On Wednesday, 20 May, the Saeima Legal Affairs Committee decided to submit amendments to the Civil Law for consideration by parliament, in order to strengthen the legal status of animals and to establish clearly that an animal is not a thing but a living being.

“This is not a question of prohibitions – those already exist. It is a values-based decision about how an animal is perceived in the Civil Law, clearly enshrining animal life as a significant and protected value that corresponds to the moral and ethical values of modern society,” says Andrejs Judins, Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee.

The bill provides for the Civil Law to be supplemented with a provision enshrining the principle that animals are not things, while at the same time stipulating that the rules of property law apply to them in so far as those rules are compatible with the nature of animals and with the laws intended for their protection. The bill also addresses civil liability in cases where harm has been caused to an animal, including compensation for non-pecuniary harm, as well as animal-related matters such as inheritance, registration, change of owner and debt recovery.

The issue was brought to the fore in response to the collective submission “Establish in law that an animal is not property but a living being”, which has been signed by more than 35 thousand residents.

Animal protection in Latvia is already ensured by the Animal Protection Law, but under the Civil Law an animal is still regarded as an object of civil rights. The planned amendments do not change this status, but they more clearly enshrine the principle that an animal is a sentient being.

The Legal Affairs Committee has considered this issue previously, analysing the assessment by the Ministry of Justice, case law, experience from abroad, as well as the views of experts and animal welfare specialists. At the same time, as it continues work on the bill, the committee will refine individual wordings where necessary in order to ensure that they can be applied clearly in practice.

For the amendments to enter into force, the Saeima must approve them in three readings.