In accordance with Section 10, Paragraph three of the Official Language Law, documents in a foreign language shall be accepted from persons if they are accompanied by a translation in the official language specified by the Cabinet or notarially certified. The procedures for certification of private documents are specified in Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 291 of 22 August 2000, procedures for certification of translations of documents into the Official Language, unless it is specified in regulatory enactments that a translation of a notarised document is necessary or other procedures are specified. In accordance with Paragraph 6 of the abovementioned Regulations, in certifying the correctness of the translation of the document, the translator shall draw up, on the final page of the translation, the inscription of the certificate in the official language after the text. The certificate shall include:
- the words “TRANSLATION CORRECT” are written in capital letters;
- the name and personal identity number of the interpreter;
- signature of the interpreter;
- the name of the place of attestation;
- date of acknowledgement. .
In the case of private documents issued abroad, the same provisions shall apply as in the case of private documents issued in the Republic of Latvia.
In accordance with Article 1 of the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on the abolition of the requirement for the legalisation of foreign public documents (hereinafter referred to as the Hague Convention), the following shall be regarded as public documents:
- documents issued by an organ or official associated with national courts or tribunals, including those issued by a public prosecutor, judicial secretary or bailiff;
- administrative acts;
- notarial acts;
- official attestations on documents signed by private individuals, such as official attestations regarding the registration of a document or the fact that it existed on a specific date, and official and notarial signatures attestations of authenticity, including documents issued by the competent authority of a foreign country, such as statements regarding a foreign legal person established in that country, shall also be regarded as public documents.
All public documents shall be accompanied by a notarised translation in Latvian.
If the State of issue of a public document is a party to the Hague Convention, the public document must be legalised in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Hague Convention, namely that the authenticity of the public document must be certified by a certificate “Apostille” before the competent authority of the State of issue of the public document. A public document certified by the competent authority of the issuing State “Apostille” shall be valid for submission to the Enterprise Register without further approval.
A list of the States Parties to the Hague Convention is available here.
At the same time, it should be noted that if a public document issued in the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine or Uzbekistan is submitted to the Enterprise Register by a private individual, without the intermediation of central authorities, the public documents issued by the abovementioned States shall also be legalised in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Hague Convention. In such a case, Article 13 of the Agreement on legal assistance between the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine or Uzbekistan does not apply.
If the issuing State of a public document is not a State party to the Hague Convention, then the public document shall be legalised in accordance with the procedures laid down in Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 264 of 18 June 2019, Regulations for legalisation of a public Document, namely, it is necessary to legalise the public document at the beginning of the relevant State competent authority of the issuing State of the public document and subsequently it shall be legalised in the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia or the diplomatic or consular representation of Latvia in the issuing State of the relevant public document.
In accordance with Section 3, Paragraph two of the Document Legalisation Law, the requirement for legalization of documents issued in the Member States of the European Union, the European Economic area, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (except its overseas territories) or the Swiss Confederation has been abolished. Consequently, where the issuing State of a public document is the European Union, a Member State of the European Economic area, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (with the exception of its overseas territories) or the Swiss Confederation, the Enterprise Register shall accept the public document without its legalisation.
The list of European Union and European Economic area Member States is available on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia.
We also invite you to consult the information schedule prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia on the use of public documents issued abroad in Latvia.
Documents in a foreign language (and translations thereof) may be submitted to the register in both paper (using postal services) and electronic form. At the same time, it should be noted that if it is planned to submit documents in a foreign language and their translation electronically, which are signed with a secure electronic signature issued by another state, we recommend using the extension “. asice” specified for European Union EDOC type files.
Video: legalization of foreign documents for filing in Enterprise Register