LatviaValsts ieņēmumu dienests
Latvia widens the Russian and Belarusian food-import ban
The expanded product list applies from 8 August 2026. Customs classification, origin and the chosen procedure determine whether a consignment is covered.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 14 August 2026
Latvia's prohibition on specified agricultural and feed imports from Russia and Belarus has been expanded from 8 August 2026.VID It also covers the relevant Russian- and Belarusian-origin goods arriving from other third countries.
VID VID's notice explains that the restriction applies to businesses and to individuals bringing covered goods in personal baggage or receiving postal and courier consignments.
The amended list covers goods in entire Combined Nomenclature chapters for live animals, fish and other aquatic invertebrates, dairy products and eggs, vegetables, fruit and nuts, cereals, milling products, oil seeds, prepared meat and fish products, prepared vegetables and fruit, and feed-related residues and preparations.Vestnesis It also specifies individual codes for coffee, tea and spices, fats and oils, and sugars and related products.
For customs declarations, the operative list of commodity codes is decisive. The amendment uses whole chapters for some product groups and individually listed codes for others. Traders should therefore match the actual commodity classification to the amended list rather than relying only on a broad description of the product or on the country from which the shipment was dispatched.
The prohibition is tied to defined customs procedures. VID identifies release for free circulation, except for release for onward delivery to a recipient in another Member State with the specified VAT exemption; inward processing, except where processing is intended to destroy the products; and end-use.VID These procedural qualifications form part of the restriction's scope.
VID expressly distinguishes other procedures, including transit and storage in free zones or customs warehouses, to which this particular import prohibition does not apply.VID That distinction matters when deciding how covered goods may move through Latvia. The notice also makes clear that using another third country as the dispatch point does not remove the restriction where the goods have Russian or Belarusian origin.
VID
The legal basis is Cabinet Regulation No. 158, paragraph 2 as replaced by Cabinet Regulation No. 451, read with the Agricultural and Rural Development Law's provisions defining the imports concerned.
Check commodity codes, origin and the intended customs procedure against the expanded prohibition.