Latvia:
What customers expect from suppliers

Latvia as a market for South America

Latvia is a small market but a logistics hub. The Freeport of Riga, along with Ventspils and Liepāja, links the Baltic Sea to the hinterland. For South American exporters, Latvian importers matter mostly as distributors for the whole Baltic region: wine from Mendoza, fruit from Chile or coffee from Minas Gerais often goes to a wholesaler that supplies Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia together.

Containers from South America usually do not reach Riga directly. They come via a transshipment port in Western Europe and a feeder vessel. Customs clearance takes place where the goods enter the EU.

What is the same across the EU and what is national

Customs and product law are uniform across the EU. Since May 1, 2026, the trade part of the EU-Mercosur Agreement has applied provisionally, including to goods bound for Latvia. You will find the basics in the guide to exporting to the EU.

What is regulated nationally: the language of consumer information (Latvian), VAT (standard rate 21%) and packaging. Under the Natural Resources Tax Law (Dabas resursu nodokļa likums), Latvia taxes packaging. You are exempt if you meet the recovery targets and join an extended producer responsibility scheme or run one yourself. The tax is owed by whoever places the packaged goods on the Latvian market, which is usually your importer. Since August 12, 2026, the EU Packaging Regulation (EU) 2025/40 applies as well.

NIS2 in Latvia

The Latvian transposition law is the Nacionālās kiberdrošības likums (National Cybersecurity Law). It was promulgated on July 4, 2024 and has applied since September 1, 2024; an amendment took effect on June 18, 2026. The details are in Cabinet Regulation No. 397 on minimum cybersecurity requirements.

The competent authority is the National Cybersecurity Center (Nacionālais kiberdrošības centrs, NKDC) under the Ministry of Defense. Incidents go to CERT.LV. The deadlines follow the directive: early warning within 24 hours, report within 72 hours, final report after one month. Every company in scope needs a designated cybersecurity manager (kiberdrošības pārvaldnieks) and submits a self-assessment at regular intervals.

For suppliers, Latvia goes further than the directive. Regulation No. 397 sets out what an outsourcing contract must contain: audit rights for the customer, including access to logs, incident reporting by the provider, rules on subcontractors and confidentiality. Before signing, the customer needs a risk assessment and an exit strategy, and its cybersecurity manager has to approve.

More on the directive on the NIS2 page.

Data protection and supply chain

The data protection authority is the Datu valsts inspekcija (State Data Inspectorate). It enforces the GDPR in Latvia. If you process personal data on behalf of a Latvian customer, you need a data processing agreement and, for transfers to a country without an adequacy decision, standard contractual clauses. The EU has adopted adequacy decisions for Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, so data can flow there without standard contractual clauses. There is no decision for Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay or Bolivia.

Latvia has no national supply chain law. Human rights and environmental due diligence will reach you through large European buyers and, in the future, through the CSDDD. For wood, coffee, soy and beef, the EUDR applies.

What Latvian customers typically ask for

For IT services, contracts mirror Regulation No. 397. Expect clauses on audit rights, log access, incident reporting and subcontractors, plus questions about where your servers are. An ISO 27001 certificate makes the risk assessment easier, but it does not replace the contract clauses. Sightadel supports the way to certification with templates and audit preparation; the certificate itself is issued by an accredited body.

Food retailers and wholesalers ask for the usual evidence: a GFSI-recognized standard such as IFS, BRCGS or FSSC 22000, certificates of analysis and traceability. Many Latvian buyers work for retail chains from Scandinavia or Lithuania and adopt their supplier rules.

How to proceed:

1. Ask your Latvian customer whether it falls under the cybersecurity law and which security class your systems belong to.
2. Check where your servers are and plan for an EU location if needed.
3. Prepare contract annexes on audit rights, logs and subcontractors yourself instead of waiting for the customer's draft.
4. Agree with your importer on who pays the natural resources tax on packaging.

Contacts

We did not find a bilateral chamber of commerce between Latvia and any South American country. Your first stop is the trade section of the embassy of your country that covers Latvia; it often handles several countries in the region.

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