- About the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia
- Legislation currently applicable
- How to request information from the Enterprise Register?
- How reliable is the information on the documents in the commercial register?
- Initiation of a registration procedure
- Review of applications submitted
- Data protection procedures
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About the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia
The Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republikas Uzņēmumu reģistrs) was founded on 1 December 1990. The Enterprise Register is a public body which registers businesses (companies), traders, their branches and representative offices and changes in their articles of association, and carries out other activities provided for in legislation. The Enterprise Register also registers mass media providers, associations and foundations, commercial pledges, controlling interests, matrimonial property agreements, political parties, arbitration bodies, trade unions, religious organisations and religious institutions, and insolvency proceedings and information on the beneficial owners of legal arrangements.
Legislation currently applicable
The main items of legislation governing the operations of the Enterprise Register arethe Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, the Statutes of the Enterprise Register, the Law on submissions and the Law on administrative procedure.
How to request information from the Enterprise Register?
The Enterprise Register provides information on all registered legal entities and legal facts.
Information can be obtained from the Enterprise Register on the Register’s information website free of charge, where current data are available without the need for authentication, whereas historical records can be consulted and documents in the public section of the Register can be examined/downloaded and information about natural persons can be accessed only upon authentication on the website with a Latvian national eID card, e-signature, bank identification devices or EIDAS authentication services (for EU citizens).
Where there is a need to obtain an extract from the Enterprise Register concerning a registered legal entity, legal fact (contract) or natural person, an information request form or application in free format must be submitted, either by post or electronically (e-mail or by sending it to the Register’s official email address pasts@ur.gov.lv signed with a secure electronic signature and digital time stamp). The information request must give details of the payment made (a document certifying payment, a copy of such a document, or an online banking printout). When requesting information, the means of receipt should be indicated, i.e. by post (registered mail) or electronically.
The Register also issues copies of documents from the registration file of a legal entity or a legal fact (contract) and from the case file. Documents from the public section of the registration file (as per the first paragraph of Article 4.15 of the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia) may be obtained online from the Enterprise Register’s information website free of charge and immediately.
To obtain a copy of the document from the public or non-public section with a certificate of authenticity, an information request form must be submitted or a free-format application made. The issuing of copies of documents (with a certificate of authenticity) is a service subject to the payment of a fee. This service can be provided either by post or by email.
As of 1 August 2021, all entries in the commercial register and all documents added to the registration file which are in the commercial register and, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 4.15 of the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, in the public section of the registration file, are published electronically free of charge on the information website, thus ensuring their availability to the public online from the outset. Entries are deemed to have been published on (i.e. after midnight on) the day after they are made, and documents are deemed to have been published on (i.e. after midnight on) the day after they are attached to the registration file.
The Enterprise Register allows the following information on all registered legal entities to be obtained free of charge as open data:
- registration number;
- name or trade name of the entity;
- historical name of the entity (if the name has been changed);
- type of legal entity;
- which register the entity is registered in;
- date of registration;
- Single Euro Payment Area beneficiary identification code (if allocated);
- information on whether the legal entity has been deleted from the register or reorganised;
- date of deletion of the legal entity from the register (or the date of reorganisation if the reason for the deletion is a reorganisation);
- registered office;
- area of activity of associations, foundations and trade unions;
- information on beneficial owners registered in the file of the legal entity (first name, surname, part of the personal identity number, date of birth, nationality, country of residence);
- data on members of the executive board, members with a right of representation or other senior members of staff with the right to represent the legal entity (first name, surname, part of personal identity number, post held, date of registration);
- information on members of private limited liability companies (first name, surname, part of the personal identity number, number of shares owned by them and the nominal value of those shares);
- basic information on insolvency proceedings (if the information is recorded in the insolvency register);
- data from annual financial reports.
This information is provided in .csv, .txt or .xlsx data formats and can be accessed here. The user can choose the data format that best suits the intended use. Data are updated on a daily basis.
To obtain documents not referred to in the first paragraph of Article 4.15 of the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, in addition to the above, the written request must state the reason for the request and the purpose of use of the information.
Information on the amounts of fees for the services is available here.
How reliable is the information on the documents in the commercial register?
As of 1 August 2021, all entries in the commercial register and all documents added to the registration file which are in the commercial register and, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 4.15 of the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia, in the public section of the registration file, are published electronically free of charge on the Enterprise Register's information website, thus ensuring their availability to the public online from the outset. All entries made in the commercial register prior to 31 July 2021 and any information concerning specific documents have been published in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis.
Entries are deemed to have been published on (i.e. after midnight on) the day after they are made, and documents are deemed to have been published on (i.e. after midnight on) the day after they are attached to the registration file. Entries in the commercial register become binding on third parties only after their publication, unless the relevant information was known to the third party before publication. On the other hand, if a third party can show that they were not aware and could not have been aware of the published information, that information may not be relied upon in respect of legal steps taken within 15 days of publication of the information.
If the information to be entered in the commercial register is recorded or published incorrectly, a third party may rely on the published information in relation to the party in whose interests the information was published, but not if the third party was aware that the information published in the commercial register did not correspond to the actual legal situation. For more detailed information please see Articles 11 and 12 of the Commercial Law.
Initiation of a registration procedure
The submission of applications is governed by the Commercial Law. The relevant provisions of the Law state that documents justifying the making of an entry in the commercial register and other documents prescribed in the Law are to be submitted to the Commercial Register Office. These documents are to be submitted on paper or electronically.
The Commercial Register Office submits the original of the relevant document or a duly certified copy thereof. If the law states that a person's signature on a document (application, document to be appended to an application or other document) needs to be notarised, the requirement is deemed to have been complied with if the signature is certified by a certified notary or, where the document has been drawn up electronically, it has been signed with a secure electronic signature. If the law states that a person’s signature on a document (application, document to be appended to an application or other document) needs to be notarised, the power of attorney authorising another person to sign the document requires certification by a notary. Public documents issued abroad are legalised in accordance with the procedures laid down in international agreements, enclosing a notarised translation into Latvian. A certified translation into Latvian must be enclosed with private documents in a foreign language, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Documents can be submitted for registration in the Enterprise Register using electronic submission channels: an e-service, e-address or e-mail. More detailed information on how to submit documents electronically can be found here.
Review of applications submitted
The procedure for reviewing submitted documents is governed by the Law on the Enterprise Register of the Republic of Latvia. The Law states that when reviewing submitted documents, a notary public at the Register verifies whether:
- all documents provided for by law which are being registered (added to the file) or on the basis of which an entry is being made in the commercial register have been submitted;
- the document which is being registered (added to the file) or on the basis of which an entry is being made in the commercial register has legal effect;
- the form of the document which is being registered (added to the file) or on the basis of which an entry is being made in the commercial register meets the requirements of the legislation or of the articles of association, where the legislation provides for the possibility of a particular form of document being specified in the articles of association;
- the amount and contents of the information and provisions in the document which is being registered (added to the file) or on the basis of which an entry is being made in the commercial register is in compliance with legislation and other documents in the registration file;
- no other legal impediment has been recorded in the Enterprise Register.
If, in the course of verifying the above circumstances, no impediments are found, the notary public at the Enterprise Register takes the decision to make an entry or register the documents (add them to the file).
If the above requirements are found not to have been complied with, but the deficiencies can be remedied, the notary public at the Enterprise Register takes the decision to postpone the making of an entry or the registration of the documents (adding them to the file) and sets a reasonable time limit of no less than a month in the decision for remedying the deficiencies.
If the deficiencies identified in the documents cannot be eliminated or the information submitted is not to be registered in the commercial register, the notary public at the Enterprise Register takes the decision to refuse to register the documents (add them to the file) or to refuse to make an entry in the commercial register. In such cases, the State fee is not reimbursed.
If the Enterprise Register is provided with irrefutable evidence that a signature has been forged, the notary public at the Enterprise Register takes the decision to refuse to register the documents (add them to the file) or to refuse to make an entry in the commercial register.
Data protection procedures
Procedures relate to the rights of the data subject with regard to any type of processing of their personal data. The Enterprise Register processes personal data solely for the purpose of performing its functions and carrying out its tasks under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Law on the processing of personal data and other legislation, and takes into account the following good practice principles for the processing of personal data in an operational context:
- personal data should be processed in a lawful, fair and transparent manner by providing information on the Register's website about the data processing processes involved and the legal justification for and purposes (objectives) of processing. personal data are processed solely by employees whose duties include the performance of such activities;
- personal data should be processed for clear, specific and legitimate purposes and not processed contrary to the initial purposes;
- the data minimisation principle should be applied: data should only be processed if they are necessary to achieve the intended processing purpose;
- data accuracy should be ensured: inaccurate data should be corrected or updated, other than where legislation makes provision to the contrary;
- data should be stored without exceeding the retention period necessary to achieve the processing purpose or the retention period laid down in legislation;
- proportionate technical and organisational measures should be employed and continuously improved in order to ensure the confidentiality, integrity (immutability) and security of personal data, including the protection of those data from unauthorised or unlawful processing or the accidental loss or destruction of data.
Further information on the processing of the personal data of natural persons by the Enterprise Register can be found here.
Contact details:
Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia
Pērses iela 2
Riga, Latvia, LV 1011
Telephone number for information: 67031703 (Please note that legal advice is not provided). E-mail: pasts@ur.gov.lv
Visitors can meet with the head of the institution, provided they indicate the question or problem they wish to address and the time they wish to visit, and give their contact details.
Useful links:
Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia
European Business Register (access provided by Lursoft)
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