Country report non-discrimination :Transposition and implementation at national level of Council Directives 2000/43 and 2000/78 : Latvia 2023

Latvia’s legal system belongs to the continental (Romano-Germanic) law system. Latvia’s law was significantly influenced by German (and subsequently, Roman) law, especially in areas of civil, administrative and constitutional law. The Constitution (Satversme), adopted in 1922, was drafted using the Weimar Constitution, the constitutions of German states and the Constitution of France as primary models. The most important source of law in Latvia is legal acts, which can be divided into two categories: external and internal. External legal acts are universally binding. The main types of external legal acts are laws, regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers and binding regulations of local municipalities. Internal legal acts bind only the issuing state institution. Examples of internal legal acts are statutes, instructions and recommendations. The hierarchical system of legal acts in Latvia is as follows: (1) the Constitution; (2) laws; (3) regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers; (4) binding regulations of local authorities. International and EU legal norms are applied in accordance with their ranking in the hierarchy of external regulatory enactments. In cases of conflicts between Latvian and international or EU statute of the same legal force, the international or EU law or provision must be applied.