Latvian information portal

At the request of commentators in the articles “Estonian Information System” and “Lithuanian Information System” , I would like to offer a brief description of the Latvian information system as the completion of the review of the “Electronic Governments” of the Baltic States.


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You can get to the information portal of Latvia via the link www.latvija.lv . A cheerful page opens with a brief description of the content of the portal (service catalog, e-services, links to Internet resources) and the ability to select a language - Latvian, Russian or English.

First page

Recalling the heated discussion on language discrimination under the “Estonian” language, I immediately clicked on “RU” and went to the Russified main page of the portal. I was very glad that the portal would be understandable to Russian-speaking residents of Latvia. As you can see, the portal contains information about the state itself - a brief history, a description of the main areas of life - economy, culture, foreign policy, society, security, etc. It is possible to get into the catalog of services and e-services.

Main page

Joy at the expense of Russification turned out to be premature, since the very first click on the link gave me a message that the information is available only in Latvian. Studying the "guide", it turned out that the main and most important part of the information is available only in the official language.

There is no information in the language you need.

How can a portal help an ordinary Latvian?

Firstly , this is the place where links to information resources of all state institutions are collected. For example, I do not know the address of the website of the Ministry of the Interior. Having entered the “Security” section, I see a link to this resource - http://www.iem.gov.lv/?lng=ru . It is nice that, depending on the chosen language of the portal itself, a link to the resource in the respective language is given (unfortunately, basically, on all state portals the information in Russian is incomplete or not available at all).

useful links

Secondly , there is a catalog of all the services that the state provides to its residents. Directory search is possible by service name, by keyword, by life situation (marriage, family quarrels, inheritance ...), by who provides the service (Riga City Council, Ministry of the Interior, mail ...), by region ( Riga, Liepaja, Limbazu district ...), by the status of the user himself (any person, legal entity, individual ...), by the channel of receiving the service (telephone, mail, SMS ...). The service description contains information on the place of its receipt, on the time the institutions work, on the price, on the documents needed to receive the service, on the frequency and time of the service (for example, filing a declaration), the forms necessary for filling are also available - if you want to fill out papers at home , then the document can be printed. All this information is available without authorization.

Search service catalog

Thirdly , electronic services are available on the portal. The study of authorization services is not required. You can wander through the catalog, explore the possibilities, but to get the service itself, you must confirm your identity.

Links to different types of authorization

You can confirm your identity in the following ways:

• Using an electronic signature. The electronic signature service in Latvia is provided by the Latvian Post (Latvijas pasts). The card can be ordered at any post office. A card reader for reading information must be approved by mail.
• Authentication via the Internet bank. At the moment, the contract is concluded with 5 banks, if there are cards for the Internet bank, such authorization will not cause problems.
• Using a mobile signature (Mobile ID). Users of this service can use their registered mobile phone to verify their identity. The user receives the Mobile signature by changing the SIM card from the mobile operator while maintaining the connection. You can log in or confirm the choice of a service by calling the call center of the service provider or by entering your mobile phone number on the website of the service provider, as implemented in this case.
• Using registration on the portal itself, this removes the need to use the above methods each time, but when registering on the portal, you will have to confirm your identity.

Mobile signature

There is no electronic ID card in Latvia like in Estonia and Lithuania. Debate over its entry in the country has been going on for a long time, but the public is afraid that introducing a new service will cost too much for ordinary residents (possible embezzlement of allocated funds, kickbacks, artificially high prices, etc.), as was the case, for example, with the introduction electronic ticket for travel in the capital.

What e-services are currently available? There are 29 of them. I will list some of them:

1. Request for re-obtaining a birth certificate.
2. Opportunity to apply for full-time studies at three universities in Latvia - LU, LLU, RTU.
3. Filing a declaration
4. Application to the State Police. You can, for example, electronically welcome to a neighbor.
5. Request for a certificate of no criminal record.
6. Request for permission to cut trees
7. Repeat marriage certificate request
8. You can get information about your family doctor.
9. ...

PS: In Latvia there is also a second information resource, which is a more specialized version of the aforementioned one - https://ivis.eps.gov.lv/ivisportal/ . It contains information about services, there is technical information for programmers who need technical support to create a new electronic service - for example, there is a description of services, XML schemes, there is also a forum where you can discuss technical problems.

Integrated State Information System

findings

What else do you want in this area? Even more electronic services - different and useful. More coverage of the portal in the press, education of residents of Latvia about this possibility (she herself learned about this portal only because of the need to work on an electronic service). I want a single electronic card, like our neighbors - Lithuanians and Estonians. I would like to complete the Russification of information, for non-youth it would be very useful (the new generation mostly knows Latvian well).