On 9 November the Cabinet of Ministers supported submission of the draft law “Amendments to the Punishment Register Law” to the Saeima, in order to facilitate the receipt of statement on impunity for private persons, thus expanding the availability and possibilities of the public administration services, as well as reduce the administrative burden and expenses in the processing of information.
Amendments to the law provide to supplement the scope of information to be included in the Punishment Register about a person for more precise identification thereof, about the criminal offence and classification as well as the course of supervision of probation. Besides, it is planned to include in the Punishment Register information about the place of residence of the person convicted for commitment of the criminal offence, the declared, additional, registered or specified address.
The legal framework will reduce the administrative burden for the persons, who will chose to electronically apply for receipt of a statement on impunity from the Punishment Register. If so far the residents of Latvia living abroad could request a statement in the paper form through the representative office of Latvia in the relevant country, then currently it will be possible to apply for it by using the e-service “Statement from the Punishment Register regarding impunity of natural persons, imposed administrative fines, administrative fines and coercive measures imposed on legal persons” on the website https://e.ic.iem.gov.lv/lv/, paying for preparation of the statement and covering postal expenses for receipt of the statement in paper form.
If the person will wish to receive the statement to the official electronic address, it will have to be certified by a safe electronic signature.
Besides, the amendments clarify forms in which the statements from the Punishment Register are provided. Although the current possibility to receive information both, in the written form as well as electronically, is preserved, the norm does not provide any more to decrypt the list of documents to be issued in the written form (statement or letter), as well as to determine a certain specimen for statements, thus providing a possibility for the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior to constantly develop and improve the products and services to be acquired from the Punishment Register (for example, e-statements).
The draft law also provides that further on the Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior will transfer the information to the countries of the European Union on every sentenced third-country national, who has any current criminal records in the Republic of Latvia. The data on the third-country national sentenced in Latvia will be completely deleted from the European Criminal Records Information System afterwards, when all criminal records of the third-country national will be deleted or removed.
It should be noted also that further on the provision of information from the Punishment Register will be a paid service, in accordance with the price list of paid services determined by the Cabinet of Ministers. In order the draft law would enter into force, it still needs to be adopted by the Saeima.
For reference:
The Punishment Register is a state information system, providing movement of the information necessary for the criminal proceeding and determination of the administrative liability. On average a statement on impunity is prepared 19 320 times per year. The Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior is the controller and manager of the Register. Such register is established in order to combine the records on the persons, who have committed criminal offences and administrative violations, as well as provide a possibility for the state and municipal authorities, the competent authorities of the countries of the European Union to exchange with information obtained from the registers of criminal records.
Additional information:
Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior
Phone: 67208025
E-mail: jurita.mikovica@ic.iem.gov.lv
Website: www.ic.iem.gov.lv