On Thursday, 22 September, Latvia’s parliament conceptually approved the legislative draft that recognises Latvian language as the sole official language in the country. For amendments to come into force, they will have to be passed by the Saeima in two readings.
The objective of the legislative draft is ending the practice when Latvian and Russian language are used to communicate at work and with service providers and provide an opportunity for all Latvian residents to use the official language in their day to day life.
The legislative draft is also intended to introduce additional conditions under which use of Latvian language would be a priority over other languages.
At the same time, it is planned to outline in the law that new measures will not affect people’s rights for a translator, use of language in emergencies or accidents, any other situations when people’s lives are in danger, as well situations when reporting crimes or interpersonal communication.
For state or municipal institutions or public capital company it is planned to prohibit to use another language in addition to the official language if the other language is not an official language in the European Union.
It is also planned of this prohibition to apply to multiple categories of businesses, including public service providers, electronic communication service providers, public transport service providers and others.
The new legislative draft states that employers that have at least 50 employees, of which at least five are required to know or use a language that is not an official language in the European Union, or consider it an advantage when hiring will have to inform the State Labour Inspectorate of this. The inspectorate will publish related information on its website, the legislative draft states.
For retail stores it is planned to prohibit use of other languages that are not official EU languages for visual or audio announcements. It is also planned to prohibit the use of languages that are not official languages in the EU in information sent to clients electronically or in written form if the client did not agree to it in writing in advance.