Chapter 1, Article 1 defines the scope of operations of this law. It regulates the civil service relations of the state and municipal civil servants and civil servant candidates. Relations which are not regulated by this law shall be regulated by other laws. This law also regulates service relations of civil servants (and civil service candidates) in those civil service institutions, which are subject to special laws, as far as
regulations are not provided by these special laws.
This provision is rather important in case of the Ministry of Interior which has a separate legal framework of operations. Practically, the system of this Ministry has a military organisational structure, and which retains some features from the former militia heritage. Introduction of the civil service in this Ministry is problematic due to a substantially different approach to the provisions on retirement, remuneration, promotions and other items. However, the necessity for the introduction of an adequately adapted system of civil service in the Ministry of Interior is clearly recognised by all involved parties. As mentioned above, the terms of the introduction of the civil service system in this case have been extended up to the end of 1996. Problems of this kind also exist with involvement of the municipalities in the civil service system.
Chapter 2 of the law deals with appointments to civil service positions. Thus (as laid out in Article 7), for 12-8 qualification category (the lower) positions open tenders shall be organised; and open or internal (only civil servants or candidates) tenders shall be organised for 7-1 category (the higher) positions. The announcements shall be published in the official newspaper. Persons who apply for the positions of the managers and deputy managers of the civil service institutions (as laid out in Article 8) shall apply to the SCSA. Persons who apply for the corresponding positions in municipal civil service institutions shall apply to the municipality. Other applicants apply directly to the manager of the corresponding civil service institution. All applicants shall submit the following documentation:
• curriculum vitae, information about previous work, documentation certifying education;
• document which certifies the applicant’s appropriate state of health;
• statement by the applicant of compliance with the conditions of the Article 6 (See Annex 4);
• certificate on passing the Latvian language test at the highest (3rd) level of proficiency, if the applicant
is not a graduate of the Latvian language school.
8. Likums “Par valsts civildienestu”; Law adopted 21 April 1994, published in the Latvian
newspaper Latvijas vestnesis (Latvian Courier) No. 52 of 1994, and No. 82 of 1995
The SCSA shall set the date of attestation (Article 9) for the candidate no later than two months after the registration and verification of all necessary documentation. If the candidate passes the attestation, the SCSA shall issue the certificate of the civil servant candidate (Article 10) which is valid for 6 months. This certificate gives rights to the candidate to apply for the position in the civil service. The candidate is appointed to the civil service position by the manager of the corresponding civil service institution (Article 11). In the resolution on appointment to the position (Article 12) the following significant points shall be indicated:
• name of the state civil service institution, date;
• position title;
• qualification category set by the SCSA and the monthly salary;
• terms of appointment (fixed time, or not-fixed time).
The position description shall be included in the above resolution as the annex.
The regulations “On Position Descriptions in the Civil Service” of the Cabinet were endorsed on 17 January 1995 and supplemented with the SCSA methodology on elaboration of the position descriptions. Position descriptions are being introduced in civil service institutions, and methodology is being improved in the process of practical applications and parallel development of related issues of
position evaluation and qualification categories.
Article 13 provides the preferences for holding civil service positions. Preferences are given to those civil
servants who:
• have been deployed from the civil service under circumstances which are beyond their control (See
conditions under Article 48); or those who shall retain their positions after the expiry of the mandate of the elected representative (See conditions under Article 49);
• have desirable characteristics, such as a good service record, knowledge of at least two foreign
languages, computer skills, special administrative education, or a Ph.D. degree in the relevant area of science, awarded or recognised in Latvia.
The second part of Article 15 (See section on “Legal Framework” beginning with the phrase “All requirements....”) provides that all conditions of the law shall apply equally to civil servants and civil servant candidates (including allowances and benefits mentioned in Article 32 on accommodation,
Article 34 in the case of birth of a child and child-care, and Article 50 in the case of injury or death),
except remuneration and certain other allowances and benefits (See Article 31).
Chapter 3 of the law "On Civil Service" is devoted to the responsibilities and restrictions for civil servants.
The following are some of the other significant restrictions disallowing certain activities:
• (Article 23) to participate in entrepreneurial activities, except cases when he or she is authorised to
represent state's interests in the management and revision structures of enterprises;
• (Article 24) to perform other jobs without the permission of the manager of the civil service institution;
the time limit for such jobs shall not exceed two-fifths of the regular working hours in the civil service (40 hours/week);
• (Article 25) to serve as a lay-judge in courts; act as a third party in cases, where the other party is the
civil service institution, where he or she is employed;
• (Article 26) to take on elected positions in political organisations;
• (Article 27) to strike;
• (Article 28) to express the official position of the civil service institution to the mass media without the
authorisation of the manager of the civil service institution.
Chapter 4 of the law "On Civil Service" is devoted to the rights, compensations and guarantees of civil servants. The following provision of the law is one of the basic stimuli for the civil servant candidates to obtain the status of civil servants.
Article 31. Remuneration. The monthly salary and tenure steps of a civil servant shall be set by the
Cabinet in accordance with the qualification category range envisioned for civil service positions.
A civil servant candidate shall receive 80 per cent of the monthly salary of the civil servant's salary; and 40 per cent of all allowances and benefits provided for civil servants by this law.
Provisions of Chapter 4 are important for understanding the actual and potential motivation for civil servants. Some of the provisions are directly linked with training and education, and therefore it is worth describing this Chapter in some detail. The following are some of significant rights:
• (Article 30) to a permanent civil service, independently of the changes in the political and/or
administrative leadership; the order of deployment (Article 48) in the cases of staff reductions and
liquidation of the civil service institutions shall be set by the SCSA, retaining the former monthly
salary for a period up to three months;
• (Articles 32-41) to get residence, vacation, transfer and special (in the case of accidents, death of
members of the family, birth of the child, child-care) benefits, family allowance, yearly and other bonuses and rewards;
• (Article 37) to receive an allowance amounting to 10 per cent of his or her monthly salary for
proficiency in the third and every additional foreign language, if the necessity for that particular
language knowledge, and required level of language proficiency is certified by a certificate issued by the SCSA;
• (Article 40) to perform successfully in studies in the education establishment, which are necessary
annual tuition fee; and (Article 43) to have study leave of 20 days for taking the final examination,
while retaining monthly salary;
• (Article 42) to have annual leave (four weeks), while retaining monthly salary;
• (Article 44) to have unpaid leave up to two months upon authorisation from the manager of the civil
service institution. The unpaid leave up to two months shall be allocated for the civil servant in the case of his or her nomination as a candidate for the parliament or municipal elections. In the case of a civil servant being elected (Article 49), the SCSA guarantees him or her the same or equivalent position after one term of his or her mandate of an elected representative;
• (Article 45) to undergo medical examination and to have medical care, and mandatory social insurance,
according to the special law(s) and regulations of the Cabinet;
• (Article 46) to have a pension in accordance with the law on state pensions;
• (Article 47) to apply for a vacant civil service position which corresponds to his or her qualification
category, after being out of civil service up to threes years. If the period of leave is from 3 to 5 years, he or she shall pass the qualification examination in the LSPA.
Some of these rights have been referred to as potential, as they are not implemented in practice. Their implementation often is associated with development of the new procedures (e.g. Article 37) according to priorities and significant financial resources and organisational undertakings (e.g. Article 45). In some cases guarantees are defined uncertainly (e.g. Articles 30, 48). The quality of the law and regulatory system of the civil service is being permanently improved by the initiative of the SCSA on the basis of the work experience.
Chapter 5 of the law deals with the order of service within the civil service. Among other provisions there are some articles which deal with qualification categories and promotions. These issues should be connected with the training and qualification raising issues. However, the concept of qualification categories is not yet elaborated and, therefore, existing provisions do link promotion with qualification raising explicitly, but the meaning (definition) of the qualification category is still unclear.
Thus, Article 52 states that all civil service positions are divided into 12 qualification categories; and the civil servant can receive 15 tenure ranks (one step in two years). Article 57 provides that the civil servant can be promoted to a position requiring the higher qualification category only after passing the qualification examination and receiving the corresponding qualification category. Therefore, one might suggest that the qualification category is a quality of the person, rather than of the position. The methodology of determination of qualification categories will be one of main concerns of the SCSA during 1996.
Data about the civil servants, including training courses attended and education, shall be collected in individual service records (Article 63).
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