Ordinary items will be delivered to customers at post office counters without asking for an ID

30.03.2021

Following the proposal of Latvijas Pasts to make amendments to the Cabinet’s regulations regarding requirements for the delivery of ordinary, registered and insured postal items, on the 24^th of March 2021 the Government approved changes to the procedure for the delivery of ordinary postal items at post offices. The changes stipulate that customers no longer need to show their ID at the post office counter before receiving ordinary postal items. However, an ID must still be presented on receipt of ordinary and traceable postal items subject to customs clearance, as well as registered and insured postal items. The respective amendments entered into force on the 27^th of March 2021.

Until recently the regulatory framework previously in force stipulated that in order to receive an ordinary – unregistered or uninsured – postal item at a post office, the addressee had to show an ID. In the opinion of Latvijas Pasts, this regulatory requirement was disproportionate, creating unnecessary additional delays at post offices, because the item of the ordinary type primarily envisages placing it in the recipient’s letter-box, where the recipient is not identified anyway, except when the size or weight of the item makes such delivery impossible and the item must be collected at the post office. 

According to the amendments to the Cabinet’s regulations, it is no longer necessary to present an ID in order to receive ordinary postal items at the post office. The new regulatory requirement, which has already entered into force, applies to all ordinary items without a barcode, to ordinary items with a barcode in the range from UA to UZ and to traceable items with a barcode in the range from LA to LZ delivered by a postman to the customer’s letter-box, but if such delivery is not possible due to the size or weight of the item, it is delivered at the post office counter.  

The aforementioned changes do not apply to ordinary and traceable postal items subject to customs clearance, as well as to registered and insured postal items, where a valid ID must be shown before the receipt in order for the postal employee to be able to identify the recipient of the item.

Types of items and the requirement to show an ID at post offices 

About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with about 3,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.

Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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