Personal and material scope

• Author: Kamenska, Anhelita
• Pages: 34-45

34

3 PERSONAL AND MATE RIAL SCOPE

3.1 Personal scope

3.1.1 EU and non-EU nation als (Recital 13 and Artic le 3(2), Directive 2000/43

and Recital 12 and Article 3(2), Directive 2000/78)

In Latvia, there are no residency or citiz enship/nationality requi rements for protection

under the relevant national laws transp osing the directives.

Since the main law transposing the directives – the Labour Law – does not refer to

citizenship requirements, it can generally be said that the protection against

discrimination applies to all persons regardless of their citizenship on the basis that they

have a labour contract.115

However, there are some laws where citi zenship or status in La tvia is a precondition f or

the guarantee of equal rights or access to certain services, notably the Educati on Law,

which restricts its protection to citizens and non-citizens of the Republic of Latvia as well

as to different categories of pers ons to whom residence permits h ave been issued. In th e

case of illegal migrants, the right to education exists during the period for voluntary

repatriation, as well as d uring detention. Access to social security is limited to Latvian

citizens, non-citizens, third-country nationals and stat eless persons to whom a personal

ID number has been issued; persons in possession of temporary resid ence permits only

(under Article 3 of the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance) are excepted. A

similar provision on the possession of a perm anent residence permit as a precondit ion for

acquiring the status of an unemployed person was invalidated by the Constitutional Court

in relation to the spouses of Latvian citizens, who can only obtain a permanent residence

permit after a certain nu mber of years, when the i ntention of the spouses is clea rly to

stay permanently, which thus differs from the cases of other p ersons who receive a

temporary residence permit. 116 The Law on the Ombudsman provides that a person with

dual nationality cannot be appointed as Ombudsman; the same prohibition applies to the

President of the State.

3.1.2 Natural and legal persons (R ecital 16, Directive 2000/43)

a) Protection against discrimination

In Latvia, the personal scope of anti-discrimination law covers natural persons for the

purpose of protection against discrimination.

The Latvian laws dealing with discrimination do not specifically distinguish between

natural and legal persons as far as protection and liability are concerned.

Article 91 of the Constitution does not distinguish between legal and natural persons

when it comes to protec tion against discrimi nation. The personal s cope of the Labour La w

(Articles 3, 29(1) and 29(9)), the Law on Education (Articles 1(12), 2, 3 and 3.1)) and

the Consumer Rights Protection Law (Articles 1(3) and 3.1) cover n atural persons fo r the

purpose of protection against discrimination.

b) Liability for discrimination

In Latvia, the personal scope of anti-discrimination law covers natural or legal persons

for the purpose of liability for discrimination.

115 Irregular migrants would be excluded as they do not have official work permits.

116 Constitutional Court, Case No. 2001-11-0106, 25.02.2002, http://www.satv.tiesa.gov.lv/wp-

content/uploads/2001/09/2001-11-0106_Spriedums_ENG.pdf.