State aid at national level in Latvia is regulated by the following:
- Law On Control of Aid for Commercial Activity [adopted on 19 December 2002, valid as of 1 January 2003; amended by: Law of 01.04.2004 (L.V., 20 April, No 61); Law of 08.11.2006 (L.V., 8 November, No 178), Law of 11.10.2007 (L.V., 31 October, No 175), Law of 03.07.2008 (L.V., 15 July, No 107), Law of 08.04.2009 (L.V., 29 April, No 66)];
- Regulation No 58 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Regulations regarding Procedures for Accounting and Granting of de minimis Aid and Samples of de minimis Aid Accounting Forms” adopted on 05.02.2008;
- Regulation No 100 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Procedure According to which Electronic Notifications of Aid Programmes and Individual Aid Projects should be submitted to the European Commission and Procedures for Granting and Cancellation of Rights to Use the Electronic Aid Notification System” adopted on 06.02.2007;
- Regulation No 101 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Procedures by which Aid Providers shall Submit to the Ministry of Finance a Report Regarding Payments of Reimbursement for the Provision of Public Services” adopted on 06.02.2007;
- Regulation No 850 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Regulation on Regional Development Aid in the Republic of Latvia till 2013” adopted on 04.08.2009.
Law on Control of Aid for Commercial Activity sets forth requirements and restrictions that state and municipal institutions should comply with in planning granting of State aid. The Law determines the allowable aid objectives, costs to be supported and maximum aid intensity, as well as national control of aid for commercial activities procedures in order to reduce the negative effect of aid on competition and to prevent the possibility of obtaining economic advantages by receiving unlawful aid.
Moreover Regulation No 58 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Regulations regarding Procedures for Accounting and Granting of de minimis Aid and Samples of de minimis Aid Accounting Forms” adopted on 05.02.2008 prescribes de minimis aid accounting and granting procedure, as well as approved the following samples of minimum aid accounting forms:
- accounting form for received de minimis aid;
- accounting form for granting new de minimis aid.
Regulation No 100 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Procedure According to which Electronic Notifications of Aid Programmes and Individual Aid Projects should be submitted to the European Commission and Procedures for Granting and Cancellation of Rights to Use the Electronic Aid Notification System” adopted on 06.02.2007 prescribes the procedure according to which electronic notification of aid programmes and individual aid projects should be submitted to the European Commission and procedures for granting and cancellation of rights to use the aid notification electronic system. This Regulation should be applied to development of aid programmes and individual aid projects, as well as amendments to aid programmes and individual aid projects which should be notified to the European Commission according to Article 2 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty.
However Regulation No 101 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Procedures by which Aid Providers shall Submit to the Ministry of Finance a Report Regarding Payments of Reimbursement for the Provision of Public Services” adopted on 06.02.2007 prescribe procedure which aid providers shall submit to the Ministry of Finance a report regarding payments of reimbursement for the provision of public services.
Regulation No 850 of the Cabinet of Ministers “Regulation on Regional Development Aid in the Republic of Latvia till 2013” adopted on 04.08.2009 prescribe the procedure for granting regional aid in the Republic of Latvia till 2013, namely, Regulation defines regions (territories) of Latvia where it is allowed to grant regional aid to undertakings according to European Commission Guidelines on national regional aid for 2007-2013 [published in OJ C 54, 04.03.2006, p.13-44], as well as maximum allowable aid intensities.
The above mentioned national normative acts in the State aid control field are available in the legislative data base NAIS, internet resources (http://www.vestnesis.lv and http://www.likumi.lv) or in the State Aid Control Department of the Ministry of Finance.