Public Procurement Regulation in Latvia after European Union Accession

The yearly turnover of public procurement in the European Union ('EU') amounts to some billions of Euros and public procurement is a huge part of any member state's business. In 2004, public procurement amounted to around 13% of the EU's gross domestic product. In Latvia, approximately one third of the state budget is spent on purchasing different goods, services and on construction projects. As a result of this kind of spend and due to the high corruption risks attendant where such large sums are involved, the EU regulatory scene is impacting more and more on public procurement scenarios in all member states, including Latvia. In particular, as Latvia, together with its neighbours in Eastern and Central Europe have a troubled image in the context of corruption in public life, the current regulatory scene in public procurement is a good benchmark for appreciating how far things have progressed towards Western-type standards since Latvia's accession to the EU. In 2002, the Open Society Institute's report had noted that corruption appeared to be widespread in a number of public services, but that good progress was being made by the state to curb this. Following from this Open Society report and having regard to Latvia's preferred image as a modern and progressive EU member state, this paper presents the current state of the public procurement regulatory framework in Latvia