Summary: You Must Pay to Access Information Unless You Work for the Government
| Request sent to | Ministry of Justice |
| Outcome of request | Information refused. |
| Time taken to respond | 23 working days (The deadline is 15 working days) |
| Reason for refusal | Must pay for access. Another law overrides FOI law. |
On 23 July 2013 an initial request for access to the full company register database was sent by Access Info and our Latvian partner Ilze Jaunalske to the Ministry of Justice. The Latvian access to information law stipulates that the administration must answer requests within 15 working days.
On 23 August 2013, the request was denied by the Ministry of Justice, which argued that the company register law did allow for free access to the register by certain people, but that this exemption from paying did not apply to journalists. Under the company register law only Parliament, The Cabinet of Ministers, law enforcement authorities, the State Revenue Service and other national authorities that have control functions, government institutions that conduct public procurement and bailiffs are allowed to obtain free access to data in the company register.
The rest must pay in accordance with a norm passed by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia. The conditions for accessing the data in the company register are summarised below.
Accessing Latvia´s Company Register
| Information available (for free) | Company name; incorporation data, registration numbers and information about when it has been removed from the Register as well as information about re-organisations of the company. |
| Provision for public access | There are 14 different registers included in the Company Register in Latvia. All of the 327,471 are accessible in two ways, but you must pay in both cases: You can either purchase a regular user’s licence, or you can order specific information about a particular company (for which you need to have an online-banking account).The Central Company Register has a website but the information available on it is extremely limited. The Central Company Register has a license agreement for the re-use of its information with a private company called SIA LURSOFT IT, and the data on this private website is much more complete.On the LURSOFT’s website (Click here), you can search using the following filters: company name, registration or tax payer number and can access some information for free. However blank searches are not possible.If you decide not to subscribe and to request the data only on a case-by-case basis, it can be done via a specific information request sent to the LURSOFT office to be paid via bank transfer, or you can get individual access to the LURSOFT system and perform searches yourself by paying with a credit card.To get additional information, you must subscribe to LURSOFT. In that case you need to send a scan of your passport or National ID card, and your address and contact details, so that LURSOFT can create a profile for you to use to enter the system. |
| Cost per record | To order an extract from the Central Company Register it costs €12,00. Current and historical information about a company’s affiliates, departments or agencies can cost up to €12,43.A full list of prices can be found here: https://www.lursoft.lv/index.php%3Fa%3D34&usg=ALkJrhgPLEfd3r42LdBylgPR6yMPU-2VIg |
| Cost for whole database | You cannot download the whole database. |
Additional Information:
Latvia´s Right to Information (RTI) Rating: (Click here)
Latvia´s Freedom of Information Law (Click here)
Latvia’s company register (Click here)