European Accessibility Act Compliance in Latvia

The European Accessibility Act reached Latvia through the Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums (Law on the Accessibility of Goods and Services), adopted by the Saeima on 16 March 2023 and in force since 28 June 2025, with the detailed requirements set out in Cabinet Regulation No. 128 of 27 February 2024. It covers a defined list of consumer products and a defined list of services offered in Latvia: electronic communications, access to audiovisual media services, listed elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport, consumer financial services, e-books and their software, and e-commerce. Latvia published the law on 28 March 2023, nine months after the EU transposition deadline of 28 June 2022.

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National law Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums (Law on the Accessibility of Goods and Services), adopted by the Saeima on 16 March 2023, published in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 62 of 28 March 2023, in force since 28 June 2025 and amended by the law of 14 May 2026 with effect from 5 June 2026. Its detailed requirements sit in Ministru kabineta 2024. gada 27. februāra noteikumi Nr. 128 "Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības prasības" (Cabinet Regulation No. 128 of 27 February 2024 on accessibility requirements for goods and services), published in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 42 of 28 February 2024, in force from 28 June 2025, with Chapter VI on answering the single emergency number 112 from 28 June 2027. Both instruments close with an express reference stating that they implement Directive (EU) 2019/882. Transposition was late. The directive required member states to adopt and publish national measures by 28 June 2022, and Latvia published on 28 March 2023, nine months after that deadline. The European Commission opened infringement proceedings against member states that missed the notification deadline, but we could not open a Commission record naming Latvia, so the lateness here is stated from the publication dates rather than from an infringement decision.

Web standard Section 15 of the Latvian law gives a presumption of conformity to products and services that meet harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and to products and services that meet technical specifications adopted by the European Commission. Section 12 lets a service provider apply those harmonised standards and technical specifications in whole or in part when it documents its own service. Neither the law nor Cabinet Regulation No. 128 names a standard in its own text, and Latvia has no separate national digital accessibility standard for the private sector. In practice EN 301 549 is the working reference for websites, apps and other ICT, and it carries across the WCAG success criteria, so WCAG 2.2 level AA is the sensible target for new and updated services. Conforma tests against WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549. We did not confirm whether Latvijas standarts, the national standardisation body, has published EN 301 549 as a Latvian adoption, so treat the reference as the European standard rather than as a named Latvian one. The separate public-sector regulation takes a similar route, with the responsible ministry recommending a list of applicable standards that the national standardisation body then publishes.

Enforcement Enforcement splits between products and services. For products, Section 18 makes the Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs (PTAC, Consumer Rights Protection Centre) the single market surveillance authority. For services, Section 22 names a competent authority per sector. PTAC covers consumer financial services, e-books and their software, e-commerce, waterborne passenger transport, and electronic tickets and electronic ticket sales services in air passenger transport. Sabiedrisko pakalpojumu regulēšanas komisija (SPRK, Public Utilities Commission) covers electronic communications. Nacionālā elektronisko plašsaziņas līdzekļu padome (NEPLP, National Electronic Mass Media Council) covers services giving access to audiovisual media services. The state agency Civilās aviācijas aģentūra (Civil Aviation Agency) covers the other listed elements of air passenger transport, VSIA Autotransporta direkcija (Road Transport Administration) covers bus and domestic rail passenger transport, Valsts dzelzceļa administrācija (State Railway Administration) covers international rail passenger transport, and municipalities cover the interactive self-service terminals of city buses, trams and trolleybuses. Complaints follow Section 21. A consumer or passenger raises the matter with the service provider first, and the provider answers in writing within one month, extendable to two months on objective grounds. If the matter stays unresolved, the complainant can take it to the competent authority for that sector. For products, PTAC asks consumers to approach the trader first and, if there is no resolution within 15 working days, to file a complaint with PTAC. On penalties, the accessibility law sets no fine amounts of its own. It gives the authorities power to require correction within a set deadline, to restrict or prohibit offering a product and to require its withdrawal from the market, and Section 18 routes product market surveillance decisions to the market surveillance chapter of the law Par atbilstības novērtēšanu (On Conformity Assessment). The fines sit in Section 19 of that same law, whose scope in Section 4, paragraph two expressly reaches EU acts on product accessibility requirements, and Section 20 places the administrative offence proceedings with PTAC. Amounts are expressed in fine units, one unit being five euro under Section 16 of the Administratīvās atbildības likums (Law on Administrative Liability). The band for placing a non-conforming product on the market runs from 56 to 2,800 units for a legal person, EUR 280 to EUR 14,000. The band for internal control failures that produce systematic non-conformity runs from 140 to 4,000 units, EUR 700 to EUR 20,000, and 4,000 units is also the general statutory ceiling for a legal person. Which band an authority would apply to an accessibility breach is not settled in published Latvian practice, and no fine amount is written anywhere for a non-compliant service. Latvian law firm commentary circulates an administrative fine of up to EUR 10,000 for legal persons, and we could not match that figure to any provision in the published texts, so treat it as unverified.

Who has to comply in Latvia

The Latvian law applies to any business placing covered products on the Latvian market or providing covered services to consumers in Latvia, wherever that business is established. Covered products are consumer general purpose computer hardware and its operating systems, self-service terminals such as payment terminals, cash machines, ticketing machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals, consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications, consumer terminal equipment used to reach audiovisual media services, and e-readers. Covered services are electronic communications, services giving access to audiovisual media services, listed elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport including websites, mobile services, electronic tickets and travel information, consumer financial services, e-books and their software, and e-commerce. Section 3, paragraph six states the micro-enterprise exemption in the EU-wide terms: a trader employing fewer than 10 people whose annual turnover does not exceed EUR 2 million or whose annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million is exempt from the service accessibility requirements. The exemption covers services only. A micro-enterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes a covered product stays fully bound. Public bodies sit under a separate regime, Ministru kabineta noteikumi Nr. 445 of 14 July 2020 on how institutions publish information online, which transposes the public-sector Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and forms no part of the EAA transposition.

The deadlines that matter

16 March 2023

The Saeima adopts the Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums, nine months after the EU transposition deadline of 28 June 2022

28 March 2023

The law is published in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 62

27 February 2024

The Cabinet adopts Regulation No. 128, which carries the detailed accessibility requirements for products and services; published in Latvijas Vēstnesis No. 42 of 28 February 2024

28 June 2025

The law and Regulation No. 128 enter into force, the date EAA obligations start applying across the EU

28 June 2027

Section 3, paragraph three of the law and Chapter VI of Regulation No. 128, both on answering the single emergency number 112, enter into force

28 June 2030

Service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 must be brought into line with the accessibility requirements if they still run after 27 June 2030

WCAG 2.2 AA, EN 301 549

Prove your Latvia compliance

Conforma tests your site against WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549 and leaves a dated record of what was checked, what failed and what you fixed. Section 12 of the Latvian law requires a service provider to describe in its terms of use, or in an equivalent document, how the service meets the accessibility requirements, and to publish that description in accessible formats, so the scan output feeds the text you have to publish. What Conforma supplies is testing and evidence. Whether you comply depends on what you fix and on the parts of your service no scanner can see.

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Latvia EAA questions, answered

When does the European Accessibility Act apply in Latvia, and is there a transition period?

The Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums has applied since 28 June 2025, together with Cabinet Regulation No. 128. Products placed on the market and services provided from that date have to meet the requirements. The transitional provisions leave three openings. Service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 stay outside the requirements, and if such a contract still runs after 27 June 2030 the provider has to bring it into line. A provider may keep using products it lawfully used before 28 June 2025 to deliver similar services until 27 June 2030. Self-service terminals in use before 28 June 2025 may stay in service to the end of their economic life, and no longer than 20 years after they were first put into use.

Is my small business exempt from the Latvian accessibility law?

Only if you provide services and stay under the micro-enterprise thresholds in Section 3, paragraph six: fewer than 10 employees, and annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million. Grow past the headcount or past both financial thresholds and the service obligations apply. The exemption does not extend to products, so a micro-enterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes a covered product still has to meet the product requirements in full.

Which accessibility standard does my website have to meet in Latvia?

Section 15 of the law gives a presumption of conformity to anything meeting a harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal of the European Union. No standard is named in the Latvian text, and Latvia has no separate national digital accessibility standard for private business. EN 301 549 is the working reference for websites and apps, and it carries the WCAG success criteria, so build to WCAG 2.2 level AA.

Who enforces the law in Latvia and what are the penalties?

Section 18 makes PTAC, the Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs, the market surveillance authority for products. Section 22 assigns services by sector: PTAC covers consumer financial services, e-books, e-commerce, waterborne passenger transport and air electronic ticketing, while sector regulators cover electronic communications, audiovisual media and the rest of transport. The accessibility law sets no fine of its own. Product fines run through the law Par atbilstības novērtēšanu, where the band for a non-conforming product is 56 to 2,800 fine units for a legal person, EUR 280 to EUR 14,000, and the ceiling for a legal person is 4,000 units, EUR 20,000. No fine amount is written for a non-compliant service. A figure of EUR 10,000 circulates in Latvian legal commentary without a cited provision.

This page is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Check the cited national law for specifics.

Common fixes to check

Most sites fail the same WCAG checks first. Each guide has a plain-language fix and a before/after snippet you can copy.

WCAG 1.1.1 Images must have alt text Every meaningful image needs alt text so screen-reader users know what it shows. Decorative images get an empty alt attribute so they are skipped. WCAG 1.4.3 Text must have enough color contrast Text needs to contrast with its background so people with low vision can read it. The minimum is 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. WCAG 4.1.2 Form fields must have labels Every input, textarea and select needs an associated label so users know what to enter and screen readers can announce the field. WCAG 4.1.2 Links must have discernible text A link needs text that describes where it goes. An icon-only or empty link is announced as just “link”, so screen-reader users have no idea where it leads.

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