Describes the country's standards landscape, Latvia identifies the national standards and accreditation bodies, and lists the main national testing organization(s) and conformity assessment bodies.

Overview

Products tested and certified in the United States to American regulations and standards will likely to have to be re-tested and re-certified to EU requirements as a result of the EU’s different approach to the protection of the health and safety of consumers and the environment. Where products are not regulated by specific EU technical legislation, they are always subject to the EU’s General Product Safety Directive as well as to possible additional national requirements.
European Union legislation and standards created under the New Approach are harmonized across the member states and European Economic Area countries to allow for the free flow of goods. A feature of the New Approach is CE marking.

The concept of New Approach legislation is slowly disappearing as the New Legislative Framework (NLF), which entered into force in January 2010, was put in place to serve as a blueprint for existing and future CE marking legislation. Existing legislation has been reviewed to bring them in line with the NLF concepts, which means that, as of 2016, new requirements are being addressed and new reference numbers are to be used on declarations of conformity.  For more information about the NLF, go to European Commission - New Legislative Framework.

While harmonization of EU legislation can facilitate access to the EU Single Market, manufacturers should be aware that regulations (mandatory) and technical standards (voluntary) might also function as barriers to trade if U.S. standards are different from those of the European Union.

Standards

The Standardization, Accreditation and Metrology Centre (SAMC) is a limited liability company under the supervision of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia, which acts as the national standards body of Latvia. SAMC – LVS and SAMC - Latak.

For detailed information on standards for trade in the European Union please check European-Union-Trade-Standards.      

Testing, inspection and certification
Conformity Assessment
Conformity Assessment is a mandatory step for the manufacturer in the process of complying with specific EU legislation. The purpose of conformity assessment is to ensure consistency of compliance during all stages, from design to production, to facilitate acceptance of the final product.  EU product legislation gives manufacturers some choice regarding conformity assessment, depending on the level of risk involved in the use of their product. These range from self-certification, type examination and production quality control system, to full quality assurance system.
You can find conformity assessment bodies for Latvia in the NANDO list prepared by the European Commission: European Commission - NANDO
 

Product Certification

To sell products in the 28 EU Member States, as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, U.S. exporters are required to apply CE marking whenever their product is covered by specific product legislation.  CE marking legislation offers manufacturers a number of choices and requires decisions to determine which safety/health concerns need to be addressed, which conformity assessment module is best suited to the manufacturing process and whether or not to use EU-wide harmonized standards.  Understanding and implementing the CE marking process is not easy, and information can be found at: 
Export.gov - European Standards and CE Marking

"European Accreditation" (European Accreditation) is an organization representing nationally recognized accreditation bodies. Membership is open to nationally recognized accreditation bodies in countries in the European geographical area that can demonstrate that they operate an accreditation system compatible to appropriate EN and ISO/IEC standards.
Latvian National Accreditation Bureau

Publication of technical regulations
National technical Regulations are published on the Commission’s website European Commission - Prevention of Technical Barriers to Trade to allow other countries and interested parties to comment.

Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S. (www.nist.gov/notifyus) is a free, web-based e-mail registration service that captures and makes available for review and comment key information on draft regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Users receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are added by selected country(ies) and industry sector(s) of interest, and can also request full texts of regulations.  This service and its associated web site are managed and operated by the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  

Contact Information

Standardization, Accreditation and Metrology Centre, Ltd. (SAMC)
Standardization Bureau Latvian Standard (LVS)
157, Kr. Valdemara Street
Riga, Latvia LV-1013
Tel:  +371 67379340
Fax:  +371 67371324
E-mail:  lvs@lvs.lv
Web:   https://www.lvs.lv/en    
 
State Agency "Latvian National Accreditation Bureau"
157, Kr. Valdemara Street
Riga, Latvia LV-1013
Tel:  +371 67373051
 E-mail:  administracija@latak.lv  
Web:  https://www.latak.gov.lv/.
 

 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.