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On 5 April 2023, amendments to the Copyright Law came into force. With the amendments, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) was transposed into Latvian law, providing for significant changes in copyright regulation, affecting both authors and performers, as well as users of works. Transposition of the DSM Directive Appropriate and proportionate remuneration: One of the most significant changes is the introduction of the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration. Namely, it will be necessary to determine a fair remuneration to the author...

On 27 July 2022, the new Electronic Communication Law (ECL) which transposes the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) entered into force in Latvia. Specifically, by transposing the EECC, the new ECL: - enhances the deployment of 5G networks by ensuring availability and competition for investments - benefits and protects end-users by: ensuring access to the network, guaranteeing better cybersecurity, increasing the level of protection of citizens in emergency situations, and increasing the transparency of service providers, as well as benefiting end-users in other ways - adds...

On 6 December 2022, the National Electronic Mass Media Council of Latvia issued a decision cancelling the broadcast permit issued only a few months earlier, on 6 June 2022, to TV Rain - an independent Russian channel - for the production of the TV Rain programme. This final decision followed the initiation of several administrative procedures and decisions by the Council. The Council’s first decision from 10 November 2022 concerned mere compliance with the “Basic operation conditions” of the electronic media’s broadcast permit. It pointed out that the programme was not...

On 24 September 2022 amendments to the Electronic Mass Media Law entered into force. The purpose of the amendments is to strengthen the safety and protection of the Latvian information space and to promote greater transparency on the identity of the real beneficiaries of electronic mass media to prevent the possibility of hidden influence. Specifically, the new amendments prohibit issuing broadcasting permits for television programmes that are excluded from the list of audio and audiovisual programmes to be rebroadcasted in Latvia on the basis that the country of jurisdiction of the programme...

On 6 June 2022, the National Electronic Mass Media Council of Latvia (NEPLP) blocked 80 Russian TV channels in Latvia, thereby prohibiting all Russian TV channels from broadcasting in Latvia. The Parliament of Latvia has further expanded the powers of NEPLP by amending the Electronic Mass Media Law several times as a result of which the number of banned broadcasting channels continues to increase. Since the beginning of April 2022, three sets of amendments to the Electronic Mass Media Law have been introduced. The first set of amendments, which entered into force on 21 April 2022, grants the...