EU – Baltic States, Internet, Latvia, Legislation, Society

The amendments have been drafted in accordance with an EU regulation aimed at strengthening the reliability of electronic transactions in the bloc’s internal market. Under the regulation, all EU member states have until September 1, 2018 to enable the provision of electronic cross-border services, using a qualified identification tool, issued in any member state and included in the identification system.

The State Regional Development Agency is therefore working on a technical solution that would ensure compliance with the aforementioned requirements and would be integrated in the online public services portal www.latvija.lv.

The Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry says that the e-ID cards should to be made the main identification document to enable people to exercise their rights and obligations from any place and to ensure the processing of electronic documents.

“The e-ID card will be mandatory for all citizens and non-citizens of Latvia who have reached the age of 15 years. Passports, meanwhile, will be an optional document, and their holders will be able to use them to travel to countries where e-ID cards are not recognized as a valid identification and travel document,” the ministry said.

The draft amendments on the e-ID cards were announced at a meeting of state secretary today. To take effect, the amendments have to be approved by the government and Saeima.