General information
If a vehicle is to be exported from Latvia for re-registration or sale in another country, it must first be deregistered for export from Latvia.
Since 1 January 2016, if a vehicle is deregistered for export to a member state of the European Union, no record of deregistration is made in the vehicle registration certificate. It is only recorded in the Register of Vehicles and their Drivers. If the vehicle is being exported to a country that is not a member state of the European Union or if the owner of the vehicle does not know what country the vehicle is to be exported to, the vehicle registration certificate must state ‘Deregistered for export from the Republic of Latvia’ in the ‘Vehicle deregistration note’ section.
Deregistering a vehicle for the purpose of its export from Latvia terminates the registered vehicle holder’s liability for any road traffic offences committed with the vehicle.
In order to use a vehicle that has been deregistered for export from Latvia in road traffic, one must obtain transit number plates (more: ‘Transit number plates’).
If a vehicle is to be deregistered for export from Latvia without the issue of transit number plates and the owner of the vehicle has changed, the change of ownership must be registered before the vehicle is deregistered for export from Latvia (for information about ways to register change of ownership, see the ‘Vehicle registration’ section).
Please note!
A vehicle may not be deregistered for export from Latvia less than 5 days after its first registration or first re-registration in Latvia.
During the first registration or re-registration (if after its first registration in Latvia the vehicle was exported and bought in another member state of the European Union and is now re-registered in Latvia) of a vehicle bought in another member state of the European Union in Latvia whose year of manufacture is the current year or within 5 previous years and whose vehicle category is M1 (including M1G) or N1 (including N1G), the Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) electronically transfers information about the registered vehicle to the State Revenue Service and registers a ban on its sale or transfer with the registration of the vehicle:
1) for 15 days, for a vehicle registered as owned by a legal entity;
2) for 30 days, for a vehicle registered as owned by a natural individual.
If SRS initiates tax administration proceedings in relation to the registered vehicle, it will register a ban on the sale or transfer of this vehicle. If SRS does not initiate tax administration proceedings, the ban on the sale of the vehicle is automatically lifted after 15 days or 30 days, respectively (this depends on whether the owner of the vehicle is a private individual or a legal entity). SRS lifts the ban once it completes the tax administration proceedings, or if the corresponding collateral has been paid.
Further details about this procedure are available from the SRS. Phone for advice +371 67120000.
Additional information
EU member states have a single procedure for re-registering a vehicle previously registered in another member state. The member state must send information about the re-registration of a vehicle previously registered in another member state to the member state of previous registration within 2 months. If CSDD receives information about the re-registration of a vehicle registered in Latvia in another member state, CSDD deregisters the vehicle within 2 months after the date it receives the information. Given that each member state sets its own deadline for sending this information, and this happens only if the vehicle is permanently registered in that country, CSDD recommends that before the vehicle leaves Latvia, it is deregistered for export following the above procedure