In 2025, the Department of Administrative Cases of the Senate carried out its tasks at a high professional level, maintained high standards of quality in its rulings, and concluded the reporting period with a positive case examination rate, as summarized by the Chair of the Department, Anita Kovaļevska, at the Supreme Court's Annual Plenary Session on January 16.

Last year, the Department managed to reduce the number of cases pending before the Department for more than two years. At the end of 2024, there were 31 such cases, but at the end of last year, there were only nine. In four of these cases, proceedings have been suspended due to an appeal filed before the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Despite the increase in the number of cases received, the Department ended the year with a positive case examination rate (101%). A total of 641 cases were examined, which exceeds the number of cases received. In 2025, the backlog of cases has decreased slightly.

The Chair of the Department particularly noted that in 2025, there was a percentage increase in the number of cases in which proceedings were concluded with a refusal to initiate cassation proceedings (65% of cases received under the cassation procedure), as well as a decrease in the number of rulings left unchanged (32% of cases initiated).

Positive trends can also be observed in relation to the time taken to examine cases. In 2025, 443 cases were examined in cassation proceedings in an average of 357 days, compared to 404 cases in an average of 383 days in 2024. Thus, in 2025, the number of cases examined in cassation proceedings increased, while the average time taken to examine them decreased.

When forecasting case examination indicators for 2026, the Chair of the Department concluded that they are unlikely to improve and the situation may even deteriorate slightly. Firstly, the optimal workload for senators has been reached and it is not possible to significantly increase the number of cases examined. Secondly, in 2026, the Department will face several technological challenges.

When reporting on current developments in the administration of justice, Anita Kovaļevska acknowledged that our national legal system is part of the European Union legal system – in 2025, the Department has referred two cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling – one concerned the legality of a decision adopted by the Competition Council on finding a violation of the prohibition of abuse of a dominant position in the organization of waste management in a local municipality, the other pertained to the right of a company to apply a 0% value added tax rate to the supply of excise goods to companies in Estonia and the United Kingdom. Following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Senate adopted two judgments in 2025.

Last year, the Department of Administrative Cases submitted one application to the Constitutional Court and adopted rulings in two cases following judgments of the Constitutional Court.

The case-law trends of the Department in 2025 remained unchanged – the central issues were generally related to the application of legal norms in accordance with the Constitution and the principle of the rule of law. At the Plenary Session, the Chair of the Department highlighted certain trends.

Firstly, cases related to the foundations of a democratic state and the protection of fundamental values of the state remain particularly relevant, and the geopolitical context has not lost its relevance in the examination of cases.

Secondly, the Senate changed its case-law on the impact of prohibitive marks registered in the commercial register on the registration of changes in the register of participants.

The Chair of the Department also singled out certain judgments in specific categories of cases – competition law, state aid, public procurement, and data protection. In all these areas the influence of European Union law is particularly felt. The Chair also highlighted certain judgments in the areas of social rights, construction law, compensation law, and procedural law.

As speaking about other areas of the Department's work, the Chair emphasized cooperation with lower courts. The Department also actively participated in other priority areas of the Supreme Court's operational strategy, some of which were addressed by the Chair.

In order to achieve greater effectiveness of the court's adjudicative function, representatives of the Department participated in the preparation of the Senate's guidelines for the submission of ancillary complaints, in the Supreme Court working group on the introduction of artificial intelligence tools in court work, and actively cooperated with the Court Administration and the developers of TIS-2 (TIS stands for Court Information System). In order to find ways to improve the quality of the Department's rulings, the experience of the European Court of Human Rights in optimizing court work and improving the effectiveness of decision-making was studied.

In the field of international cooperation, the Chair noted the Department's participation in the Association of Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union (ACA-Europe), as well as the participation of representatives of the Department in meetings and discussions organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2026, the main task of the Department of Administrative Cases remains unchanged, namely to promote high-quality and effective examination of administrative cases. The Department will continue to seek ways to improve the drafting of judgments – promoting conciseness without compromising the quality and comprehensibility of a judgment. The Department will also look for ways to more quickly identify cases that require preliminary questions to be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union or applications filed to the Constitutional Court, and it will look for ways to ensure that relevant rulings are prepared at the earliest possible case examination stage.

The Chair of the Department pointed out that 2026 will be marked by significant technological challenges. Firstly, in parallel with its work in the TIS-1 system, the Department will begin work in the TIS-2 system. Secondly, in administrative cases, the transition to electronic case management system must take place this year. It is expected that the challenges brought about by technological change will affect the overall effectiveness of the Department's operations. Anita Kovaļevska expressed her hope that it will nevertheless be possible to ensure harmonious interaction between technology and people and that the results of the work will be good.

  • Anita Kovaļevska's report on the work of the Senate's Department of Administrative Cases in 2025 will be published in the next issue of the Supreme Court Bulletin.

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211