Latvia
EU AI Act implementation, 2026
Latvia has a government implementation plan (February 2025) and two flanking laws (the AI Centre Law and a financial-sector DORA/AI Act law with sanctions), but as of October 2026 no general implementing or penalties law for sectors outside finance has been adopted and most designations remain planned rather than enacted.
- Implementing law
- No bill yetOct 2025
- Penalty regime (Art. 99)
- Not adopted
- Regulatory sandbox
- Planned
- Readiness rank
- 20 of 27score 35 / 100
Key findings
- Latvia's general AI Act implementing and penalties law for non-financial sectors has not been adopted as of October 2026; the designations in the February 2025 plan remain largely proposals.
- Only the financial sector has an enacted regime: the Bank of Latvia supervises AI at financial market participants with Article 99-level fines since 1 October 2025.
- The planned model is highly decentralised (12–14 sectoral authorities coordinated by VARAM, Data State Inspectorate for prohibited/high-risk, Ministry of Economics as notifying authority); industry (PPPA) has criticised this as fragmented.
- The European Commission lists PTAC as single point of contact, but domestic sources do not show a formal designation and some trackers report none.
- The AI Centre Law (March 2025) gives Latvia a coordination body and a sandbox host in principle, but no Article 57 sandbox is operational.
National authorities
Datu valsts inspekcija (Data State Inspectorate)
Planned market surveillance authority for prohibited AI practices and high-risk AI systems under the February 2025 government plan; general implementing law not yet adopted.
web.archive.org (opens in new tab)Latvijas Banka (Bank of Latvia)
Market surveillance authority for AI systems placed on the market, put into service or used by financial market participants under its supervision; enacted via the financial-market digital resilience and AI law in force 1 October 2025.
praxikon.com (opens in new tab)Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs (PTAC, Consumer Rights Protection Centre) and 10+ sectoral bodies (Health Inspectorate, Civil Aviation Agency and others)
Decentralised sectoral market surveillance under the plan, coordinated by VARAM; PTAC is listed by the European Commission as single point of contact.
digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu (opens in new tab)Ekonomikas ministrija (Ministry of Economics) – recommended in the government plan, not confirmed as enacted
web.archive.org (opens in new tab)Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC), per the European Commission's list updated 7 September 2026; some trackers report no formal notification
Implementing law, penalties and sandbox
Finanšu tirgus digitālās darbības noturības un mākslīgā intelekta izmantošanas likums (financial-sector DORA/AI Act law, in force 1 October 2025); general AI Act implementing law for other sectors not adopted
Oct 2025
praxikon.com (opens in new tab)No national penalty rules under Article 99 are in force; regulators rely on existing powers.
The Mākslīgā intelekta centra likums (AI Centre Law, adopted 6 March 2025, in force 20 March 2025) creates a national AI Centre as coordinating body with pilot-project and testing-infrastructure tasks; trackers describe it as the intended home of a national regulatory sandbox, but no Article 57 sandbox was confirmed operational.
regulations.ai (opens in new tab)No national AI strategy identified.
Notable developments
-
Cabinet examines VARAM's AI Act implementation plan
On 25 February 2025 the government reviewed an informative report making VARAM responsible for overall AI Act implementation and Commission liaison, proposing 12–14 sectoral market surveillance authorities, the Data State Inspectorate for prohibited and high-risk systems, the Bank of Latvia for finance, the Ministry of Economics as notifying authority and the Ombudsman for fundamental rights, with amendments to related laws due by 2 August 2025.
web.archive.org (opens in new tab) -
Saeima adopts the AI Centre Law
Adopted 6 March 2025 and in force 20 March 2025, the Mākslīgā intelekta centra likums establishes a national AI Centre as a coordinating and advisory body; regulatory powers stay with sectoral ministries and authorities.
regulations.ai (opens in new tab) -
Financial-sector AI Act law with sanctions enters into force
Adopted by the Saeima on 11 September 2025 and in force 1 October 2025, the law applies DORA and the AI Act to Bank of Latvia-supervised entities, with fines up to EUR 35m or 7% of turnover for prohibited practices and EUR 7.5m or 1% for transparency breaches; it is Latvia's only AI Act penalty legislation.
praxikon.com (opens in new tab) -
Industry drafts a national AI strategy proposal
The Public-Private Partnership Association of Latvia opened a working document for a national AI strategy (28 May 2026, approval target 5 September 2026) flagging that AI Act market surveillance is split across VARAM, the Data State Inspectorate, the Ministry of Economics/LATAK, the Ombudsman, the Bank of Latvia and 10+ sectoral bodies, and proposing that the AI Centre or a new body serve as a single point of contact for AI Act compliance.
pppa.lv (opens in new tab) -
Digital Omnibus on AI relieves immediate pressure
Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (in force 27 July 2026) deferred Annex III high-risk obligations to 2 December 2027 and the national sandbox deadline to 2 August 2027, but transparency, governance and penalty provisions applied from 2 August 2026 with no general Latvian enforcement law in place.
actuia.com (opens in new tab)
Analysis
Latvia planned carefully and then stalled. VARAM's February 2025 informative report mapped a decentralised model that reuses existing regulators, with the Data State Inspectorate taking prohibited and high-risk systems and the Bank of Latvia taking finance, and set a 2 August 2025 deadline for the enabling amendments. Only the financial strand made it: the DORA/AI Act law for Bank of Latvia-supervised firms has been in force since 1 October 2025 with full Article 99 fine ceilings. For every other sector the enabling amendments to product-safety, consumer-protection and sectoral laws that would confer AI Act powers and penalties have not been found in the Saeima record.
The result is a two-speed country. A bank deploying a credit-scoring model faces a designated supervisor and a EUR 35m fine ceiling; an employer deploying the same class of system faces, in practice, only GDPR enforcement by the Data State Inspectorate, whose AI resourcing is unclear. The Commission lists PTAC as single point of contact, yet Latvian sources (Praxikon, as of August 2026) show no enacted designation.
The AI Centre Law of March 2025 and the industry-led strategy drafting in 2026 show policy momentum on the promotion side, and the Digital Omnibus has given Latvia until December 2027 for high-risk enforcement and August 2027 for a sandbox. But the governance side is now more than a year past the designation deadline, and the readiness score reflects a country with a plan, a partial financial-sector law and little else enacted.
EU AI Act 2026 Q3 Report
All 27 member-state profiles including Latvia, the readiness ranking, the Omnibus timeline and every source, as one print-ready PDF.
Sources
- Datu valsts inspekcija (Data State Inspectorate) (opens in new tab) web.archive.org
- Latvijas Banka (Bank of Latvia) (opens in new tab) praxikon.com
- Patērētāju tiesību aizsardzības centrs (PTAC, Consumer Rights Protection Centre) and 10+ sectoral bodies (Health Inspectorate, Civil Aviation Agency and others) (opens in new tab) digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
- Regulatory sandbox (opens in new tab) regulations.ai
- Industry drafts a national AI strategy proposal (opens in new tab) pppa.lv
- Digital Omnibus on AI relieves immediate pressure (opens in new tab) actuia.com