RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4  
14 May 1998 
 (98-1928) 
Working Party on the  
Accession of Latvia Original:   English 
 
 
 
ACCESSION OF LATVIA  
Communication from Latvia  
 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia has submitted the following 
information on bringing the national legislation of Latv ia into conformity with the obligations of the 
WTO. 
_______________ WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
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 Progress Report on Bringing the National Legi slation of Latvia into Conformity 
 
With the Obligations of the WTO  
(September 1997-May 1998) 
  
 
 
Substance of the amendment or the new 
legislation  
Legislation  
Time of 
implementation 
 Trading rights
 
 
Business activity licensing for importation.  Provides for automatic business activity 
licensing.  Licence has to be issued in 10 
working days, licence fee constitutes the cost of services rendered. 
Note
. Latvia does not apply import licensing of 
products, but licensing of business activity.  Nevertheless, the provisions of the WTO 
Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures 
were extended to the area of business activity licensing of importation.  
Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 348 of 7 October 1997 "On 
Licensing of Separate Forms of 
Entrepreneurial Activity",  Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers 
No. 351 of 7 October 1997 
"Regulations on Circulation of Tobacco Products"  
Effective 
 
Application of Internal Taxes  
 National treatment in application of VAT for 
foreign publications and mass media goods  
Law on Amendments to the Law "On 
Value Added Tax" of 
13 November 1997  
Effective 
 Customs Valuation
 
 
Implementation of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 
1994 including its provisions on methods of 
appraisement and Anne x I (Interpretative 
Notes) and Article 13 of the Agreement, as 
well as the provisions for the Valuation of 
Carrier Media Bearing Software for Data Processing Equipment (Decision 4.1.).  
Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 428 of 17 December 1997 
"Procedure for Calculating the 
Customs Value of Goods"  
Effective 
 
Technical Barriers to Trade, Sa nitary and Phytosanitary Measures* 
 
SPS Agreement  
Law "On Supervision of Food Circulation" of 16 February 1998  
Effective 
                                                      
* More information on the SPS/TBT legislation and practice is contained in Annex 2. WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
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Substance of the amendment or the new 
legislation  
Legislation  
Time of 
implementation 
 
SPS Agreement and TBT Agreement, 
establishing of Enquiry Point  
The Regulation "On the Order of 
Coordination of the Exchange of Information on Technical Barriers to 
Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures by the Ministry of Economy" was accepted by the 
Cabinet of Ministers of 
28 October 1997  
Effective 
 
SPS Agreement  
Regulation "On Standing Order for 
Food Additives" of 6 May 1997  
Effective 
 TRIPS
 
 
Part II, Section 3  
Draft Law on Amendments to the Law 
on Competition, Section on Unfair Competition Draft new Trademark 
Law  
English text of the draft 
laws to be presented by August 1998 
** 
 
Part II, Section 6  
Law on Protection of Topographies of 
Semiconductor Products of 
31 March 1998  
Effective 
 Part II, Section 7  
Law on Competition of 18 June 1997 
Chapter V Civil Code  
Effective 
 Part III, Section 4  
Draft secondary legislation under 
Section C, Customs Law of 11 June 1997  
English text of the draft 
Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers to 
be presented by 
June 1998* 
 Part III, Section 5  
Draft Criminal Code  
English text of the respective sections of 
the draft law to be 
presented by August 1998* 
 
   Latvia acceded in 1997 to the Rome Conven tion (1961) for the Protection of Performers, 
Producers of Phonogrammes and Broadcasting Organizations. 
 At present, the competent authorities are examining also the proposals concerning the 
accession of Latvia to the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement and Trademark Law Treaty 
(TLT). 
                                                     
 
** Legislation has to be adopted at the time of accession at the latest. WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
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  The group of experts, established last year by the Cabinet of Ministers, prepared amendments 
to the Copyright Law of 1993.  The main amendmen ts refer to computer programs and rental and 
lending rights. 
Other legislative acts relevant to the trade policy and required to be drafted in accordance with WTO 
obligations  
Pricing policies  
 Latvia is planning to decontrol the profit marg in with respect to pharmaceutical products that 
are not covered by the health insurance system by the Autumn of 1998. 
Anti-dumping, Countervailing Duties and Safeguard Regimes  
 The decision to develop national anti-dumping legislation has been taken. 
 The Concept on the draft anti-dumping law woul d be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers 
for approval by May 1998. 
 According to the existing timetable, WTO- consistent draft anti-dumping law would be 
presented to the Cabinet of Ministers by the end of 1998. 
 The draft law on safeguards has been develope d in full conformity with provisions of GATT 
Article XIX and WTO Agreement on Safeguards. 
 The draft law on safeguards would be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers during May 1998. WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
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 Annex 1 
Table 1 - Information on the Progress of the Pr ivatization of Process of State Enterprises  
(1 May 1994 - 10 January 1998) 
 
 
Activity  
Total  
Small objects 
(less than 50 
employees)  
Medium-sized 
objects 
(50-500 empl.)  
Large objects 
(more than 
500 empl.) 
Enterprises transferred for privatization 855 561 257 37 
(Transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture) 40 39 1 0 
Enterprises transferred for liquidation 75 75 0 0 
Repeated privatization 15 13 2 0 
Privatization objects after split of enterprises 1577 1257 283 37 
Privatization cancelled or enterprises merged 
with other companies 187 182 5 1 
Privatization temporarily stopped 6 4 2 0 
Restitution process initiated 62 53 5 0 
Liquidation or insolvency procedure initiated 187 140 41 6 
Privatization Regulations approved 879 661 194 24 
Transactions concluded:     
 - purchase agreements signed 813 600 192 21 
 - invested into private companies 4 2 2 0 
 - privatized without majority owner 4 0 2 2 
 - privatized by the Ministry of 
Agriculture 36 36 0 0 
Privatization objects, where privatization 
Regulations are not approved 256 217 28 7 
Proportion of all objects 16.23% 17.26% 9.89% 18.92% 
Objects, where privati zation process is not 
completed 278 240 30 8 
Proportion of all objects 17.63% 19.09% 10.60% 21.62% 
Proceeds of sale in LVL million:     
 - cash 46.2    
 - privatization vouchers  60.6    WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
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 Annex 2 
Technical Barriers to Trade, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
 
Legislation  
- New draft law "On Veterinary Medicine"; 
- new draft law "On Standardization"; 
- new draft law "On plant protection"; 
- new draft law Regulation "On Pesticide Residues in Plant Products". 
Accreditation  
 Latvian National Accreditation Office has accredited: - 72 testing laboratories, which are operating in different areas such as testing of food, 
perfumery and cosmetics, toys, agricultural equipment, wood, as well as clinical and 
veterinary laboratories; and, 
- 1 personnel certification body, which ce rtificates quality systems' managers. 
 Two double accreditations are made in co-ope ration with German accreditation body DAP:  
Certification Centre for Foodstuffs, Cosmetics a nd Toys "LATSERT" and Testing Laboratory in the 
area of wood products testing. 
 Accredited bodies are located in 18 different cities of Latvia. 
 In the process of accreditation are the following: 
- 94 testing laboratories; 
- 1 calibration laboratory; - 6 certification bodies; 
- 8 inspection bodies. 
 The accreditation based on the EN 45000 seri es standards, guaranteeing that all competence 
and impartiality rules have been observed. 
 Latvian National Accreditation Office (LAT AK) is organizing training courses for 
accreditation assessors and there are more than 140 accreditation assessors trained and available for 
accreditation activities in different sectors. 
 On 16 August 1997, LATAK was accepted as an affiliated member in the EAL organization 
(European Co-operation for Accreditation of La boratories) and is getting ready for accession 
procedures into the EAC organization (European Accreditation of Certification). 
Standardization
 
 The new draft law "On Standardization" is unde r elaboration now.  The objective of the draft 
law is to define tasks of the standardization, ma in principles and organization of the standardization 
work. WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
Page 7 
 
 
  The main principles of the standardization such as transparency of the standardization 
process, involving all interested parties, and voluntary principles of using the standards are 
incorporated in the draft law. 
 The standardization process is carried out  by national standard ization institutions, 
standardization institutions on branches, standa rdization technical committees, other institutions, 
organizations and enterprises. 
 The main tasks of the national standard ization institution such as organization of 
standardization processes (work out of national standa rds, adoption of international standards in the 
status of national standards), to organize publication of national standards, etc. are also incorporated 
in the draft law. 
 Twenty-seven technical committees are worki ng towards the implementation of standards in 
different branches of the Latvian economy. 
TBT/SPS Enquiry Point  
 The Regulation "On the Order of Co-ordination of the Exchange of Information on Technical 
Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phytosanitary  Measures by the Ministry of Economy" was 
accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 28 October 1997. 
 The Regulation establishes the obligations of other ministries and organizations to submit 
information on technical barriers to trade and sanitary  and phytosanitary measures to the Ministry of 
Economy in the early stage as possible.  It also contains provisions for possibility for other countries to make comments on draft technical regulations , proposed conformity assessment procedures and 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures.  It cont ains the obligation for the Latvian National 
Standardization and Metrology Centre to accept the Code of Good Practice for Preparation, Adoption 
and Application of Standards. 
 The responsible organization for operation of the enquiry point is the Ministry of Economy.  
The enquiry point has been established since 1 January 1998 as part of the Ministry of Economy. 
 The practical work has been started to establish necessary date bases, collecting of 
information, which has to be notified. 
 The main task of enquiry point will be the providing of information on: - technical regulations which are proposed or adopted; 
- standards which are proposed or adopted; - participation in the international organizations; - bilateral and multilateral agreements which Latvia has concluded with the countries. 
 All information will be accessible for both Latvian and foreign applicants. 
 The practical work has started to establish da ta bases on legislation of Latvia, European and 
other countries, as well as on the standards and drafts of standards of different countries. 
 At the present time, the information on the Eu ropean Communities' directives and regulations 
is already available. 
 Currently, the transparency of adopted techni cal regulations and sanitary and phytosanitary 
measures is ensured by publishing of the texts of  regulations and laws accepted by the Cabinet of WT/ACC/SPEC/LVA/4 
Page 8  
 
 Ministers or Parliament in the Official newspaper "Latvijas Vestnesis".  Also, "Veterinary newspaper" 
publishes specific regulations adopted by the Ministry  of Agriculture, State Veterinary Service and 
other related institutions. 
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