Agriculture, Latvia, Law and Regulations, Markets and Companies

As reported, in April President Raimonds Vejonis returned the legislation to Saeima for a revision, describing the draft as contradictory.

The law endorsed by Saeima today ups the state language command requirements on foreigners who buy farmland in Latvia. If necessary, they will also have to present their plans for a land plot they have acquired, in Latvian, to municipal officials and answer any questions they may have.

In the original version of the bill, foreigners buying farmland in Latvia were required to have basic command of Latvian (A level), while the new version states that foreigners buying farmland in Latvia will have to have better command of the language corresponding to level B (medium level), Grade 2.

Grade 2 of the medium level (B2) means that the person has to be able to communicate on everyday subjects and professional issues, to clearly phrase and justify his or her opinion, to read and understand texts of different content, to be able to write the documents necessary for work (for example, statements, summaries, minutes, reports, deeds), as well as expanded texts regarding everyday life and professional topics, comprehend and understand naturally paced spoken texts on different topics.

The law also deals with other matters, such as registration of land plots with the Land Register, if they have not been registered already.

The law will come into force on July 1.