EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The court ruled to ban the publication of adverts in the municipality-funded newspaper Iecavas Zinas and ordered the local authority of Iecava to pay EUR 6,031 compensation to the plaintiff, the regional press publisher Bauskas Dzive.

Taurins noted that the plaintiff had demanded EUR 30,000 compensation, but that in this case setting a precedent had been more important than the financial side of the dispute. The lawyer also noted that the verdict might still be appealed.

The publisher of the regional newspaper Bauskas Dzive had filed a lawsuit with the administrative court against the Iecava regional council, asking to ban the publication of the municipality-funded newspaper Iecavas Zinas and placing adverts in the paper, but the court initially refused to hear the request.

Bauskas Dzive appealed that decision before the Supreme Court, which ruled that the regional press publisher was entitled to seek a ban on adverts and to demand compensation. The administrative court opened the case on that part of the lawsuit and heard the request, which today was granted.

As regards the rest of the lawsuit, the Supreme Court ruled that Bauskas Dzive had no rights to seek a ban on the municipal paper’s publication as the local authority’s rights to publish its newspaper are stipulated in the Constitution as freedom of speech and expression.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) accepted for hearing the legal dispute between Bauskas Dzive and Latvia after the regional press publisher filed a complaint against Latvia, which allows local authorities to publish their newspapers imitating free press.