ACT ON THE STATE OF EMERGENCY (2 December 1992) (unofficial translation, excerpt)

CHAPTER I. General Provisions

Section 1

The state of emergency is a special legal regime of operation of the agencies, enterprises, entrepreneurial associations, institutions and organisations of state power and administration, which allows the restriction of the rights and freedoms of physical persons and legal entities, as well as their tasking with additional duties to the extent and in accordance with the order stipulated by the present Law.

Section 2

The state of emergency can be announced:

1) if the State is threatened by an external enemy;

2) if local unrest threatening the existing state system has occurred or threatens to occur in the State or in a part thereof;

3) in case of natural calamities, major accidents or catastrophes, epidemics and epizootics. (…)

Section 4

The state of emergency shall be announced only for a definite period of time, but no longer than six months, and the Secretary General of the United Nations shall be informed of the reasons for announcing the state of emergency and the time it had been announced for. (…)

CHAPTER III. Restrictions during the State of Emergency

Section 13

The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia or in the cases stipulated by the second part of Section 3 of this Law, the State Defence Council, can impose the following restrictions upon announcing the state of emergency:

(…)

2) increased maintenance of public order and guarding of separate objects;

3) a ban on the organisation of meetings, rallies, marches and demonstrations, as well as other mass events;

4) a ban on striking;

(…)

If the state of emergency has been announced in the cases stipulated by Paragraph 2 of Section 2 of this Law, the following restrictions can be imposed in addition to those listed in the preceding paragraph of this Section:

1) to impose a curfew, i.e., a ban to be in the streets or other public places at certain hours without special permits and documents testifying to one's identity;

(…)

3) to suspend the activity of political parties and other public organisations if they put obstacles in the way of imposing the state of emergency;

(…)

CHAPTER IV. Guarantees of Human Rights and Responsibility during the State of Emergency

Section 15

Measures in connection with the state of emergency shall be carried out only to the extent necessary to normalise the situation. The state of emergency shall not serve as a basis for the limitation of the powers of the institutions of the state power and administration, or for the restriction of political parties, public organisations, human rights and freedoms in the districts, regions or towns where the state of emergency has not been announced.

Section 16

The measures taken in connection with the state of emergency shall comply with those intergovernmental agreements and instruments of international law in the field of human rights which have been concluded or adhered to by the Republic of Latvia. (…)