Law On Public Procurement Amended

On 16 July 2009, the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) passed a large number of amendments to the Law on Public Procurement, extending the scope of the exemptions when the law is not applicable, as well as changing various details concerning the tender procedures and their application. The amendments entered in force on 13 August 2009.

The amendments to the Public Procurement Law have introduced a new specific exemption for the loans from the international financial organizations in which Latvia is a member state, as well as simplified the exemption conditions for the procurement of goods and services from the entities that are fully controlled by the tenderer. A surprising new exemption has been made in respect of contracts whose value is below LVL 70,000 (approx. EUR 100,000) – thus, according to the new amendments, the Public Procurement Law will not apply to procurement of goods and services by credit institutions for their own needs if the contract value is below LVL