Latvia to expand mandatory e-address use and auto-activate companies

Latvia’s government on Tuesday approved amendments to expand the groups required to use the official electronic address, or e-address, for communication with public authorities, LSM reported. The changes would also automatically create and activate e-addresses for newly registered organisations and allow people conducting business to exchange electronic invoices through the system.

From January 7, 2027, e-address use would become mandatory for employees of Latvian institutions and of international organisations in which Latvia is a member. The requirement would also cover foreign individuals who own property in Latvia, as well as their legal or contractual representatives.

From January 1, 2030, the requirement would extend to authenticated users of the Latvija.gov.lv portal. Overall, the planned changes would add more than 400,000 e-address users.

New organisations registered with the Enterprise Register would have an e-address created and activated automatically from January 7, 2027. From July 1, 2027, e-addresses would also be activated automatically for existing legal entities that have not yet activated one when they apply to register changes with the Enterprise Register.

Although e-address use is already mandatory for all organisations registered with the Enterprise Register, not all have activated one. About 90,000 legal entities currently have an active e-address.

The amendments would also simplify how legal entities authorise someone to use their e-address, allowing the process to be completed digitally through a sworn notary. LSM said this could help companies whose authorised representatives are foreign nationals but who have entrusted e-address use in Latvia to authorised persons.