Latvian whistleblower protection law "Trauksmes celšanas likums"

Latvia protected whistleblowers before the European Union told it to. Its Trauksmes celšanas likums has been in force since 4 February 2022. It replaced an earlier 2018 law and brought EU Directive 2019/1937 into Latvian law. It lets people report almost any harm to the public interest, routes those reports through an anti-corruption bureau, and shields the people who come forward.

Why Latvia rewrote its whistleblower law in 2022

Latvia was an early mover. It passed its first whistleblower law in 2018, before EU Directive 2019/1937 even set a deadline. The 2022 law replaced that first version. It keeps the same goal: protecting people who report wrongdoing. But it lines Latvia up with the EU rules and widens the safeguards.

The new law took effect on 4 February 2022, the day after it appeared in the official gazette. It folds in the EU whistleblower directive, plus later EU rules on environmental crime and sanctions breaches. For a Latvian employer, it is the single rulebook on how to take and handle a report.

Who counts as a whistleblower?

Anyone who learns of wrongdoing through work. The law reaches well beyond staff on the payroll. It covers the self-employed, volunteers, trainees, board members, and shareholders. A job applicant is protected too. So is a former worker who reports after they leave.

The shield also stretches to the people around the reporter. A relative who could suffer for the report is covered. So is a related person, such as a colleague who helps out. The law guards them from the same payback it bans against the reporter.

What can you report under the Latvian law?

Almost anything that harms the public interest. The Latvian law reaches wider than the EU floor. The directive covers breaches of EU law in set fields. Latvia goes further. It lets you flag any violation against the public good, from a crime to a breach of professional ethics.

The law spells out 23 areas as examples. The standout ones include:

• corruption and breaches of party-financing rules;
• the waste of public money or property;
• tax evasion;
• threats to public health, food, or building safety;
• environmental and nuclear safety;
• human-rights breaches;
• fraud in public procurement;
• money laundering and terrorist financing;
• data-protection and network-security breaches; and
• fraud against EU funds.

"A whistleblower has the right to raise the alarm regarding any violation that harms the public interest."
Section 3, Whistleblowing Law

A few things fall outside. Knowingly false information does not count. Nor does leaking a state secret or airing a purely personal grievance. A clash with your manager about your own pay belongs in the normal complaints process, not the whistleblowing channel.

Where can a whistleblower report?

Through one of three routes. A worker can use the employer's internal system. They can go straight to a competent authority. Or they can turn to the whistleblowers' contact point, an association, or a trade union. Going public, such as to the press, is protected only in narrow cases.

A report can be written, sent electronically, or spoken. Latvia makes the digital route easy. You can file online through the state portal at trauksmescelejs.lv, with no secure e-signature needed. Or you can speak your report by phone or in person. The handler then writes it up for you to check and sign.

Public disclosure is the last resort. It is protected in a few cases. The inside routes have failed. The breach drags on with no fix. Or there is an urgent threat to the public. Even then, the reporter must hold back information the law keeps confidential.

How do you set up the internal whistleblowing system?

If you employ 50 or more people, you must run one. Public bodies need a system whatever their size. Finance and anti-money-laundering firms need one too, no matter how few staff they have. Companies with 50 to 249 employees can share a single system to keep the cost down.

"Public entities, irrespective of the number of employees, and private legal persons that have 50 or more employees shall establish an internal whistleblowing system."
Section 5, Whistleblowing Law

The system has firm duties. You must confirm a report within 7 days. You must tell the reporter how the case is going within 2 months. A private firm can pass the work to an outside party, rather than build the whole thing in house.

WeMoral fills the third-party seat Section 5 lets a firm appoint, or your own responsible person signs in. It aligns with the Trauksmes celšanas likums and ships as encrypted, restricted-access whistleblowing software. Every report is pseudonymized the moment it lands, the way Section 11 asks, so only the responsible person you name learns who filed it. That file holds restricted-access status, which turns a leak into a criminal matter rather than an HR slip. And when KNAB forwards a case to the competent authority, that sealed, time-stamped record is the one you reach for.

KNAB, the whistleblowers' contact point

Latvia gives whistleblowers a single national help desk. The contact point is KNAB, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau. It runs the state portal, advises people who want to report, and forwards each report to the authority that can act on it.

KNAB does more than route reports. It writes good-practice guidance, and it trains the people who handle reports. It publishes yearly figures that Latvia sends to the European Commission. It can also give an opinion that unlocks state-paid legal aid. And it picks up reports where no other authority fits.

What protection do whistleblowers get?

A wide shield. From the moment someone reports, the law protects their identity, their relatives, and anyone who helped them. It bans retaliation. It frees the reporter from legal liability. And it offers state-paid legal aid. These rights also cover a person who is only later recognized as a whistleblower.

Identity comes first. Once a report is recognized, the law pseudonymizes the reporter's data and locks the file behind restricted-access status. Anyone who leaks a whistleblower's identity can face criminal charges under the Criminal Law.

The law also bans a long list of payback. An employer must not:

• dismiss the worker or refuse to renew their contract;
• transfer them or change their duties;
• cut their pay, hours, or place of work;
• block a promotion or training;
• hand out a negative review;
• harm their reputation or revoke a license;
• blacklist them across the industry; or
• threaten, harass, or freeze them out.

Two more guarantees do the heavy lifting. The burden of proof is reversed. Punish a worker after they report, and you have to prove it was not payback. And a reporter who follows the law is released from civil and criminal liability for raising the alarm.

"A whistleblower [...] shall not incur legal liability, including civil and criminal liability, for raising the alarm in conformity with the requirements of this Law."
Section 15, Whistleblowing Law

On top of that, the state pays for a lawyer, whatever the reporter earns, and waives their court fees. The same protections reach relatives and anyone who supported the report.

What are the penalties?

Latvia fines those who hit back at a reporter. The fines use penalty units, and one unit is 5 euros. A company that retaliates faces up to 2,800 units, or 14,000 euros. Obstructing a report or making a knowingly false one carries its own fine.

Two bodies enforce the fines. The State Labour Inspectorate handles retaliation at work and in the civil service. The State Police handles the rest, plus false reports and obstruction. Next to Ireland or Estonia, these euro sums look modest. The sharper deterrent sits in the criminal code, where leaking a reporter's identity is a crime in its own right.

Latvia's law is an outlier. It protected whistleblowers years before Brussels required it. And it casts a wider net than the directive demands, reaching any harm to the public interest. Its money fines stay low next to its neighbours. The real teeth sit elsewhere. A leaked identity is a crime, and a reporter who follows the rules walks away free of any civil or criminal claim. For an employer the task is plain: stand up a channel, name a responsible person, and keep the file sealed. To see how Latvia compares with the rest of Europe, read our guide to whistleblower laws by country.