Action of the Subject of the Law and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia

[7 June 2012 / 13 June 2019]

Section 64. Unjustified Action

(1) The action of the subject of the Law shall be unjustified, if it at the time of taking the decision has acted in good faith in accordance with the provisions of this Law, however, later one of the legal basis for the compensation of losses specified in Section 68 of this Law has arisen.

(2) The action of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be unjustified if it has acted in accordance with the provisions of this Law, however, later one of the legal basis for the compensation of losses specified in Section 68 of this Law has arisen.

[13 June 2019]

Section 65. Unlawful Action

(1) The action of the subject of the Law shall be unlawful if it does not comply with the provisions of this Law.

(2) The action of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia shall be unlawful if it, upon issuing an order, has violated the provisions of this Law.

[13 June 2019]

Section 66. Loss

Loss is a materially assessable damage which is caused to a person as a result of unjustified or unlawful actions by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia or the subject of the Law.

[13 June 2019]

Section 67. Causal Link

(1) The right to compensation for losses shall arise if a direct causal link exists between the unjustified or unlawful actions of the subject of the Law or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and loss caused to a person - objective link between the actions of the subject of the Law or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia and its consequences following in terms of time that causes loss, namely, the abovementioned action is the main factor which has inevitably caused such consequences.

(2) Causal link does not exist if the same loss would have arisen also in case of not setting in of any of legal basis for the compensation of losses.

[13 June 2019]

Section 68. Legal Basis for the Compensation of Losses

(1) The compensation of losses shall have the following legal basis:

1) an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia issued in accordance with the provisions of Section 32.², Paragraph one of this Law to terminate the refraining from executing transactions;

2) a notice of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia issued to the subject of the Law in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 2 of this Law on the fact that such Unit has not detected any basis to issue the order referred to in Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Law;

2¹) an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia issued to the subject of the Law in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph four, Clause 2 of this Law by which it is notified that further temporary freezing of funds is to be terminated because the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has not detected any basis to issue the order referred to in Section 32.², Paragraph four, Clause 1 of this Law;

3) an order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia issued in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraphs six and seven of this Law to revoke the order which has been issued in accordance with the provisions of Section 32.², Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Law;

4) a decision of a judge by which the order of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia issued in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph one or Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Law is repealed.

(2) If the subject of the Law has acted unjustifiably, the right to compensation of losses shall not arise from the moment when he or she has notified the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia in accordance with Section 32, Paragraph two of this Law until the moment when the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia has issued the order to terminate the refraining from executing a transaction in accordance with Section 32.², Paragraph one of this Law.

[13 August 2014; 13 June 2019; 13 October 2022]

Section 69. Co-responsibility

A person is not entitled to receive compensation of losses fully or partially, if it:

1) has not used its knowledge, abilities and practical opportunities, as well as has not done everything possible in order to prevent or minimize the loss;

2) has hampered the assessment of the lawfulness of a transaction, including it has not provided or has not provided in a timely manner the information which is necessary (requested) for the assessment of the transaction, it has provided false information, it has not been accessible at its declared place of residence or actual place of residence (if its address has been specified for the subject of the Law), or at the registered address;

3) has caused losses for itself or has induced incurring of such losses.

Section 70. Types of Losses to be Compensated

(1) The following direct losses shall be compensated to a person:

1) refraining from executing transactions or unearned income as a result of suspension of the relevant actions;

2) losses incurred as a result of non-fulfilment or delay in the fulfilment of obligations;

3) other direct losses not referred to in this Section, which are determined in the Civil Law and which a person may prove.

(2) If fine for late payments has been calculated for a person as a taxpayer regarding the time period when the possibility to act with financial funds was unlawfully or unjustifiably prohibited to the person, and the Prosecutor General or specially authorised prosecutor has taken a decision on the compensation of losses, such fine for late payments shall be deleted for the relevant person in accordance with the procedures laid down in the law On Taxes and Fees.

[Paragraph two shall come into force on 11 January 2013 / See Paragraph 9 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 71. Determination of the Amount of Compensation of Losses

(1) When determining the corresponding amount of the compensation of losses, the lawful and actual justification and motives for the actions of the subject of the Law or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, as well as the actions of the person shall be taken into account.

(2) When determining the amount of the compensation of losses, in addition other circumstances significant in the particular case, if they can be objectively proven, may be taken into account.

(3) Losses which have been calculated in accordance with the provisions of Section 70 and Section 71, Paragraphs one and two of this Law shall be compensated in the following amount:

1) in the amount of 100 per cent - for the calculated sum or part of the sum which does not exceed EUR 150 000;

2) in the amount of 75 per cent - for the calculated part of the sum which exceeds EUR 150 000, but does not exceed EUR 1 425 000;

3) in the amount of EUR 50 per cent - for the calculated part of the sum which exceeds EUR 1 425 000.

(4) The compensation of losses for unearned income to be disbursed to a person shall be subject to taxes and duties in accordance with the procedures determined in the tax laws.

[31 October 2013; 13 June 2019]

Section 72. Procedures by which an Application for the Compensation of Losses shall be Submitted and Examined

(1) A person shall submit an application for the compensation of losses within six months from the day of setting in of lawful basis referred to in Section 68 of this Law to the Office of the Prosecutor General. The following shall be indicated in the application:

1) given name, surname, address, and personal identity number, but if there is not any - other information which provides a possibility to identify the person, of a submitter - natural person, or the firm name, registration number, and registered address of a legal person;

2) claim;

3) lawful basis for the compensation of losses and other facts which substantiate the right to compensation of losses;

4) confirmation of a person that this person did not have any free financial funds in order to fulfil his or her obligations at the time of arising of loss;

5) details of the bank account or postal settlement system account to which compensation of losses is to be transmitted;

6) by option - other contact information (additional address, phone number, electronic mail address).

(2) The documents confirming the loss and other evidence shall be appended to the application.

(3) The Prosecutor General or specially authorised prosecutor shall, within three months after receipt of an application, assess the lawful basis for the compensation of losses and take a decision on the compensation of losses and the amount thereof or on the refusal to compensate the losses. If due to objective reasons it is not possible to comply with the time period of three months, it may be prolonged to up to six months by informing the submitter thereof in writing. If necessary the Prosecutor General or specially authorised prosecutor may request additional information.

(4) A person shall be held liable in accordance with the law for the intentional provision of false information to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Section 73. Notification of Decision of the Prosecutor General or Specially Authorised Prosecutor and Validity Thereof

(1) A decision on the compensation of losses or refusal to compensate losses shall come into effect by the time when it is notified to the submitter.

(2) A person who does not agree with the decision of the Prosecutor General or a specially authorised prosecutor in the matter of compensation of losses has the right to initiate court proceedings within 30 days in accordance with the procedures provided for in the Civil Procedure Law.

Section 74. Execution of a Decision Taken in the Matter of Compensation of Loss

(1) After the decision on the compensation of loss of the Prosecutor General or a specially authorised prosecutor has come into effect, the Office of the Prosecutor General shall, within three working days, send the following to the Ministry of Finance for execution:

1) a true copy of the decision;

2) information on person's data, bank or postal settlement system details and contact information, if a person has specified it.

(2) After the decision of the Prosecutor General or specially authorised prosecutor has entered into effect, the Office of the Prosecutor General shall, within three working days, send the following to a tax administration for deleting of fine for late payments referred to in Section 70, Paragraph two of this Law:

1) a true copy of the decision;

2) information on person's data, the amount of sum of the suspended transaction and a time period during which the person was prohibited from possibility to act with financial resources.

(3) The Ministry of Finance shall, within a month after receipt of all necessary information, disburse a compensation of loss, by transmitting it to the bank or postal settlement system account specified in the application.

(4) Upon a justified decision, the Ministry of Finance may disburse the compensation of losses in parts within a year after receipt of all necessary information. This decision may not be contested and appealed.

(5) The compensation of losses shall be disbursed from the funds intended specially for such purposes in the State budget.

[Paragraph two shall come into force on 11 January 2013 / See Paragraph 9 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 75. Report on the Compensation of Losses

The Ministry of Finance shall, once a year (until 15 January of the following year), draw up a report on all decisions of the Prosecutor General or specially authorised prosecutor on the compensation of losses from the State budget received during the relevant time period and submit it to the Cabinet.

Section 76. Liability of the Subject of the Law

(1) If the State compensates to a person the losses which have been incurred due to unlawful action of the subject of the Law, the Office of the Prosecutor General shall bring a subrogation action against the subject of the Law after disbursement of the compensation.

(2) Prior to bringing a subrogation action against the subject of the Law the Office of the Prosecutor General shall notify him or her of the decision taken and propose to voluntarily compensate the caused losses within a month.

(3) Funds collected in accordance with the subrogation procedures shall be transferred to the State basic budget.

Chapter XV
Liability for Violations in the Field of Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing, and Competence in Imposing Sanctions and Implementing Supervisory Measures

[26 October 2017 / 13 June 2019]

Section 77. Competence in Imposing Sanctions and Implementing Supervisory Measures

(1) The supervisory and control authority shall impose the sanctions specified in Section 78 of this Law, if violations of the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing are found. The sanctions specified in Section 78, Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 of this Law in relation to the certified auditors and commercial companies of certified auditors shall be imposed by the State Revenue Service upon the proposal of the supervisory and control authority - the Latvian Association of Certified Auditors. The sanctions laid down in Section 78, Paragraph one, Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this Law in relation to the administrators of insolvency proceedings shall be imposed by the Insolvency Control Service upon the proposal of the supervisory and control authority - the Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings - or without it if the Insolvency Control Service has carried out the supervisory and control measures independently.

(2) The supervisory and control authority in addition to the sanctions specified in Section 78 of this Law may apply the supervisory measures specified in the laws and regulations governing the activities of the relevant subjects of the Law, if violations of the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing are found. Latvijas Banka may apply supervisory measures also if there are grounds to believe that the violation referred to in Paragraph one of this Section might occur within the nearest 12 months from the day of taking the decision and the supervisory measure will reduce or prevent the probability of such violation.

(3) When determining the type and extent of sanctions or supervisory measures in accordance with Paragraph one of this Section, the supervisory and control authority shall take into account all relevant circumstances, including:

1) the severity, duration and regularity of the violation;

2) the degree of liability of the natural or legal person;

3) the financial situation of the natural or legal person (the amount of annual income of the liable natural person or the total annual turnover of the liable legal person and other factors affecting the financial situation);

4) the profit obtained by the natural or legal person as a result of the violation, insofar as it can be calculated;

5) the losses caused to the third parties by the violation, insofar as they can be established;

6) the extent to which the natural or legal person held liable is cooperating with the supervisory and control authority;

7) the violations which the natural or legal person has previously committed in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, and international and national sanctions.

(4) When applying the sanctions laid down in Section 78 of this Law, the supervisory and control authorities shall closely cooperate in order to coordinate action in cross-border cases and ensure that the sanctions applied and supervisory measures taken achieve the intended objective.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021 / Amendment regarding the replacement of the words "the Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" shall come into force on 1 January 2023. See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 78. Failure to Comply with the Requirements Specified for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing

(1) The following sanctions may be imposed on the subject of the Law for the violation of the laws and regulations in the field of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including in relation to the customer due diligence, monitoring of the business relationship and transactions, reporting of suspicious transactions, provision of information to the supervisory and control authority or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, refraining from execution of a transaction, freezing of funds, internal control system, storage and destruction of information, as well as for the violation of Regulation No 2015/847:

1) to express a public announcement by indicating the person liable for the violation and the nature of the violation;

2) issue a warning;

3) to impose a fine on a person (natural or legal) liable for the violation in double the amount of the profit obtained as a result of the violation (if it can be calculated) or another fine up to EUR 1 000 000;

4) to suspend or discontinue the activity (including to suspend or cancel the licence (certificate) or to cancel the entry in the relevant register, to suspend economic activity, to apply a prohibition on changes in the registration in the commercial register for reorganisation of a commercial company and change of shareholders) and to give orders to credit institutions or payment service providers regarding partial or complete suspension of settlement operations of the subject of the Law;

5) to set a temporary prohibition on a person liable for the violation to fulfil the obligations specified for him or her by the subject of the Law;

6) to impose an obligation to perform certain action or refrain therefrom;

7) to impose an obligation on the subject of the Law to dismiss the person liable for the violation from the position held.

(1¹) The supervisory and control authority is entitled to impose the sanction laid down in Paragraph one, Clause 6 of this Section also to the beneficial owner of the subject of the Law if it fails to comply with Section 10.¹, Paragraph 1.¹ of this Law.

(1²) If it is laid down in laws and regulations that in order to perform an economic or professional activity it is necessary to receive a special permit, for example, a licence, or to register in a register, but the subject of the Law has not done it and laws and regulations do not provide for administrative liability for failure to fulfil this obligation, the supervisory and control authority is entitled to apply to the subject of the Law the sanctions specified in Paragraph one of this Section.

(2) In relation to sworn advocates and sworn notaries the proceedings for violations of the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing shall be examined according to the procedural order for the examination of disciplinary cases specified in the laws and regulations governing activities of such persons.

(3) By way of derogation from Paragraph one, Clause 3 of this Section, the following sanctions may be imposed on credit institutions and financial institutions for the violation of the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, including in relation to the customer due diligence, monitoring of the business relationship and transactions, reporting on suspicious transactions, provision of information to the supervisory and control authority or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia, refraining from the execution of a transaction, freezing of funds, internal control system, storage and destruction of information, as well as for violation of Regulation No 2015/847:

1) to impose a fine on a legal person in the amount of up to 10 per cent of the total annual turnover according to the latest approved financial statement, drafted, approved and audited, if necessary, in accordance with the laws and regulations in the field of preparation of annual statements binding to the credit institution or financial institution. If 10 per cent of the total annual turnover, available in accordance with that which is laid down in the first sentence of this Clause, is less than EUR 5 000 000, the supervisory and control authority is entitled to impose a fine in the amount of up to EUR 5 000 000. If the credit institution or financial institution is a parent undertaking or a subsidiary of a parent undertaking, the corresponding total annual turnover shall be the total annual turnover or the income of the corresponding type in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and the latest available consolidated statements which have been approved by the key management body of the parent undertaking;

2) to impose a fine of up to EUR 5 000 000 on the official, employee or a person who, at the time of committing the violation, has been liable for the performance of a specific action upon assignment or in the interests of the credit institution or financial institution.

(3¹) The sanctions specified in Paragraph one and Paragraph three, Clause 1 of this Section may be imposed on the subject of the Law for the violations of the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing also if the violation has been committed in favour of the subject of the Law - a legal person or legal arrangement - by a person who is acting individually or in any of the structural units of the subject of the Law and is authorised to represent the legal person or legal arrangement, take decisions on behalf of the legal person, or otherwise control the legal person or legal arrangement. In such case the subject of the Law shall be held liable also for the deficiencies in the supervision and control of these persons.

(4) If the supervisory and control authority finds that a branch of a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which operates in Latvia or a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which provides financial services without opening a branch therein performs activities contrary to this Law, directly applicable European Union legal acts or other laws and regulations, or the decisions taken by the supervisory authorities of credit institutions or financial institutions of the Member State, it shall immediately request that the respective branch, credit institution, or financial institution terminates such activities, informs the supervisory authority of credit institutions or financial institutions of the relevant Member State thereof, and takes measures to prevent such violations.

(5) If a branch of a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which operates in Latvia, or a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which provides financial services without opening a branch does not terminate activities contrary to this Law, directly applicable European Union legal acts or other laws and regulations, or the decisions taken by the supervisory authorities of credit institutions or financial institutions of the Member State, the supervisory and control authority shall, without delay, inform the supervisory authority of credit institutions or financial institutions of the relevant Member State thereof and shall implement measures for the prevention of such violations.

(6) If immediate action is required to prevent significant violations, the supervisory and control authority may impose the sanctions specified in Paragraph one of this Section on a branch of a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which operates in Latvia or a credit institution or financial institution licensed in another Member State which provides financial services without opening a branch, if necessary, in cooperation with the competent authority of the relevant Member State.

(7) The supervisory and control authority shall, immediately after taking of the decision, publish on its website information regarding the sanctions imposed on the subject of the Law and also information regarding appeal of the decision on the imposition of sanctions, the outcome of the appeal, and the decision on revoking the sanctions.

(8) The supervisory and control authority may publish the information referred to in Paragraph seven of this Section without identifying the person, if, after the initial assessment, it finds that the disclosure of personal data of the natural person on whom the sanction has been imposed may endanger the stability of the financial market or the course of the initiated criminal proceedings, or cause incommensurate harm to the persons involved.

(9) If it is expected that the circumstances referred to in Paragraph eight of this Section may cease to exist in a reasonable period of time, public disclosure of the information referred to in Paragraph seven of this Law may be postponed.

(10) Information posted on the website of the supervisory and control authority in accordance with the procedures specified in this Section shall be available for the time period of five years from the day of posting it.

(11) Latvijas Banka and the Consumer Rights Protection Centre shall inform the European Banking Authority of the sanctions imposed on credit institutions and financial institutions and also appeal of the decision on the imposition of sanctions, the outcome of the appeal, and the decision on revoking the sanctions.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021; 23 September 2021; 13 October 2022 / See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 79. Appeal against an Administrative Act of Latvijas Banka

The decision of Latvijas Banka on the imposition of sanctions taken on the basis of this Law may be appealed before the Administrative Regional Court. The court shall examine the case as the court of first instance. The case shall be examined in the panel of three judges. The judgment of the Administrative Regional Court may be appealed by filing a cassation complaint.

[26 October 2017; 23 September 2021 / Amendment regarding the replacement of the words "the Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" shall come into force on 1 January 2023. See Paragraph 64 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 80. Operation of the Administrative Act

The contesting or appeal of the administrative act on the imposition of the sanctions referred to in Section 78 of this Law, except for the imposition of a fine, shall not suspend the operation of such act.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019]

Section 81. Procedures for the Use of Fines

The fines for violations of this Law shall be transferred into the State budget. Use of the fines collected for violations of this Law shall be determined in accordance with that provided for in the law on annual State budget.

[26 October 2017]

Section 82. Statute of Limitation

(1) If the subject of the Law has violated the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing, the supervisory and control authority is entitled to initiate proceedings not later than within five years from the day of committing the violation, but, in case of a continuing offence, - from the day of terminating the violation.

(2) If the subject of the Law has violated the laws and regulations in the field of prevention of money laundering and terrorism and proliferation financing and if there is information at the disposal of the supervisory and control authority which causes suspicions regarding direct or indirect involvement of the subject of the Law in money laundering or terrorism and proliferation financing, the supervisory and control authority is entitled to initiate proceedings not later than within 10 years from the day of committing the violation, but, in case of a continuing offence, - from the day of terminating the violation.

(3) The calculation of the statute of limitation for initiation of proceedings specified in Paragraphs one and two of this Section shall be stopped from the day of when the proceedings have been initiated.

(4) The supervisory and control authority may take a decision on imposition of the sanctions specified in Section 78 of this Law within two years from the day when the proceedings have been initiated.

(5) Due to objective reasons, including if the proceedings require a protracted determination of facts, the supervisory and control authority, by taking a decision, may extend the time period for taking of a decision specified in Paragraph four of this Section for a time period not exceeding three years from the day when the proceedings have been initiated. The decision on extending the time period shall not be subject to appeal.

(6) The supervisory and control authority shall terminate the proceedings, if the decision on imposition of the sanctions specified in Section 78 of this Law has not been taken within the time period specified in Paragraph four or five of this Section.

[26 October 2017; 13 June 2019]

Section 83. Reporting of Violations of the Law (also Potential) to the Supervisory and Control Authority and Prohibition to Cause Unfavourable Consequences

(1) The provisions of this Section shall be applicable to such person who reports a violation of this Law (also potential) (hereinafter in this Section - the violation) to the supervisory and control authority and is not considered a whistleblower within the meaning of the Whistleblowing Law.

(2) Any person may report the violation of this Law to the supervisory and control authority. The supervisory and control authority shall establish and maintain an efficient and credible reporting system which includes at least the following elements:

1) the procedures by which reports on the violations of this Law are received and by which processing of reports shall be performed;

2) the protection of the identity of such natural person who reports the violation of this Law or who is allegedly responsible for the violation.

(3) Upon receipt of a report on the violation of this Law, the supervisory and control authority shall assess it on the merits and, in case of establishing a violation, shall apply liability in accordance with laws and regulations. If during examination of the report suspicions regarding the violation the examination of which is not within the competence of the supervisory and control authority arise to such authority, the report shall be forwarded for further examination according to jurisdiction.

(4) In order to facilitate reporting on the violations of this Law, the Cabinet shall approve the sample form of the report and shall determine the information to be indicated therein.

(5) It is prohibited to punish a person or otherwise directly or indirectly cause unfavourable consequences for him or her due to the fact that the person has reported the violation of this Law to the supervisory and control authority. The obligation of proving that the unfavourable consequences to the person have not been caused due to reporting of the violation of this Law shall lie with the party which has caused such consequences. That referred to in this Paragraph shall also be applicable in relation to such person who has reported the violation of this Law to the subject of the Law or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia.

[13 June 2019]

Chapter XVI
Administrative Offences in the Field of the Shared Know Your Customer Utility Service and Competence in the Administrative Offence Proceedings

[15 June 2021 / The Chapter shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 84. Provision of the Shared Know Your Customer Utility Service without a Licence

For the activity of the shared know your customer utility service provider without a licence, a fine from two thousand to two thousand eight hundred units of fine shall be imposed on a legal person.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Section 85. Competence in the Administrative Offence Proceedings

Administrative offence proceedings for the offence referred to in Section 84 of this Law shall be conducted by the State Data Inspectorate.

[15 June 2021 / Section shall come into force on 1 January 2022. See Paragraph 56 of Transitional Provisions]

Transitional Provisions

1. With the coming into force of this Law, the Law on the Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity (Latvijas Republikas Saeimas un Ministru Kabineta Ziņotājs, 1998, No. 3; 2000, No. 14; 2002, No. 16; 2004, No. 2; 2005, No. 13; 2006, No. 12) is repealed.

2. The subjects of the Law shall conduct the customer identification and determination of the beneficial owner, specified in this Law, in relation to those customers with whom business relationships are in force and who were not subject thereto, no later than until 1 July 2009 or shall terminate the business relationship with such customers until the deadline specified.

3. Until the day of the coming into force of new Cabinet regulations, but not later than until 1 January 2009, the following Cabinet regulations shall be in force:

1) the Cabinet Regulation No. 213 of 2 June 1998, Regulation Regarding the Work Remuneration System for Employees of the Service of Prevention of Money Laundering;

2) the Cabinet Regulation No. 497 of 29 December 1998, Regulation Regarding the Procedure According to Which the State Authorities Shall Provide Information to the Service of Prevention of Money Laundering;

3) the Cabinet Regulation No. 127 of 20 March 2001, Regulations Regarding List of Elements of Unusual Transactions and Procedures for Reporting;

4) the Cabinet Regulation No. 731 of 29 August 2006, Regulation Regarding States and the International Organisations Having the Lists Compiled in Which the Persons Suspected of Committing an Act of Terror or Participation Therein Are Included.

4. The subjects of the Law under the supervision of the State Revenue Service pursuant to Section 45, Paragraph two of this Law and who have commenced their operation until the day of coming into force of this Law shall inform in writing the territorial office of the State Revenue Service regarding the type of their activities within 30 working days following the coming into force of this Law.

5. The provisions of Section 41 of this Law regarding the right to request and receive free of charge information necessary for the enforcement of this Law from the registers and information systems shall come into force concurrently with the necessary amendments to the relevant laws in force. Until the day of the coming into force of the relevant amendments, the subjects of the Law referred to in Section 41 of this Law have the right to request and receive information from the Invalid Document Register, the Punishment Register and the Population Register according to the legal norms in force until the day of the coming into force of this Law.

6. The information from the Punishment Register specified in Section 41 of this Law shall be provided free of charge starting from 1 January 2010.

7. In 2009, the remuneration (wage, etc.) specified in accordance with this Law shall be determined in accordance with the law On Remuneration of Officials and Employees of State and Local Government Authorities in 2009.

[12 December 2008]

8. Section 32, Paragraph 2.¹ of this Law, amendments to the introductory part of Section 32, Paragraph three and to Paragraph three, Clause 3 of this Law regarding the determination of the time period of 40 days, Section 32, Paragraph eight, Clause 4, Section 34, Paragraph 1.¹ of this Law, amendments to Section 34, Paragraph two, as well as amendments to Section 39, Paragraph one related to the provision of information to a customer regarding an order issued by the Control Service in accordance with Section 32, Paragraph 2.¹ of this Law, shall not be applied to the reports of the subject of the Law that were submitted to the Control Service until 31 December 2009.

[10 December 2009]

9. Section 70, Paragraph two and Section 74, Paragraph two of this Law shall come into force concurrently with the relevant amendments to the law On Taxes and Fees.

[7 June 2012]

10. Sections 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, and 69, Section 70, Paragraph one, Sections 71, 72 and 73, Section 74, Paragraph one, three, four and five, Sections 75 and 76 of this Law shall come into force on 1 January 2013.

[7 June 2012]

11. Amendments to Section 41, Paragraph two, Clause 2 of this Law shall come into force on 1 March 2015.

[13 August 2014]

12. The Cabinet shall issue regulations regarding the countries and international organisations which have drawn up the lists of those persons suspected of being involved in terrorist activity or production, possession, transportation, use or distribution of weapons of mass destruction. Until the day of coming into force of the Cabinet Regulation referred to in the first sentence of this Paragraph, however no longer than until 1 April 2016, Cabinet Regulation No. 36 of 13 January 2009, Regulations Regarding the Countries and International Organisations which have Drawn up the Lists of Those Persons Suspected of Being Involved in Terrorist Activity, shall be in force.

[4 February 2016]

13. Section 4, Paragraph three, Clause 2 (in new wording) of this Law shall come into force concurrently with the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia.

[4 February 2016]

14. In respect of establishment of business relationship with a customer - politically exposed person who holds or has held a prominent public office in the Republic of Latvia, and also a family member of a politically exposed person or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person - the subject of the Law shall ensure fulfilment of the requirements specified in Section 22, Paragraph two, Clause 2, Section 25, Paragraphs one, three and four of this Law until 1 June 2016.

[4 February 2016]

15. In respect of a customer - politically exposed person who holds or has held a prominent public office in the Republic of Latvia, and also of a family member of a politically exposed person or a person closely associated to a politically exposed person with whom business relationship has been established until the day of coming into force of Section 1, Clause 18 (new wording) of this Law - the subject of the Law shall ensure the fulfilment of the requirements specified in Section 22, Paragraph two, Clause 2, Section 25, Paragraphs two, three and four of this Law until 1 December 2016.

[4 February 2016]

16. A credit institution, payment institution and electronic money institution shall develop the policy laid down in Section 10, Paragraph 2.¹, Clause 1 of this Law and the procedures laid down in Paragraph 2.¹, Clause 2 within three months from the day when Section 10, Paragraph 2.¹ comes into force, and until 1 January 2017 shall carry out and document the assessment which attests that the employee responsible for the compliance with the requirements of this Law and responsible member of the executive board comply with the requirements laid down in laws and regulations and internal policies and procedures of the subject of this Law.

[26 May 2016]

17. Section 3, Paragraph one, Clause 11 and Section 45, Paragraph two, Clause 6, Sub-Clause "e" of this Law shall come into force on 1 July 2019.

[26 October 2017]

18. Amendment supplementing Section 5, Paragraph three of this Law with Clauses 11, 12, and 13 shall come into force concurrently with the corresponding amendments to the Criminal Law.

[26 October 2017; 26 April 2018]

19. The natural person shall notify information to the legal person in accordance with Section 18.¹, Paragraphs one and two of this Law by 1 February 2018.

[26 October 2017]

20. The commercial company which has submitted a notification to the commercial register on the beneficial owner in accordance with Section 17.¹ of The Commercial Law and for which such beneficial owner remains unchanged by the day of coming into force of Section 18.² of this Law, shall submit the lacking information referred to in Section 18.¹, Paragraph four of this Law on the beneficial owner by 1 February 2018.

[26 October 2017]

21. Section 18.² of this Law shall come into force on 1 December 2017. The Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall, by 1 January 2018, register information in the commercial register submitted on the beneficial owners of the commercial companies in accordance with Section 17.¹ of The Commercial Law, without taking a separate decision.

[26 October 2017]

22. A legal person (except for the commercial companies referred to in Paragraph 20 of these Transitional Provisions), registered in the register maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia or an application on registration whereof has been submitted before the day of coming into force of Section 18.² of this Law, shall submit an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia on its beneficial owner in accordance with Section 18.², Paragraph two of this Law by 1 March 2018.

[26 October 2017]

23. The Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall ensure online availability of the information referred to in Section 18.³, Paragraph one of this Law starting from 1 April 2018.

[26 October 2017]

24. Section 18.³, Paragraph three of this Law shall come into force on 1 June 2018.

[26 October 2017]

25. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations referred to in Section 22, Paragraph two, Sub-Clause "b" and Paragraph three of this Law by 1 April 2018.

[26 October 2017]

26. The subjects of the Law shall take into account the national money laundering and terrorism financing risk assessment report in relation to the simplified customer due diligence specified in Section 26 of this Law starting from 1 July 2018.

[26 October 2017]

27. Amendment to Section 41, Paragraph two, Clause 7 of this Law with respect to the provision of information on the date of death of a person shall come into force on 1 January 2019.

[26 October 2017]

28. Amendment deleting Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 5 of this Law shall come into force on 25 June 2019.

[26 October 2017]

29. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations regarding the supervision and control of the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing referred to in Section 47, Paragraph four of this Law for the subjects of the Law referred to Section 45, Paragraph 2.¹ of this Law until 1 July 2018.

[26 October 2017]

30. The Financial and Capital Market Commission is entitled to impose the sanctions specified in Section 78 of this Law on participants of the financial and capital market also for the violations of the requirements of the laws and regulations in relation to the financial restrictions specified in the Law on International Sanctions and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia, up to the day of coming into force of amendments to the laws and regulations determining liability for the violations of the requirements of the laws and regulations in relation to the financial restrictions for which criminal liability is not applied in accordance with Section 84 of The Criminal Law.

[26 October 2017]

31. Credit institutions, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, investment firms, and - in relation to the management of individual portfolios of customers and the distribution of certificates of open investment funds - also investment management companies shall, within 14 days after the day of entry into force of Section 21.¹ of this Law, notify the customers - shell arrangements which conform to the indications specified in Section 1, Clause 15.¹, Sub-clauses "a" and "b" of this Law - of the termination of business relationship.

[26 April 2018]

32. Credit institutions, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, investment firms, and - in relation to the management of individual portfolios of customers and the distribution of certificates of open investment funds - also investment management companies shall, within 60 days after the day of entry into force of Section 21.¹ of this Law, terminate business relationship and occasional transactions with the customers - shell arrangements which conform to the indications specified in Section 1, Clause 15.¹, Sub-clauses "a" and "b" of this Law.

[26 April 2018]

33. The Financial and Capital Market Commission shall issue the regulatory provisions referred to in Section 21.¹, Paragraph two of this Law until 1 June 2018.

[26 April 2018]

34. The Cabinet shall issue the by-laws of the Control Service until 1 March 2019.

[1 November 2018]

35. The Chief of the Control Service who is fulfilling his or her obligations on the day of coming into force of Section 50.¹ of this Law shall continue to fulfil them for the time period for which he or she has been appointed in the office of the Chief of the Control Service, or until the moment when his or her powers expire without a special decision in accordance with Section 50.², Paragraph two of this Law, or when he or she is released from the office in accordance with Section 50.², Paragraph three of this Law.

[1 November 2018]

36. The Chief of the Control Service who is fulfilling his or her obligations on the day of coming into force of Section 50.¹ of this Law, shall retain the special permit for access to the official secret, unless a lawful justification for cancelling such permit is found on which a relevant decision is taken.

[1 November 2018]

37. Not later than until 1 March 2019, the Chief of the Control Service shall warn the persons employed in the Control Service with whom the State service relations are to be established of the termination of employment relation and establishment of the State service legal relations. If the employee does not agree to establish the State service relations within a month after receipt of the warning, the Chief of the Control Service shall terminate the employment legal relations with the employee by issuing the order.

[1 November 2018]

38. Amendments regarding the deletion of Section 1, Clauses 14 and 16 and Section 3, Paragraph four, regarding the deletion of the words "unusual and" (in the relevant count and case) in Section 7, Paragraph one, Clauses 5 and 6, Section 46, Paragraph one, Clause 4, Section 50, Paragraph one, and Section 78, Paragraphs one and three, the deletion of the words "unusual transaction indications and" in Section 9, the deletion of the words "the transaction conforms to at least one of the indications included in the list of unusual transactions or" in Section 11, Paragraph one, Clause 5, the deletion of the words "unusual or" (in the relevant number and case) in Section 20, Paragraph one, Clause 2, Section 48, Paragraph one, Section 51, Paragraph one, Clause 13, and Section 63, Paragraph two, regarding the deletion of Section 26, Paragraph three, Clause 3, regarding the rewording of Section 27.¹, Paragraph one, Clause 5, regarding the replacement of the words "the quality of the reports provided for suspicious or unusual transactions" with the words "the quality of the reports provided for suspicious transactions or of other information submitted" in Section 51, Paragraph one, Clause 12, regarding the deletion of the words "or unusual" in Section 55, Paragraph three, regarding the rewording of Section 59, Clause 3, regarding the deletion of the words "and unusual" in Section 59, Clause 5, regarding the replacement of the words "reports on unusual or suspicious transactions" with the words "reports on suspicious transactions and threshold declarations" in Section 62, Paragraph four shall come into force on 17 December 2019.

[13 June 2019]

39. Amendments regarding the supplementation of this Law with Section 3.¹ and Chapter IV.¹, the supplementation of Section 7, Paragraph one with Clause 6.¹, and the rewording of Section 26, Paragraph six shall come into force on 17 December 2019.

[13 June 2019]

40. Amendments regarding the supplementation of Section 3, Paragraph one of this Law with Clause 13, the supplementation of Section 38, Paragraphs three and four after the words "sworn advocates" with the words "administrators of insolvency proceedings", the supplementation of Section 45, Paragraph one with Clause 10, the supplementation of the introductory part of Section 46, Paragraph two after the words "Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates" with the words "Latvian Association of Certified Administrators of Insolvency Proceedings" and after the words "notaries, sworn advocates" - with the words "administrators of insolvency proceedings", the supplementation of Section 77, Paragraph one with a new sentence shall come into force on 1 January 2020.

[13 June 2019]

41. If the legal person has not submitted, by 1 July 2019, a separate application for the registration of the beneficial owner, as well as if information on its beneficial owner has been submitted within the scope of other obligations laid down in laws and regulations, and the way in which control over the legal person is exercised arises only from the status of the participant of a limited liability company, the member of a partnership, the owner of an individual enterprise or farming or fishing enterprise, or the member of the executive board of a foundation accordingly, it shall be considered that the legal person has notified its beneficial owner, and the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, without taking a separate decision, shall register the abovementioned persons as the beneficial owners in the relevant registers by 1 July 2019.

[13 June 2019]

42. In the case referred to in Paragraph 41 of these Transitional Provisions the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall register the information on the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner as follows:

1) if the person has a personal identity number, Latvia is registered as the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner;

2) if the person does not have a personal identity number, the country which issued a personal identification document is registered as the nationality and country of the permanent place of residence of the beneficial owner.

[13 June 2019]

43. Amendments regarding the deletion of Section 18.², Paragraphs four and five of this Law shall come into force on 1 July 2019.

[13 June 2019]

44. Amendments to Section 18, Paragraph three of this Law in relation to the mandatory use of the information registered in the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia regarding beneficial owners in the customer due diligence process, as well as amendments to Section 5.¹ and Section 18.³ of this Law regarding availability of information from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall come into force concurrently with amendments to the law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia in relation to the provision of free-of-charge issuance of information to any person from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. Information from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia is issued free of charge to the supervisory and control authorities for the fulfilment of the obligations laid down in this Law from 1 June 2019.

[13 June 2019]

45. Section 18, Paragraphs 3.¹, 3.², 3.⁴, and 3.⁵ of this Law shall come into force on 1 July 2020. Availability of the information specified in Section 18, Paragraph 3.³ of the Law regarding registered warnings to the subjects of the Law, as well as to the law enforcement authorities, control and supervisory authorities is ensured until 1 January 2021, only by receiving individual requests from the abovementioned authorities regarding issuance of the relevant information.

[13 June 2019]

46. Amendments to Sections 18.¹ and 18.² of this Law regarding the obligation of the foreign subjects to reveal the beneficial owners shall come into force in relation to the branches of the foreign subjects to be registered in the commercial register maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia and in relation to representative offices to be registered in the register of representative offices, as well as in relation to the representative offices to be registered in the taxpayer register maintained by the State Revenue Service shall come into force on 1 July 2020.

[13 June 2019]

47. The foreign subjects registered in the commercial register maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia have an obligation to reveal their beneficial owners until 1 January 2021. If the foreign subjects do not reveal the information until the abovementioned date, the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia shall exclude the branches registered thereby from the commercial register.

[13 June 2019]

48. The foreign subjects registered in the register of representative offices maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, as well as in the register of taxpayers maintained by the State Revenue Service have an obligation to reveal their beneficial owners until 1 January 2021. If the foreign subjects do not reveal the information until the abovementioned date, the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia or the State Revenue Service shall exclude the representative offices of foreign organisations registered thereby from the register of representative offices or the permanent representative offices of non-residents (foreign merchants) registered thereby from the register of taxpayers.

[13 June 2019]

49. If a capital company which was registered in the commercial register or regarding registration of which an application had been submitted by the day of coming into force of Section 18.² of this Law (1 December 2017) has not submitted an application to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia regarding its beneficial owners and, within a month after receipt of a written warning, has not eliminated the abovementioned deficiency, its activities shall be terminated on the basis of the decision of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. The norms of The Commercial Law governing termination and liquidation of activity of a capital company shall be applied to the termination of activity and liquidation of the commercial company in case when the activity of the capital company is terminated on the basis of the decision of the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia.

[13 June 2019]

50. Until the day when the relevant amendments to the law On the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia come into force in relation to the provision of free-of-charge issuance of information to any person from the registers maintained by the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, Cabinet Regulation No. 191 of 27 March 2018, Regulations Regarding the Information Issuance and Other Paid Services from the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, shall be applied, insofar as they are not in contradiction with this Law.

[13 June 2019]

51. Amendment regarding the supplementation of Section 25 of this Law with Paragraph six shall be applicable from 1 November 2019. The Cabinet shall issue the regulations referred to in Section 25, Paragraph six of this Law by 1 October 2019.

[13 June 2019]

52. Until making of the relevant amendments the name "Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity" or "Control Service" used in other laws and regulations shall conform to the name "Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia" used in this Law.

[13 June 2019]

53. [19 September 2024]

54. Amendment regarding the new wording of Section 9 of this Law shall come into force on 1 January 2022.

[15 June 2021]

55. Section 10.¹, Paragraph 1.¹ and Section 78, Paragraph 1.¹ of this Law, and also amendment to Section 10.¹, Paragraph three of this Law shall come into force on 1 January 2022.

[15 June 2021]

56. Sections 17.¹, 17.² and 17.³ and Chapter XVI of this Law shall come into force on 1 January 2022.

[15 June 2021]

57. Amendment regarding the new wording of Section 18.³, Paragraph two of this Law shall come into force on 1 August 2021.

[15 June 2021]

58. Amendments regarding the deletion of Chapters IV and IV.¹ of this Law, and also Chapter IV.² of this Law and amendments to Section 36, Paragraph one, Section 43, Section 47.¹, Paragraph five, Section 55, Paragraph six, Section 62, Paragraph six and Section 51, Paragraph one, Clause 18 of this Law shall come into force on 1 October 2021.

[15 June 2021]

59. Until the day when the relevant amendments to other laws and regulations come into force, the term used thereon "provider of services for the establishment of a legal arrangement and securing its operation" shall conform to the term "provider of services for the establishment of a legal arrangement or legal person and securing its operation" used in this Law.

[15 June 2021]

60. Amendments to Section 34 of this Law which amend the procedures for the submission of a complaint shall come into force on 1 October 2021.

[15 June 2021]

61. Section 51.¹ of this Law shall come into force on 1 January 2022.

[15 June 2021]

62. Complaints on the orders issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia received by especially authorised prosecutors before the day of coming into force of the amendments to Section 34 of this Law which amend the procedures for the submission of a complaint shall be examined by especially authorised prosecutors and Prosecutor General in conformity with the regulation of this Law which was in force at the time of submission of a complaint.

[15 June 2021]

63. The regulatory provisions and recommendations issued by the Financial and Capital Market Commission on the basis of this Law until the day of coming into force of the law On Latvijas Banka shall be applicable until the day when the relevant provisions and recommendations of Latvijas Banka take effect, however no longer than by 31 December 2024.

[23 September 2021]

64. The amendments to this Law regarding the replacement of the words "Financial and Capital Market Commission" with the words "Latvijas Banka" in the entire Law, except for the Transitional Provisions, deletion of the word "regulatory" from Section 21.¹, Paragraph two, Section 37.¹ and Section 47, introductory part of Paragraph two, replacement of the words "providers and payment institutions" with the words "providers, payment institutions and capital companies which are dealing with the purchase and sale of foreign currency in cash" in Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 1, deletion of Section 45, Paragraph one, Clause 6, deletion of Section 47, Paragraph three, deletion of Section 60, Paragraph one, Clause 2, Sub-clause "d" shall come into force at the same time with the law On Latvijas Banka.

[23 September 2021]

65. The amendment to Section 18, Paragraph 3.¹ of this Law which provides for the obligation of supervisory and control authorities to provide information to the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia on employees of the subject of the Law who are delegated to request and receive the information referred to in Section 5.¹, Paragraph two of this Law which is necessary for the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia for the transfer of information to the Data Distribution and Management Platform shall come into force on 1 February 2024.

[13 October 2022]

66. The trustee (manager) shall commence the provision of the information specified in Section 18.⁴, Paragraph two of this Law for the inclusion of the beneficial owners of a legal arrangement in the register of the beneficial owners of legal arrangements on 2 January 2024.

[23 November 2023]

67. Amendments to Section 1, Clauses 2.², 2.³, Clause 2.⁴, amendments to Section 3, Paragraph one, Clause 11, Section 11, Paragraph one, Clause 7, Section 11.², and also amendments to Section 45, Paragraph two, Clause 6, Sub-clause "e" of this Law shall come into force on 1 July 2024.

[23 November 2023]

68. Section 1, Clauses 2.², 2.³, and 2.⁴, Section 11, Paragraph one, Clause 7, and Section 11.² of this Law shall be repealed on 29 December 2024. Section 45, Paragraph two, Clause 6, Sub-clause "e" of this Law shall be repealed on 30 June 2025.

[19 September 2024 / The abovementioned amendments shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 29 December 2024 and 30 June 2025.]

69. Amendment regarding the supplementation of Section 1 of this Law with Paragraphs two and three shall come into force on 30 December 2024.

[23 November 2023; 19 September 2024 / The abovementioned amendment shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024]

70. Section 1, Paragraph one, Clause 7, Sub-clause"n" of this Law, amendment regarding the deletion of Paragraph one, Clause 11 of Section 3 and amendment to Paragraph five of the abovementioned Section, amendment regarding the supplementation of Paragraph 1.¹ of Section 10.¹, Paragraph seven of Section 18, Paragraph two of Section 18.¹, Paragraph two of Section 18.², Paragraph five of Section 18.⁵, and Section 21.¹ after the number and word "Section 1" with the words "Paragraph one", Paragraph one, Clause 2, Sub-clause"d" of Section 11, Paragraph two, Clause 4.¹ of Section 22, Section 25.², and also amendment regarding the supplementation of Paragraph one, Clause 1 of Section 45 after the words "payment institution" with the words "crypto-asset service providers", amendment to Paragraph two, Clause 16 of Section 47, and amendments to Section 78 shall come into force on 30 December 2024.

[19 September 2024 / The abovementioned amendments shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 30 December 2024.]

71. A crypto-asset service provider which has commenced the provision of crypto-asset services in accordance with the requirements of this Law before 30 December 2024 and which, in accordance with Section 45, Paragraph two, Clause 6, Sub-clause "e" of this Law, is supervised by the State Revenue Service, and which wishes to continue the provision of crypto-asset services after the date referred to in this Paragraph shall submit an application to Latvijas Banka for the issuance of the authorisation for the provision of crypto-asset services, starting from 30 December 2024, in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets, and amending Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010 and Directives 2013/36/EU and (EU) 2019/1937 (hereinafter - Regulation No 2023/1114).

[19 September 2024]

72. A crypto-asset service provider which has commenced the provision of crypto-asset services in accordance with the requirements of this Law before 30 December 2024 and which, in accordance with Section 45, Paragraph two, Clause 6, Sub-clause "e" of this Law, is supervised by the State Revenue Service, may continue the provision of crypto-asset services until 30 June 2025 or until the day when Latvijas Banka has issued or refused to issue to it the authorisation for the provision of crypto-asset services in accordance with the requirements of Regulation No 2023/1114. The rights and obligations of a financial institution specified in this Law shall not be applicable to such crypto-asset service provider.

[19 September 2024]

73. The State Revenue Service shall continue the supervision of a crypto-asset service provider which has commenced the provision of crypto-asset services in accordance with the requirements of this Law before 30 December 2024 pursuant to this Law until the day when Latvijas Banka has issued or refused to issue to it the authorisation for the provision of crypto-asset services in accordance with the requirements of Regulation No 2023/1114 but not longer than until 30 June 2025. The State Revenue Service shall not register new crypto-asset service providers from 30 December 2024.

[19 September 2024]

74. Section 41, Paragraph 2.¹ of this Law and amendments to Paragraph three of the abovementioned Section shall come into force on 1 February 2025.

[19 September 2024 / The abovementioned amendments shall be included in the wording of the Law as of 1 February 2025.]

Informative Reference to Directives of the European Union

[31 March 2011; 12 September 2013; 26 October 2017; 13 June 2019; 15 June 2021]

This Law contains norms arising from:

1) Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing;

2) Commission Directive 2006/70/EC of 1 August 2006 laying down implementing measures for Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the definition of 'politically exposed person' and the technical criteria for simplified customer due diligence procedures and for exemption on grounds of a financial activity conducted on an occasional or very limited basis;

3) Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions amending Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC;

4) Directive 2011/61/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2011 on Alternative Investment Fund Managers and amending Directives 2003/41/EC and 2009/65/EC and Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009 and (EU) No 1095/2010;

5) Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 684/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (Text with EEA relevance);

6) Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA;

7) Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU (Text with EEA relevance);

8) Directive (EU) 2019/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 laying down rules facilitating the use of financial and other information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of certain criminal offences, and repealing Council Decision 2000/642/JHA.

This Law has been adopted by the Saeima on 17 July 2008.

President V. Zatlers

Riga, 30 July 2008

¹ The Parliament of the Republic of Latvia

Translation © 2024 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)