Amendments to the Criminal Law
On 24 September 2026, the Saeima adopted amendments to the Criminal Law introducing criminal liability for natural persons involved in prohibited agreements (cartels) in procurement procedures. The amendments apply to individuals who, acting in the interests of a legal entity, have organised or implemented a prohibited agreement in a procurement procedure. The amendments will enter into force on 15 October 2026.
Key points:
- Criminal liability applies to prohibited agreements in both public and private procurement procedures.
- It applies only to large-scale procurements, namely where the contract value is at least EUR 750,000 excluding VAT, or at least EUR 1,000,000 excluding VAT in the case of construction contracts.
- The maximum penalty is imprisonment for up to 3 years, while in public procurement cases it may reach up to 5 years.
- Additional penalties may include probation supervision, community service, a fine, and a prohibition on holding certain positions or carrying out certain types of business activities.
- A person may be exempt from criminal liability if they are the first to voluntarily report the infringement and actively facilitate its detection and investigation.
Competition Council Finds That Major Retailers Have Complied with the Reduced VAT Rate
- As part of its market monitoring activities, the Competition Council is assessing the application of the reduced 12% VAT rate to milk, bread, eggs and poultry meat, examining whether food retailers have passed on the full price reduction resulting from the VAT decrease to consumers.
- The Competition Council has preliminarily concluded that the three largest food retail chains in Latvia (Rimi Latvia, Maxima Latvija, and Lidl Latvija) have, for the most part, fully passed on the previously expected price reduction effect of 7.4% to consumers.
- The Competition Council will continue monitoring both the pilot project on the reduced VAT rate and food retail mark-ups until the end of 2026. The final market monitoring report is expected to be published in January 2027.
