Overview
Latvia is a UN and EU member state and implements UN and EU sanctions. In 2016, Latvia passed the Law on International and National Sanctions, which provides that the government can impose autonomous sanctions on natural or legal persons for the following reasons:
- To achieve peace or prevent international crimes and human rights violations outside of Latvia;
- To prevent damage to Latvia’s foreign policy interests or national security;
- To combat terrorism or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and
- To prevent the justification or incitement of any of the above.
Latvia has imposed autonomous sanctions on 2 individuals and 1 entity, all linked to North Korea. For details see the Latvia sanctions list webpage.
The national competent authority for sanctions in Latvia is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The FIU maintains a list of sanctioned entities whose funds or economic resources have been frozen in Latvia and a list of funds and economic resources which have been frozen.
Natural and legal persons in Latvia are subject to EU sanctions reporting obligations and additional national obligations set out in the Law on International and National Sanctions. See our reporting section for details.
Breaching sanctions and export controls is a criminal offence in Latvia which is punishable by a fine or up to 12 years in prison, depending on the nature of the offence. Latvian sanctions law imposes obligations on certain businesses to implement internal procedures and risk assessments to prevent sanctions breaches. Failure to comply with these obligations may result in administrative penalties including fines, warnings, and bans on business activity. See our enforcement section for details.
National Competent Authorities
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is the national competent authority for sanctions in Latvia.
The State Revenue Service is responsible for investigating sanctions and export control violations. The Latvian State Police investigates criminal breaches of sanctions and export controls.
The Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs is responsible for implementing travel ban sanctions.
The following entities are entitled to apply administrative penalties to businesses under their supervision for violation of legal requirements related to sanctions;
Details of which businesses and individuals are under the supervision of each of those entities are at Article 13 of the Law on International and National Sanctions. Our enforcement section has more information.
Legislation
Law on International and National Sanctions of the Republic of Latvia
Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing
Sanctions Lists
Guidance
FIU – Frequently Asked Questions
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Frequently Asked Questions
List of persons whose assets have been frozen in Latvia (portal)
FIU sanctions compliance guidance (2025)
Indicators of Russian sanctions circumvention (2022)
Guidance on Latvia Export Controls (Latvian version)
Licensing
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is responsible for granting licences to permit activity that would otherwise be prohibited by national or international sanctions regimes. See our export control section for information on export control licences.
An activity will only be licensed where the national or international sanctions instrument (usually an EU regulation) provides grounds for it. Applicants for licences should submit a written application to the FIU containing the following:
- Information about the transactions or activity for which the permit is requested;
- Information on the relevant sanctions framework;
- An assessment of the compliance of that transaction with the specific exception;
- Information about directly related transactions and activities necessary to execute the primary transaction; and
- Any other information that is necessary.
Legal entities registered in Latvia applying for a sanctions licence must submit additional information about their business and employees. Full information on licensing procedures is at Part VI of Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 184.
For more information about sanctions licensing in Latvia, see the FIU’s Frequently Asked Questions.
Enforcement
Article 18 of the Law on National and International Sanctions (‘the Sanctions Act’) provides that violations of sanctions which relate to goods and services worth more than EUR 10,000 are criminal offences. The punishment for these offences is set out in Section 84 of the Latvian Criminal Code. This says:
- Violating UN, EU or Latvian sanctions is punishable by up to 5 years in prison or a fine;
- Violating export controls on strategic and military goods is punishable by up to 8 years in prison; and
- The penalties for the above offences will be extended to 10 and 12 years, respectively, if the offence was a premeditated group offence.
The Bank of Latvia, the State Revenue Service, and several other government bodies set out at Article 13 of the Sanctions Act are responsible for monitoring the implementation of sanctions in their respective sectors. For example, the Bank of Latvia is responsible for monitoring sanctions implementation and developing requirements for financial market participants.
These bodies can impose administrative penalties on businesses and individuals under their supervision if they fail to establish internal control mechanisms and sanctions risk management systems.
The following entities are entitled to impose these administrative penalties on businesses under their supervision;
All the supervising entities except the Bank of Latvia can:
- Issue a warning;
- Impose a fine of up to EUR 1 million;
- Suspend or terminate businesses operations; and
- Impose injunctions and specific performance obligations.
The Bank of Latvia can;
- Issue a warning;
- Impose a fine of up to 10% of total annual turnover or up to EUR 5 million on companies or employees and directors responsible for sanctions compliance;
- Suspend or terminate business operations; and
- Impose an obligation on the financial market participant to remove the person responsible for the sanctions violation from its office.
Details are at Section 13 of the Sanctions Act.
Reporting
EU reporting requirements apply in Latvia. These obligations are set out in EU regulations and require natural and legal persons, entities and bodies to supply “any information which would facilitate the implementation [of sanctions]… to the competent authority of the Member State where they are resident or located.” See our EU Reporting page for more information on reporting obligations under different EU sanctions regimes.
Latvia imposes a sanctions reporting duty under the Law on National and International Sanctions (‘the Sanctions Act’).
Under Article 12 of the Sanctions Act, any individual or entity in Latvia is obliged immediately to inform the FIU about the freezing or unfreezing of funds or economic resources in the EU.
Under Article 17 of the Sanctions Act, any persons under supervision of the supervisory institutions referred to in Article 13 must report no later than the next working day the violation of sanctions or its attempt and the funds frozen as a result using the goAML system.
Financial institutions defined at Section 3 of the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism and Proliferation Financing have additional reporting obligations. They must report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). These reports must contain:
- Customer identification data and relevant due diligence documents;
- A description of the transaction including its status, relevant identification data, amount, time and place of execution.
Export controls
EU export controls apply in Latvia.
The Law on the Circulation of Goods of Strategic Importance sets out rules related to export controls in Latvia.
The Committee for the Control of Goods of Strategic Importance is responsible for determining which goods should be subject to export controls and granting export licences.
Latvia maintains a National List of Goods and Services of Strategic Importance. This means some goods which are not subject EU export controls may be subject to Latvian national export controls. A licence from the Committee for the Control of Goods of Strategic Importance is required to import, export, transit, or provide technical assistance and brokerage services for the following:
- Goods on the EU Common Military List;
- Goods listed at Annexes 1 and 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/821;
- Goods listed on the Latvian National List of Goods and Services of Strategic Importance.
Exceptions to this requirement are set out at Article 4 of the Law on the Circulation of Goods of Strategic Importance.
The procedures for issuing licences and related export documents are set out in Cabinet Regulation No 657.
Guidance on Latvian Export Controls:
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs guidance (in Latvian)
Judgments
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А56-28968/2024 JSC Rietumu Bank v LLC Agency Gorelovo Industrial Zone (Appeal)
