Facilitating enforcement of the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) by competent authorities : Latvia

There were 53 ELD occurrences in Latvia up to the end of 2021. Compared with other Member States, the level of enforcement of national ELD legislation is moderate to good.1 This is due in large part to the implementation and enforcement of national ELD legislation for all land, water and biodiversity damage occurrences that occur after 30 April 2007 regardless of whether they are ELD occurrences. That is, national ELD legislation, not national liability legislation, applies to all land, water and biodiversity damage occurrences in Latvia. This does not necessarily mean that primary, complementary and compensatory remediation is applied to all ELD occurrences. Instead, a regulation that sets out procedures for calculating losses of water and biodiversity damage and which allows monetary compensation for such damage is applied to some ELD occurrences instead of primary, complementary and compensatory remediation under the ELD.