On Tuesday, 11 June, the Cabinet of Ministers (CoM) adopted amendments to the CoM Regulation No. 134 “Regulations Regarding Personal Identification Documents” and the CoM Regulation No. 708 “Regulations Regrading the Register of Invalid Documents”. The amendments are part of the normative acts adopted in order to implement the requirements of the European Union legislation into the Latvian national regulation. Moreover, these amendments are part of a broader set of measures designed to ensure not only compliance with the regulations of the European Union, but also to improve the security system in Latvia.
These EU laws and regulations extend the scope of the reports to be included in the Schengen Information System, including the alert on vulnerable persons subject to travel bans:
- children who are subject to a travel ban and who are at specific and clear risk of being removed from or leaving the territory of a Member State and becoming victims of trafficking in human beings, forced marriage, female genital mutilation or other forms of gender-based violence; becoming victims of or being involved in terrorist offences; being recruited or involved in armed groups; or being ordered to participate actively in hostilities;
- vulnerable adults who should be prevented from travelling for their own protection and who are at specific and obvious risk of being taken from or leaving the territory of a Member State and becoming victims of trafficking in human beings or gender-based violence.
The amendments provide that an authorized officer of the State Police will take a decision on prohibiting a person from leaving or removing a child from the Republic of Latvia, if there is no threat to the security of the state, which is not indirectly related to the threat to the person. However, if there is also a threat to the security of the state, the Minister of the Interior will be competent to make the relevant decision. A decision to prevent a person from leaving the country or taking a child out of the country will be a measure of last resort if other less restrictive means fail to achieve the legitimate aim with equal quality.
Similarly to the cases when the Minister of the Interior adopts a decision on prohibiting a person from leaving the country in the cases provided for in the National Security Law, these amendments provide for ensuring the appropriate status of personal identity documents in cases when an authorized officer of the State Police adopts a decision on prohibiting a person from leaving or removing a child from the Republic of Latvia.
This means that the person subject to such a decision will have his or her personal identity document declared invalid for the duration of the decision and will have to deposit it with the issuing authority or the nearest diplomatic or consular mission of the Republic of Latvia. Instead, the person will be issued a new personal identity document free of charge, which will not be valid for travel. This will be indicated in the machine-readable area of the document.
Upon expiry or revocation of the decision, the person will be returned the personal identity document deposited or issued with a new personal identity document, as appropriate. In addition, the official of the State Police will be obliged to inform the person of the need to replace the invalid document immediately in order to avoid administrative liability.
Prepared by:
Communication Department