EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Funds, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

As reported, the new Public Procurement Law and Law on the Procurement of Public Service Providers were endorsed at a meeting of state secretaries already in 2015, but there has been no further progress. Therefore Latvia has failed to transpose two European Union public procurement directives by the April 18 deadline. In order not to lose the EU funds available to Latvia, the Finance Ministry has recommended state and municipal institutions to postpone their tenders until the directives are transposed, several newspapers report today.

According to the Finance Ministry, it has issued recommendations on actions during the transition period while the EU directives are being transposed.

No tenders have been banned, says the Finance Ministry. Furthermore, the Finance Ministry has found a solution so the said two laws could be passed faster.

According to the Finance Ministry, the phrase in the ministry's letter sent to state and municipal institutions, which recommended postponing all major procurement deals, was due to "inconsistent communication", and the ministry has already apologized to all the parties involved for the faulty communication.

The new procurement laws have just a few sections related to the directives that Latvia has not yet transposed. For the most part, the new laws are meant to improve the current public procurement system. Also, part of the provisions in the EU directives has been incorporated in other laws and regulations of Latvia, which have already come into force.

The ministry emphasizes that it had timely started transposing the directives, involving a number of other institutions and social partners in the process. The discussions during the work on the new legislation helped reach solutions to many important problems concerning public procurement process, and it will be improved significantly after the new laws come into force.