Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

The Competition Act applies to acts between undertakings that are based in Latvia, as well as the activities of foreign undertakings which have an effect on the national market.
The provisions of the law apply to both natural and legal persons doing business in Latvia, as well as to any form of registered or unregistered group of undertakings. Following a Supreme Court ruling of 17 May 2018, the t …

Scope

Competition law in Latvia is governed by the Latvian Competition Act ("the Competition Act") adopted on 22 April 2004, replacing the former Latvian Competition Act of 1 January 2002. The Competition Act has since been modified by several amendments (13 March 2008, 14 November 2008, 18 June 2009, 1 December 2009, 12 September 2013, 21 May 2015 and 12 May 2016) which brought Latvia's competition legislation more into line with EU rules in the area and strengthened the investigative powers of the Competition Council. Ultimately, the Competition Act was amended on 9 June 2022 to transpose the ECN+ Directice.

The Competition Act encompasses all anticompetitive arrangements (restrictive agreements and abuses of dominance) and unfair competition. A special regulation deals with State aid.

In the wording of Section 18(2) of the Competition Act, “Actions, as the result of which laws and regulations or fair commercial practices are infringed and which have created or could create a hindrance, restriction or distortion of competition, shall be deemed to be unfair competition”. Section 18(3) lists the following behavior as being potentially unfair:

- using or imitating a legal name or distinctive marks marks or other features of another market participant thereby misleading clients as to the identity of the market participant;

- imitating a name, packaging etc., thereby misleading clients as to the origin of the goods in question;

- supplying false information as regards the situation or products of a competitor;

- acquiring and using a third party's business secrets without its consent;

- negatively interfering with competitors' employees.

Context

The Competition Act applies to acts between undertakings that are based in Latvia, as well as the activities of foreign undertakings which have an effect on the national market.

The provisions of the law apply to both natural and legal persons doing business in Latvia, as well as to any form of registered or unregistered group of undertakings. Following a Supreme Court ruling of 17 May 2018, the term “undertaking” must be interpreted as allowing sanctions to be imposed on parent companies for infringements committed by their subsidiaries.

The Competition Act also applies to State bodies, local authorities and local Government institutions, although only where such institutions are acting in the context of a private law relationship. Under an amendment to the Competition Act adopted in March 2019 and which entered into force on 1 January 2020, public administrative bodies – the state, local governments and capital companies owned by them – may no longer violate the principle of competitive neutrality by unduly restricting or even denying the private sector an opportunity to operate on the market. In particular, public administrative bodies are prohibited from discriminating between market participants, creating an advantage for their own capital companies and implementing activities that force entrepreneurs out of the market. Infringements to those rules may, after preliminary unsuccessful negotiations, lead to the imposition of a fine of up to 3% of the turnover (but no less than EUR 250) achieved in the previous year.

Global Competition Law

446. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

446. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise