Country Profile: Latvia

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 205-210

205

19.COUNTRY PROFI LE: LATVI A

19.1.Sect ion 1-National r ules for t he evaluation ofSt ate aidschemes

19.1.1.Obligat ion or lack ther eof to evaluat e

Latvia has not yet implemented a State aidproject or scheme under the Comm ission

Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid

com pat ible with th e in ter nal mark et in applica tion of Ar ticles 1 07 and 108 of th e Treat y

(furt her - GBER), whose average annual State aidbudget would exceed the threshold

provisioned by the GBER. Thus, Latvia has not yet complet ed any ex-post evaluat ions

underGBER regulation. On the ot her hand, Latvia has com pleted evaluations ofState

aidpr oj ects/ sch emes u nder EU-funde d prog ram me s, a ccord ing t o EU f und s’ m onito ring

and evaluations requ irement s.

At th e n ati onal lev el, th ere is n o l egal obl igat ion to con duct ex -post ev alua tio ns of Stat e

aidpr oje cts/ schem es, ho wever, th e an alysis explain s, in the n ext sect ions, th e ex isting

sy stem i n La tv ia t ha t sets con tr ol m ech ani sms at t he ex-an te st agea nd oth er pr ovis ion s

that assess w hether pub lic r esources w ere used efficient ly or not .

General principles on dev elopm ent planning of public policy in Latvia are em bedded in

the Law on Development Planning System185, as well as Regulation of the Cabinet of

Min ist ers No 737 of De cem ber 2, 2 014 on De vel opm ent p lan nin g d ocu men ts pr epa rat ion

and impactassessment rules186. The Development Planning Systemis the political

document enclosing a set of principles, objectives and actions, with a view to

implementing politically determined priorities and ensuring the development of both

territory and society. The Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers No 737 regulates how

public entities, in case t hey plan to adopt a developm ent planning policy, should carry

out an ex-ante, ongoing (no later than 2 years before the end of a policy act ion) and

ex-post (no later than 2 years after the end of a policy action) analysis of its im pact.

The development pla nnin g docum ent would include obj ectives an d pr iorities of a maj or

public policy orientation, as well as policy tools on how to achieve these objectives,

however, detailed planning of policy instruments would be carried out with separate

legislative acts only after the policy orientation is approved. Thus, other political

initiatives not related to developmentplanning documents (e.g. public policy

instrum ents) which are developed as separate public policy acts, do not fall under the

Law on Dev elopm ent Plannin g System.187

The backbone of the EU’s regulatory framework for State aidin Latvia is the Law on

Cont rol of Aid for Comm ercial Activity of 19 June 2014 (hereafter - LCACA)188. I t m ust

be pointed out that th e legal fr amework for provid ing support for com mer cial act ivit ies

is embedded solely in the LCACA. State aidinstruments canbe part of/included in a

developm ent planning docum ent, but a planning document (m edium or short term) is

so far always m ore ex tensive t han a Stat e aidsch eme or an in dividual proj ect.

The LCACA does not have sp ecific provision s that a Sta te aidproj ect or schem e, w hose

av era ge a nnu al bud get e xcee ds t he lim it o f GB ER ( EUR 15 0 m il lio n) , sho uld also de velo p

an eva luat io n p lan pri or to th e p roj ect im ple men ta tion . The LCACA d oes not fo rese e an y

other ex-post evaluation procedures. Nevert heless, according to the Section 10 (1) of

185https://likumi.lv/ta/id/175748-attistibas-planosanas-sistemas-likums

186https://likumi.lv/ta/id/270934-attistibas-planosanas-dokumentu-izstrades-un-ietekmes-izvertesanas-

noteikumi

187ht tp s: / / ww w.p kc. gov .lv / sit es/ de fau lt /f ile s/i nli ne-files/pkc_rokasgramata_090316_web.pdf

188https://likumi.lv/ta/en/en/id/267199-law-on-control-of-aid-for-commercial-activity