PROCEDURE
24.04.2009. Riga Nr. 8-1/11od
Procedure for releasing information in the Supreme Court
Amendments: 21.10.2010, No 8-1/21od; 30.11.2011, No 8-1/34od, 02.01.2013, No 8-1/3od; 18.12.2013, No 8-1/26od; 20.03.2014, No 8-1/2od,04.12.2014. Nr. 8-1/10od; 11.05.2015. Nr. 8-1/20od
Issued in accordance with
Section 50, Paragraph One, of the Law on Judicial Power
I. General regulations
1. The present procedure stipulates regulations regarding release of information being at the disposal of the Supreme Court (further in the text – the Court) to individuals and legal persons. The Court provides release of information in accordance with Law on Transparency of Information, Law on Judicial Power, Law on Protection of Private Data of Individuals and other laws and regulations.
2. Information of the Court is divided into information of general accessibility and information of restricted accessibility.
3. Information of general accessibility may be published on the website of the Court www.at.gov.lv, in the newspaper “Latvijas Vēstnesis”, in collections of rulings and other sources of information.
4. When publishing information of general accessibility, the Court takes into account the right of the society to receive information, as well as the purposefulness and goals of publishing the respective information.
5. Information of general accessibility, which has not been published, may be received in the Court.
6. Reporters may receive the information of general accessibility in the Court in a simplified procedure and in possibly short terms.
7. The Court releases information of restricted accessibility in cases and under the procedure stipulated by the law.
7.1 Provision of such information, which should be additionally processed, is paid service.
Paid services of the court, payment amount and cases, when individual may be exempted from payment for service are established in the Regulations No.96 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 19 February 2013 “Regulations on Paid Services of the Courts”;
II. Release of information of general accessibility
8. The application for information is submitted by a person to the Chancery of the Supreme Court or the Document Administration Division of the Administration. The reporters submit the application for information to the Division of Communication of the Administration.
(with amendments 18.12.2013, No 8-1/26od)
9. In the application, the person indicates his/her first name and surname (legal persons – the title), address, to which the answer must be sent and a description, by which the requested information may be identified.
10. It is advisable to indicate the person’s telephone number and e-mail address, and the preferable way of receiving information in the application for information.
11. A person may request to be allowed to study the necessary information in the Court.
12. The Court gives an answer to application on release of information in terms, stated in the Law on Transparency of Information.
13. The Court releases information of general accessibility in writing. Upon agreement with a person, the information may be released orally or by electronic information means.
14. Ruled out.
(with amendments 20.03.2014, No 8-1/2od)
15. Ruled out.
(with amendments 20.03.2014, No 8-1/2od)
III. List of information of general accessibility of the Court
16. Information of general accessibility comprises the following:
16.1. copies of rulings if a case has been reviewed in an open court hearing;
16.2. extracts of introductory and operative parts of rulings if a case has been reviewed in a closed court hearing, and the operative part of the ruling has been announced publicly;
16.3. collections of court practice;
16.4. information on receiving a case in the Court, the time and place of reviewing the case;
16.5. in a civil case – information on the name, family name or title of a participant of a case, and the subject of claim;
16.6. in a criminal case – information on the name, family name of the accused person, and the article of the Criminal Law, under which charges have been brought;
(with amendments 30.11.2011, No 8-1/34od)
16.7. in an administrative case – information on the name, family name or title of a participant in the case and the subject of application;
16.8. information regarding the course of hearing the case, the ruling of the Court and appealing it;
16.9. Ruled out (with amendments 30.11.2011, No 8-1/34od);
16.10. decisions of Plenum of the Court;
16.10.1 decisions of the Disciplinary Court, blotting out information discovering identity of an individual;
(with amendments 02.01.2013, No 8-1/3od)
16.11. statistics and annual reports;
16.12. information on the budget and expenditures of the Court;
16.13. information on the names and family names of the employees of the Court, positions and amounts of remuneration, information on the time of vacation and business trips;
16.14. information enclosed in instructions, regulations of working procedure and directions relating to issues of organization of work of the Court;
16.15. information on the fact of response to a complaint, application or suggestion;
16.16. other information regarding which the status of restricted information is not applied by the law or an instruction of the Chief Justice of the Court in accordance with the regulations of the law On Transparency of Information.
IV. Release of rulings
17. Selected rulings are accessible on the website of the Court www.at.gov.lv and in the published collections of rulings. Rulings of the current and two previous years are available in the Chancery of the Court, the rest – in the Document Administration Division of the Administration.
(with amendments 18.12.2013, No 8-1/26od; 20.03.2014, No 8-1/2od )
18. To receive a copy or extract of a ruling, a person in the application indicates the respective department or court chamber, which adopted the ruling, and number of the case and the year.
(with amendments 18.12.2013, No 8-1/26od)
19. When releasing a ruling, the employee of the Court blots out the part of information that discovers the personality of individual, marks the date of release and a note on validity of the ruling.
20. A person in the application may request to review rulings in the Chancery of the Court. The Head Chancery has the right to set the time when a person may study the rulings, as well as in case of necessity to deny or end up a person’s visit, so that the work of the Chancery.
(with amendments 18.12.2013, No 8-1/26od)
20.1 A person may get familiarised with ruling adopted in closed court hearing after it is anonymized, observing requirements of Chapter V of this procedure.
(with amendments 11.05.2015, No 8-1/20od)
V. Release of information of restricted accessibility
21. The list of the Court information of restricted accessibility is attached in the annex (Annex 1).
22. When releasing information of restricted accessibility, the regulations on procedure for releasing information of general accessibility are applied, unless this section provides otherwise.
23. Information of restricted accessibility may be requested and received only in writing.
24. To receive information of restricted accessibility, a person, in addition to the data stated in Section 2.3., indicate in the application for information the substantiation of the application and the purpose for using information.
25. Information of restricted accessibility is released with the approval of the Chief Justice of the Court.
26. When receiving information of restricted accessibility, a person with his/her signature certifies that the respective information will be used only for the purposes indicated in the application (Annex 2).
VI. Protection of information of restricted accessibility
27. In case of an application for information of general accessibility, an employee of the Court ascertains whether the requested information does not contain also information of restricted accessibility.
28. If the requested information contains also information of restricted accessibility, the employee of the Court releases only the part of information which is generally accessible.
29. Managers of the structural units of the Court ensure that the obligation to retain information of restricted accessibility is known to every person who this obligation extends to. Persons processing information of restricted accessibility are requested a written certification that they are aware of the regulations and undertake to observe them (Annex 3).
VII. Final Provisions
30. From the moment of approval of the present procedure, the Procedure of releasing information of the Supreme Court approved on May 29, 2008 with instruction No10-1/34rpd of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, becomes invalid.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court / I. Bickovics
Annex 1
APPROVED
by instruction No 8-1/11od dated 24.04.2008
of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
LIST OF INFORMATION OF RESTRICTED ACCESSIBILITY OF THE SUPREME COURT
No. / Title of the information / Grounds for restricted accessibility1. / Information the status of restricted accessibility of which is stated by the law
1.1. personal data (identity codes, address of the place of residence, date of birth)
/ Law on protection of private data of individuals, Section 6, Section 271.2. sensitive private data (data of an individual indicating the individual’s race, ethnical origin, religious, philosophical and political viewpoint, participation in trade unions, as well as provides data on an individual’s health or sexual life) / Law on protection of private data of individuals, Section 6, Section 27
1.3. information on process of appraisal, examination, submitted projects (except projects the funding of which is provided by a warranty of the state), contests (except contests related to acquisitions for the needs of the state or municipalities, or otherwise related to actions with financial assets and property of the state or municipalities) or other assessments of similar nature / Law on transparency of information, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item 5
1.4. information on an individual’s private life / Law on transparency of information, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item 4
1.5. communication of the Supreme Court with the applicants for information and data on these persons / Law on transparency of information, Section 11, Paragraph Six
1.6. materials of the court cases / Law On judicial power, Section 283, Section 284
1.7. descriptive and motivating parts of rulings in the cases reviewed in closed hearings / Civil Procedure Law, Section 11, Criminal Procedure Law, Section 450, Administrative Procedure Law, Section 108
1.8. case materials related to criminal liability of judges, in accordance with Section 13, Paragraph 2, of the law “On Judicial Power” / Law On judicial power, section 283, Section 284
1.9. information on victims, witnesses and experts in criminal cases (except initial letters of names and family names of these persons) / Criminal Procedure Law, Law On judicial power, Section 283, Section 284
1.10. files of the staff of the Court / Law on protection of private data of individuals, Section 6, section 27,
Law on transparency of information, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item 4
1.11. telephone numbers of offices of the judges / Law On judicial power, Section 11, Item 3
1.12. information disclosing the applicant’s identity (prohibited to be published without the consent of the applicant) / Applications Law, Section 9
facts indicated in the application, complaint or suggestion which the submitter does not want to be published / Applications Law, Section 9
1.14. information which has been disclosed as a commercial secret or confidential information by other suppliers to the Supreme Court as a client (does not refer to the information which is generally accessible under the Law on Public Acquisitions and the requirements of other regulative documents) / Law on Public Acquisitions, Section 12
Freedom of Information Law, Section 7
1.15. information of military, economic, scientific, technical or other nature enclosed in the list approved by the Cabinet of Ministers / Law On State Secret
1.16. Ruled out (with amendments 30.11.2011, No 8-1/34od);
1.17. materials of disciplinary cases of judges
(with amendments 02.01.2013, No 8-1/3od) / Judicial Disciplinary Liability Law, Section 116
1.18. information on judges of the Supreme Court specially authorised by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (name, surname, work schedule, plan of work, number and content of decisions adopted)
(with amendments 04.12.2014, No 8-1/10od) / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Three
Investigatory Operations Law, Section 7, Paragraph Four
Law on Credit Institutions, Section 63, Paragraph Six and Paragraph Seven
Criminal Procedure Law, Section120, Paragraph Two
Law “On Judicial Power”, Section 13, Paragraph Two
2. / Information for interior use in the Court (determined according to the instruction of the chief Justice)
2.1. information necessary to prepare a case for court proceedings / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item 2, Section 6
2.2. documents s worked out for the preparation of the establishment to court proceedings, and which have been worked out by:
2.2.1. specially invited advisors or experts regarding a particular case;
2.2.2. another establishment for the usage by the Court / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item2, Section 6
2.3. materials of disciplinary cases of judges / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item2, Section 6
3. / Information for official needs (determined according to the instruction of the chief Justice)
3.1. information under protection created in Latvia which is connected with the state security and does not contain state secrets / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item6, Section 81, Paragraph One, Item 1
3.2. information which has been transferred to Latvia by a foreign country, international organization or its institution and which is classified as “RESTRICTED”, as well as information related to it which has been created in Latvia / Freedom of Information Law, Section 5, Paragraph Two, Item6, Section 81, Paragraph One, Item 2
3.3. information on individuals, who have been granted access to work with information, which contains state secret, and list of positions related to use and protection of state secret
(with amendments 04.12.2014, No 8-1/10od) / Law On State Secret, Section 12, Paragraph Two
Freedom of Information Law, Section 81 , Paragraph One, Item1
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court / I. Bickovics
Annex 2
APPROVED
by instruction No.10-1/34rpd dated 29.05.2008.
of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
CERTIFICATION
of the purpose of usage of information of restricted accessibility
I, ______
(name, family name; for legal persons - title)
______