Section 11. Invitation to Tender to Receive a Broadcasting Permit (Licence)

(1) The National Radio and Television Council shall announce a tender for free frequencies (channels) in accordance with the national concept of electronic mass media development.

(2) An advertisement regarding the invitation to tender shall be published in the newspaper Latvijas Vēstnesis, as well as in a local newspaper, if the invitation to tender is announced for a regional or local coverage frequency (channel). The advertisement must include the following information:
1) type of electronic mass medium (radio, television, and the like);
2) requirements concerning the programme (amount of broadcasting time, permissible language proportions, quality of sound and picture format);

(5) The application shall be accompanied by:
1) a general programme concept, specifying the intended name of the broadcasting organisation and programme (broadcasting station), the nature of the programme, the target audience, the language, the proportions between planned broadcasting time for broadcasts produced in Latvia and broadcasts produced in other European states or elsewhere, as well as other information which the applicant considers important in relation to his or her planned activities;

Section 14. Name of Broadcasting Organisation and Title of Programme

(1) The name of the broadcasting organisation shall be chosen in accordance with the provisions of the law “On Entrepreneurial Activities” and the law “On the Enterprise Registry of the Republic of Latvia”, and in compliance with the restrictions which are prescribed in Paragraph 2 of this Section.

(2) The name of the broadcasting organisation (broadcasting station) and the title of the programme shall:
1) unmistakably be distinguishable from the name of other previously registered mass media (mass information);
2) comply with the requirements of the Language law and other laws;
[Amendment of 15 February 2001]

Section 17. General Provisions for the Production of Programmes

(3) A programme shall not include:

3) incitement to hatred based on nationality, race, sex, or religion or to the demeaning of national honour and human dignity
[Amendment of 29 October 1998]

4) incitement to war or the initiation of a military conflict; or

5) incitement to violently overthrow State power, or to violently change the State political system, to destroy the territorial integrity of the State, or to commit any other crime.

Section 18. Special provisions for Producing Programmes

(1) All broadcasts of visual programmes produced by a broadcasting organisation (except news, sports events, games, commercials, teletext services and teleshops) shall be in the following proportions of the total volume of the weekly broadcasting time
[Amendments of 20 August 1999 and 14 October 1999]:
1) not less than 51 per cent - European audio-visual works; and
2) of the European audio-visual works, not less than 40 per cent - broadcasts produced in the Latvian language.
[Amendments of 30 October 1997, 29 October 1998 and 20 August 1999]

(2) Within the national remit, for radio programmes produced in Latvia, between the hours of 7:00 and 22:00 the proportion of music of Latvian authors shall be not less than 40 percent of the total volume of the monthly broadcasting time allotted for music.

Section 19. Language of Broadcasts

(1) Each broadcast shall take place in one language - the language of the broadcast. Fragments of a broadcast which are in other languages shall be provided with a translation (by dubbing, voice-over or sub-titling). This provision is not applicable to language instruction broadcasts or performances of musical works.

(2) The language of the broadcast is determined according to the sound accompanying the broadcast concerned or by the language in which the broadcast has been dubbed or the voice-over has been made. The language of the broadcast, if it is not the state language, shall be indicated in the broadcast schedule listings (in programmes of broadcasts).

(3) Films demonstrated shall be dubbed in the state language, or also with the original soundtrack and sub-titles in the Latvian language, but films intended for children shall be dubbed or with voice-over in the Latvian language.
[Amendmen of 30 October 1997]

(4) Television broadcasts in foreign languages, except live broadcasts, re-transmissions, broadcasts to foreign countries, news and language instruction broadcasts, shall have sub-titles in the Latvian language.

(5) The amount of broadcasting time in foreign languages in programmes produced by broadcasting organisations shall not exceed 25 per cent of the total volume of the broadcasting time in a twenty-four hours period. This provision is not applicable to Latvian Television, Latvian Radio, cable television, cable radio, satellite television, and satellite radio.
[Amendments of 30 October 1997 and 29 October 1998]

Section 20. General Provisions Regarding Commercials and Teleshops

(3) Commercials and teleshops may not:

3) include any discrimination based on race, sex or nationality;
4) injure religious feelings or political beliefs;

Section 22. Form and Utilisation of Commercials and Teleshops

(1)

Commercials inserted into a broadcast shall be in the same language as the broadcast itself or in the state language.

Section 28. Registration and Preservation of Distributed Programmes

(3) The registration materials shall contain information on the title of the programme and the broadcast, the time of its transmission, the duration time, the copyright holders, the language of the broadcast, the sponsors of the broadcast and commercials and teleshops.
[Amendments of 20 August 1999 and 14 October 1999]

Section 29. Production Data of Programmes and Broadcasts

(1) Production data shall be specified at the beginning and the end of each day’s radio and television programme, but as to broadcasts - at the end only.

(4) The production data of programmes and broadcasts produced in Latvia must be in the state language.

Section 33. Cable Television and Cable Radio (Radio Transmission) Systems and their Establishment

(1) Cable television and cable radio (radio transmission) are electronic mass media which broadcast to a specific group of listeners or viewers - subscribers - by one-way or two-way (interactive) flow of information, but they are not communication facilities with the assistance of which subscribers may communicate with each other.

(4) A special permit (licence) for cable television or cable radio (radio transmission) operation shall be issued on the basis of an application for a period of up to 10 years, if that is not in conflict with the requirements of this Law. The applicant shall specify in the application his or her name, surname, citizenship (legal persons - name) and address, as well as information on whether the applicant is participating as a founder (shareholder) in other electronic mass media. If the application is submitted by an enterprise (company), it shall include information regarding the founders (shareholders) of the enterprise(company) concerned, specifying the number of shares (capital shares) and voting rights, as well as information on authorised officers, specifying their name, surname, office and citizenship.
[Amendment of 11 November 1999]

(5) The application shall be accompanied by:

1) a general programme concept, in which shall be specified the name of the broadcasting organisation, the titles of programmes to be re-transmitted, their thematic direction and language, the coverage of the network, potential development and number of subscribers, time of programme distribution, remit fee, a project of the planned technical and organisational operations, as well as other information which the applicant considers important in relation to his or her planned operations;

Section 54. Purpose of the National Remit

The national remit shall:

2) ensure the development of the Latvian language and culture promoting the consolidation of a single-nation state;

5) promote the production of broadcasts concerning the life and culture of ethnic minorities living in Latvia; and

Section 62. Programmes of Latvian Radio and Latvian Television

(1) The right to distribute programmes on the first and second distribution network of radio and television belongs to the public broadcasting organisations - Latvian Radio and Latvian Television.

(2) Latvian Radio and Latvian Television shall produce their programmes for the first distribution network as national programmes in the state language.

(3) Latvian Radio and Latvian Television programmes on the second distribution network shall be primarily in the state language. Of the annual broadcasting time, 20 per cent may be allocated to broadcasts in the languages of the State ethnic minorities, including in such broadcasting time also films and theatrical performances sub-titled in the state language.

This Law was adopted by the Saeima on 24 August 1995.

President G.Ulmanis
Riga, 8 September 1995

Source: Translation and Terminology Centre