Less than 30 people participated in the picket against the new article in the Consumer Rights Protection Law, which effectively excludes the Russian language from customer service, which took place today at the National Alliance bureau in Riga, the State Police reported to the LETA agency.
According to police estimates, approximately 25 to 27 people participated in the picket, and the event took place without incidents.
The organizer of the picket, Valery Krizhevich, previously explained to the LETA agency that the law is planned to establish a ban on servicing clients in languages that are not official languages of the European Union or candidate countries for EU membership, including Russian.
The proposal to add this article to the law was made by Saeima deputy Nauris Puntulis (National Alliance).
According to the organizer of the picket, this law will complicate life not only for local Russian-speaking residents but also for refugees from Ukraine and migrants who do not speak either Latvian or English but can speak Russian.
As reported, deputies of the Saeima Committee on Economic Affairs, Agriculture, Environmental and Regional Policy supported the proposal to establish in the Consumer Rights Protection Law that communication with consumers is conducted in the state language.
In particular, the proposal by the National Alliance deputy provides for the addition of an article "Language of Communication" to the law, which will establish that communication between the consumer and the seller or service provider—providing information, servicing, and concluding contracts—will be conducted in the state language.
The proposal also stipulates that the service provider ensures the availability of documents prepared for the provision of services, the interfaces of digital content used, as well as the possibility of choosing a language in such technical solutions as an application, website, call center, or in-person service infrastructure, in Latvian or, if the client agrees and the seller or service provider can provide it, in the official language of an EU member state or a candidate country for EU membership.
