Serving documents

Latvia

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Latvia

NB! Council Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 has been replaced by Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council as of 1 July 2022.

Notifications made under the new Regulation can be found here!


Article 2(1) – Transmitting agencies

Click on the below link to view all competent authorities related to this Article.
List of competent authorities

Article 2(2) – Receiving agencies

Pursuant to the amendments to the Civil Procedure Law of the Latvian Republic that entered into effect on 1 January 2019, changes were introduced concerning the service of foreign judicial and extrajudicial documents in Latvia in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents), and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000. More specifically, the central body which receives and carries out requests for the service of foreign documents has become the Zvērinātu tiesu izpildītāju padome (Council of Sworn Bailiffs of Latvia). In addition, a fee has been set of EUR 113.97 (including VAT) for each document service request. Payment must be made by bank transfer and any bank commission is to be borne by the person paying the flat rate for document service.

The competent central body is the:

Zvērinātu tiesu izpildītāju padome (Council of Sworn Bailiffs of Latvia)

(From 16 December 2019) Address: Lāčplēša iela 27-32, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia

Telephone: (+371) 67290005; Fax: ( +371) 67290006

e-mail: documents@lzti.lv

Bank account details:

Registration No: 90001497619

Registered address: Lāčplēša iela 27-32, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia

Bank: Swedbank AS

IBAN: LV93 HABA 0551 0380 9674 2

Swift Code: HABALV22

Purpose of payment: details of the addressee

Article 2(4)(c) – Means of receipt of documents

In Latvia requests from other Member States for service of documents and certificates of service of documents will be accepted if they are submitted by post.

Notifications using the other standard forms referred to in Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council may also be submitted using other means of communication available to the relevant Latvian court.

Article 2(4)(d) – Languages that may be used for the completion of the standard form set out in Annex I

In addition to Latvian, standard forms completed in English are also accepted in Latvia.

Article 3 – Central body

The central body is the Latvijas Zvērinātu tiesu izpildītāju padome (Council of Sworn Bailiffs of Latvia)

(From 16 December 2019) Address: Lāčplēša iela 27-32, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia

Telephone: (+371) 67290005; Fax: ( +371) 67290006

e-mail: documents@lzti.lv

Article 4 – Transmission of documents

In Latvia, a request to serve documents which has been drawn up using the standard form set out in Annex I to the Regulation is accepted if submitted in either Latvian or English.

Articles 8(3) and 9(2) – Particular periods set by national law for serving documents

Pursuant to Article 56.1(1) of the Law on Civil Procedure, when judicial documents have been delivered in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 56, with the exception of the event referred to in paragraph (9) thereof, a person is deemed to have been notified of the time and place of a court hearing or procedural action, or the contents of the relevant document, and judicial documents are deemed to have been served:

(1) on the date when the person accepted them in accordance with Article 56(3), (7) or (8) of this Law;

(2) on the date when the person refused to accept them (Article 57);

(3) on the seventh day from dispatch of the documents, if they have been sent by post;

(4) on the third day from dispatch of the documents, if they have been sent by e-mail;

(5) on the third day from dispatch, when notification is done on-line.

Pursuant to Paragraph (2) of the Article referred to above, whether the judicial documents are delivered to a declared place of residence of a natural person, an additional address declared, an address the natural person has indicated for communications with the court or a registered office of a legal person, and a notice of delivery is received from the post or the documents are returned, does not in itself affect the fact of the documents having been notified. The addressee can refute the presumption that documents have been served on the seventh day from the day of dispatch if sent by post or on the third day from dispatch if sent by e-mail or notified on-line by citing objective circumstances beyond his or her control which prevented him or her from receiving the documents at the address indicated.

Article 10 – Certificate of service and copy of the document served

In Latvia, a certificate of service of documents which has been drawn up using the standard form set out in Annex I to the Regulation is accepted if submitted in either Latvian or English.

Article 11 – Costs of service

Please note that the original language version of this page Latvian has been amended recently. The language version you are now viewing is currently being prepared by our translators.

In Latvia documents are served in accordance with Article 11(2)(a) of the Regulation, for which a fee of EUR 113.97 (including VAT) is payable for each document service request. Payment must be made by bank transfer and any bank commission is to be borne by the person paying the flat rate for document service.

Bank account details:

Registration No: 90001497619

(From 16 December 2019) Registered address: Lāčplēša iela 27-32, Riga, LV-1011, Latvia

Bank: Swedbank AS

IBAN: LV93HABA0551038096742

Swift Code: HABALV22

Purpose of payment: details of the addressee

Article 13 – Service by diplomatic or consular agents

Latvia is opposed to the service of documents under Article 13(1) of the Regulation, except in cases where the documents are served on nationals of the Member State in question.

Article 15 – Direct service

Under Latvian legislation, documents may not be served under Article 15 of the Regulation.

Article 19 – Defendant not entering an appearance

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 19(1) of the Regulation, a court or a judge in Latvia may deliver a judgment even if no certificate of service or notice of delivery has been received, provided that the conditions set out in Article 19(2) of the Regulation have been complied with. In Latvia, no time frame is defined after which applications for relief from the effects of the expiry of the deadline for appeal are no longer accepted, provided that the conditions set out in Article 19(4) of the Regulation are fulfilled.

Article 20 – Agreements or arrangements to which Member States are parties and which comply with the conditions in Article 20(2)

The Republic of Latvia maintains two agreements it has concluded:

(1) Agreement between the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Poland on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family and criminal matters;

(2) Agreement on legal assistance and legal relations between the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Lithuania.

Last update: 06/02/2024

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