The new price list of public paid services of the national Archives of Latvia will come into force from October 28, 2026. New prices will be applied to services applied for from October 28. Requests submitted to the national Archives of Latvia up to and including 27 October 2026 shall be subject to the fee in force on the date when the service was requested.
Until now, the national Archives of Latvia kept prices for services for a long time, which in recent years was already below the actual cost price. However, the cost of providing services has increased considerably in recent years, technologies have developed and the efficiency of providing services itself has changed. The archive fees service prices have not been revised since 2013 and the current prices no longer correspond to the actual costs of providing services.
The new price list takes into account the actual costs of the services – including actual working hours and resources needed to provide a specific service. The calculations are based on the 2023-2025 data on working hours consumed for the provision of services, the 2024 and 2025 cost data and the 2026 remuneration data. Prices have been calculated according to the state-determined pricing method for paid services.
Deputy Director of the national Archives of Latvia Ingūna Slaidiņa emphasizes: “The services provided by the Archives have changed significantly in recent years – we have created a more convenient and modern service portal, we process information requests centrally for customers, attracting specialists from different archive departments regardless of the location of documents. In addition, customers can request statements from any of the closest Archives departments without travelling to the location where the documents in question were stored. All these improvements have been introduced to make our services even more convenient and accessible. At the same time, it is important to maintain archive buildings and technical equipment at the appropriate level, as well as to implement the strategic objectives of archive developments. It is not possible to achieve this with a 13-year-old price list, because the costs of goods and services and average wages have increased significantly in the country over the past few years.”
I. Slaidiņa adds: “In order to improve access to archive services, to further develop the national Archive services Portal of Latvia and to promote digitisation of inventory, it is important for us that the prices of services correspond to their actual costs and quality. I would also like to remind you that since the approval of the current price list in 2013, the Latvian economy has undergone significant changes. The average gross wage in the country has increased by about 154 per cents. Total price level of goods and services has also increased significantly. These changes also have a direct impact on the costs of providing archive services.”
The new price list is intended not only for actual costs of services, but also for access to them for people who need archive information for exercising or protecting their rights, maintaining a reduction of 50% for particularly vulnerable groups of the population, and they are persons with disability group 1 or 2, persons under 18 years of age with disabilities, politically repressed persons, persons with poor status, as well as persons who need the service to protect the rights and interests of the child.
What should those who have applied by 27 October know?
If the service request has been submitted to the national Archives of Latvia by 27 October 2026 inclusive, the charge in force on the day of submission of the request or, in the relevant cases, the State fee shall be retained for the customer.
If an invoice or a notification regarding payment of the State fee has already been issued for such service, it shall be paid within the specified time period, but not later than by 7 December 2026.
The introduction of the new price list will allow the national Archives of Latvia to continue to provide high-quality services, develop digital solutions, improve customer service and invest in archive infrastructure. The new pricing policy is designed to make prices transparent and based on current cost calculations, while maintaining the availability of services and the archives' ability to provide them with adequate quality.
More information on the new price list, prices of services, fee reliefs and conditions for their application will be available on the website of the national Archives of Latvia and the services portal.
As previously reported, on October 1, the Saeima adopted amendments to the “Archives Law”, stipulating that future prices and payment procedures for LNA services are adopted by the Director of the national Archives of Latvia in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers methodology. Amendments to the Law provide for significant changes in the management of the archives sector – bureaucratic burden has been reduced and access to documents has been improved. The changes envisage delegating a number of internal procedures to the Director of the LNA, which will significantly speed up the updating and timely adoption of normative acts.