LatviaLaw on the accessibility of goods and services, market surveillance of goods, supervision of services, complaints and appeals
Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums, 18. līdz 23. pants
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- If your goods are found not to meet the accessibility requirements, remedy the non-conformity within the time the Consumer Rights Protection Centre sets, or face a restriction or ban on offering them and an order to withdraw them (Law, Arts. 18(5) and 20).
- Remedy a formal non-conformity the Consumer Rights Protection Centre orders, such as a missing or wrongly affixed CE marking, a missing or incorrect declaration of conformity or incomplete technical documentation, and cooperate in its evaluation of your goods (Arts. 19 and 20(1)).
- If you provide a service and your service is found not to meet the requirements, remedy the non-conformity within the time the competent authority sets, or comply with its decision ordering the necessary actions (Art. 23(2) and (3)).
- Give consumers and passengers a way to complain to you about the accessibility of the service, and expect an unresolved complaint to go to the competent authority for your sector (Art. 21).
- Expect an association with a legitimate interest to act before you and the authority in support of a complainant who approves (Art. 21(3)).
- If you provide consumer financial services, expect the Bank of Latvia, in place of the Consumer Rights Protection Centre, to supervise them from (Art. 22 as amended).
- If the competent authority adopts a decision ordering you to remedy a non-conformity, expect it to be enforced by a coercive fine of EUR 100 to 10,000 for a legal person (EUR 50 to 5,000 for a natural person), which can be imposed again every seven days until you comply (Administrative Procedure Law, Arts. 368 and 370).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
For goods: Article 19(9) of the Law on Conformity Assessment sets 14 to 140 fine units (EUR 70 to 700) for a natural person and 40 to 1,400 fine units (EUR 200 to 7,000) for a legal person. Article 19(10) sets 14 to 140 fine units (EUR 70 to 700) for a natural person and 56 to 2,800 fine units (EUR 280 to 14,000) for a legal person. Article 19(11) sets 40 to 400 fine units (EUR 200 to 2,000) for a natural person and 140 to 4,000 fine units (EUR 700 to 20,000) for a legal person. Paragraphs 9 to 11 apply from (law of ); from to the tier was Article 19(2), 14 to 140 fine units (EUR 70 to 700) for a natural person and 140 to 1,420 fine units (EUR 700 to 7,100) for a legal person. One fine unit is EUR 5 under Article 16(2) of the Administrative Liability Law, and the Consumer Rights Protection Centre conducts the proceedings under Article 20(1). For services: The Law on the accessibility of goods and services sets no fine of its own for a service provider. A competent authority's decision under Article 23(3) is an administrative act enforced under Article 368 of the Administrative Procedure Law, which allows a coercive fine: EUR 50 to 5,000 for a natural person and EUR 100 to 10,000 for a legal person (Article 370(3)), which may be imposed again no sooner than seven days after the previous one until the decision is complied with (Article 370(2)); no total cap is stated.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 20,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs), the market surveillance authority for goods under Article 18(1), which conducts the administrative offence proceedings for the fines under Article 20(1) of the Law on Conformity Assessment; for services the competent authorities in Article 22
What this law does
Article 30 of Directive (EU) 2019/882 requires Member States to lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted under it. Article 18(1) of the Law makes the Consumer Rights Protection Centre the market surveillance authority for goods. Article 18(5) lets the authority require an economic operator to remedy non-conformity of goods within a set time.
Article 20(2) lets the authority restrict offering the goods on the market, ban offering them, or require their withdrawal, where a formal non-conformity is not remedied. Article 21(2) lets a consumer or passenger turn to the competent authority with a complaint of the same content when the provider has not improved the service or has not answered.
Article 21(3) lets a public-law body or a private-law legal person with a legitimate interest in protecting persons with disabilities act before the provider and the competent authority for the complainant or in support of the complainant, with the complainant's approval.
Article 22 names the competent authorities for services, which are the Public Utilities Commission, the National Electronic Mass Media Council, the Civil Aviation Agency, the Autotransporta direkcija, the State Railway Administration, the Consumer Rights Protection Centre and the municipality. Article 23(2) lets the competent authority request and assess the fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden assessment and require the provider to remedy non-conformity within a set time.
Article 23(3) lets the competent authority, where the provider does not remedy non-conformity voluntarily, adopt a decision ordering the necessary actions within a set time. Article 23(4) lets the provider appeal such a decision to the Administrative District Court, or to the Administrative Regional Court where the decision is the Public Utilities Commission's, and an appeal does not suspend the decision.
The law of amends Article 22 so that, from , the Bank of Latvia supervises financial services in place of the Consumer Rights Protection Centre. That law enters into force on . A new transitional point provides that the Consumer Rights Protection Centre completes the financial services cases begun and unfinished by under the rules in force when each case began.
Article 4(2) of the Law on Conformity Assessment applies chapter III.1 of that Law to non-food goods for which requirements are set in legal acts, including European Union acts on goods accessibility requirements. Article 19(9) of that Law sets the fine for failing to ensure that goods meet the requirements of an act referred to in Article 4(2), or for breaching the rules on the circulation of goods, at 14 to 140 fine units for a natural person and 40 to 1,400 fine units for a legal person.
Article 19(10) sets the fine for placing on the market, offering or selling goods that do not meet the safety or essential requirements or technical parameters of such an act at 14 to 140 fine units for a natural person and 56 to 2,800 fine units for a legal person. Article 19(11) sets the fine for failing to maintain internal control processes that cause systematic non-conformity at 40 to 400 fine units for a natural person and 140 to 4,000 fine units for a legal person.
Article 16(2) of the Administrative Liability Law sets one fine unit at EUR 5. Article 20(1) of the Law on Conformity Assessment makes the Consumer Rights Protection Centre the authority that conducts the administrative offence proceedings for the fines in Article 19(1), (3), (7), (8), (9), (10) and (11). Article 1(8) of the Administrative Procedure Law defines a private person as a natural person, a legal person governed by private law or an association of such persons.
The law of , in force from , deleted Article 19(2) of the Law on Conformity Assessment and added paragraphs 6 to 11, among them the fines in paragraphs 9 to 11.
In the version in force from to , Article 19(2) set a fine of 14 to 140 fine units for a natural person and 140 to 1,420 fine units for a legal person for placing on the market, offering or selling goods that do not meet the essential requirements or technical parameters set in normative acts.
Article 368(1) of the Administrative Procedure Law has an administrative act that obliges its addressee to perform an action enforced by substitute performance, a coercive fine or direct force. Article 370(3) of that Law sets the coercive fine at EUR 50 to 5,000 for a natural person and EUR 100 to 10,000 for a legal person. Article 370(2) lets the coercive fine be imposed again, no sooner than seven days after the previous one, until the addressee complies.
Article 18(2) has the market surveillance authority supervise under the laws on market surveillance and conformity assessment. Article 18(5) lets the authority, where the operator has not remedied the non-conformity within the time set, adopt a decision under chapter III.1 of the Law on Conformity Assessment.
Article 19 requires the economic operator involved in the authority's evaluation of goods to cooperate with it, and has the costs of an expert examination borne as the Law on Conformity Assessment provides. Article 20(1) lists the formal non-conformities the authority orders remedied, among them a missing or wrongly affixed CE marking, a missing or incorrect declaration of conformity, unavailable or incomplete technical documentation and missing identification information.
The Saeima adopted the law of on and the President promulgated it in Riga on .
When LexLint raises it
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