Selling into Latvia through distributors

How the market buys

Latvian public procurement uses two systems that do different jobs. Notices are published through the publication management system of the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (Iepirkumu uzraudzības birojs, IUB). The Public Procurement Law defines it as a state information system on the IUB website, under the bureau's control, through which notices are prepared and submitted, published on the IUB website or sent to the Publications Office of the European Union for the Official Journal. Under article 34, buyers prepare and publish their notices there and send them on to the Publications Office when the estimated contract value reaches the thresholds set by the Cabinet of Ministers.

The same system holds a contract register published on the IUB website, with the buyer, the supplier, the contract date, subject, price and term, any amendments and information on performance. Electronic procedures — e-tenders, e-orders and e-auctions — are offered through the Electronic Procurement System (Elektronisko iepirkumu sistēma, EIS) at eis.gov.lv.

Article 29 requires the buyer to publish a contract award notice within 10 working days of concluding the contract or framework agreement. Where the award notices in your category name a Latvian distributor or wholesaler rather than a manufacturer, that company already holds the customer relationships. Latvia ranks 16th of 123 countries and regions in the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index, so a first approach in English will normally be understood.

Lawful first contact

Section 9 of the Information Society Services Law (Informācijas sabiedrības pakalpojumu likums) prohibits using e-mail, fax or automated calling systems to send a commercial communication to a service recipient who has not given prior, free and explicit consent, with an exception for a provider's own customers, about similar products. Paragraph six then sets the scope: the prohibitions and restrictions in paragraphs one to three apply to commercial communications sent to natural persons, so the consent requirement does not extend to e-mail addressed to a company.

One rule applies to every recipient. Paragraph four forbids commercial e-mail that gives an invalid address to which the recipient could send a request to stop, and forbids ignoring a recipient's refusal of further communications. Each prohibited message counts as a separate breach. Section 12 names the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC) and the State Data Inspectorate (DVI), each within its competence, among the bodies that supervise information society services.

So a first e-mail to a Latvian company's general address is lawful without prior consent, as long as it carries a working reply address for opting out and you act on any refusal. What the Law does not settle is whether a named employee's address, such as vards.uzvards@company.lv, is treated as a communication to a natural person. The cautious reading is to write to the general address (info@ or sales@) and to use named contacts after the distributor has replied. Data protection law applies to any named person's details you process.

In practice: write a short message about why your range fits the distributor's portfolio, identify your company in full, include a working address and a clear opt-out line, and record and respect every refusal.

What local distributors expect

Before a Latvian distributor takes on a new range, expect it to ask for:

• Product information in Latvian, which the Official Language Law requires for the labelling, instructions, warranty documents and technical passport of imported goods (s.21(3)), with a complete English technical file behind it.
• Conformity evidence for the category: CE marking and declarations of conformity where the product is regulated, test reports and safety information.
• Documents ready for electronic procedures. Procedures can run electronically through EIS, so have certificates, declarations and data sheets ready in electronic form.
• A clear commercial structure: margin, territory (Latvia alone or the Baltic states together), account ownership and exclusivity.
• Logistics that suit a small market: realistic minimum orders, reliable lead times and a plan for spare parts.

How to enter, step by step

1. Read the record for your categories. Choose the CPV codes that describe your range and look at Latvian contract award notices on TED for the larger contracts, and at the contract register on the IUB website for the smaller ones. Note which distributors and wholesalers win repeatedly, and for which buyers.
2. Check what buyers plan to buy. Article 18 of the Public Procurement Law requires each buyer, within a month of approving its annual budget, to publish its planned procurements in EIS, with the subject, the planned CPV code and the planned quarter or month. That shows what a distributor is likely to bid for next.
3. Find out whether your category is centralised. Under article 17, direct-administration bodies must buy goods and services in groups set by the Cabinet of Ministers from the designated central purchasing body once they spend EUR 1,000 or more on a group within 12 months; for municipalities the figure is EUR 10,000. In those categories, the suppliers on the central purchasing body's agreements are the companies to approach.
4. Prepare product information in Latvian. Translate what the distributor's customers read — instructions, data sheets and price lists — and keep a complete English technical file behind it.
5. Assemble conformity evidence in electronic form. Have CE marking and declarations of conformity where the product is regulated, test reports and safety information ready to attach to an electronic procedure in EIS.
6. Make the first contact by e-mail to the general address. Write to info@ or sales@ explaining why your range fits the distributor's portfolio, identify your company in full, include a working address for opting out, and record and respect every refusal. English will normally be understood.
7. Prepare the first meeting. Bring a proposal on margin, territory (Latvia alone or the Baltic states together), account ownership and exclusivity, with minimum orders, lead times and a spare-parts plan sized for a small market.
8. Follow the contracts you help win. Award notices appear within 10 working days of the contract, and the IUB register records amendments and performance, so you can see where your range was delivered and widen the relationship from there.

Where the evidence comes from

Above the EU thresholds — EUR 140,000 for supplies and services bought by central government bodies and EUR 216,000 for other public authorities from 1 January 2026 — Latvian buyers must publish contract award notices, and the publication management system sends them to the Publications Office, so they appear on TED, the online supplement to the Official Journal of the EU. Each notice names the winning company and carries CPV codes, so the distributors that repeatedly win, for example, medical supplies or furniture contracts in Latvia can be identified from the public record. Smaller procedures and the contract register are on the IUB website.

Cresques reads the award notices for the CPV categories you choose and shows who already sells that category in Latvia. It does not help you bid for the contracts; the notices are evidence of who the buyers already trust, and the lawful first contact above is how you reach them.