Amendments to Latvia's Archives Law take effect: shorter access restrictions and new document transfer duties

Amendments to Latvia's Archives Law, which governs how documents are kept and made accessible in state archives, came into force on 28 October. The changes affect archive users, especially family-history researchers, as well as companies, people engaged in business activity and institutions responsible for preserving documents. The stated aims are easier access to archive materials and a lighter administrative burden.

Shorter access restrictions

For documents containing special categories of personal data or information on private life, the restriction will now last until the person's death; previously it was 30 years after death. Where the date of death is unknown, the period is cut from 110 to 100 years after birth. Where neither date is known, it drops from 75 to 60 years after the document was created.

A new provision covers census records, house books, population lists and passport registers. If data on each person cannot be separated into an individual document, or doing so would be disproportionately burdensome, access is restricted for 60 years after creation. Egīls Turs, founder of the genealogy portal ciltskoki.lv, says this could open record sets such as the 1935 and 1941 censuses. However, documents will not automatically become public, as the category of document and restrictions in other laws still apply.

Document transfer

Companies must hand over archivally valuable documents for permanent state storage when their shares are transferred, for example sold. The duty also applies to individuals ending professional activity. This does not mean all documents must be handed over; the volume depends on their archival value.

Archivally valuable electronic and audiovisual documents must be passed to the Latvian National Archives (LNA) within five years, and this now covers long-term retention documents too. The deadline can no longer be extended. At present, 60% of institutions have not handed over their e-documents.

Certificates and fees

An archive certificate may state what information exists in documents or confirm that none exists, and must be issued within a month. LNA fees will now be set by the LNA director under a methodology from the Cabinet of Ministers. A new price list replaces the 2013 one, and accreditation of private archives becomes a paid service.