In a ruling of 29 November 2022, the Riga Administrative Court granted the request of the association Ecodesign Competence Centre regarding the obligation of the Ministry of Agriculture to provide information on the sales volumes of active substances of the Plant Protection Products registered in Latvia in the period 2011-2020.

In May 2021, Ecodesign Competence Centre sent a request to the State Plant Protection Service (Valstu augu aizsardzības dienestā) and the Ministry of Agriculture to, among other things, obtain information on the sales volumes of active substances of plant protection products registered in Latvia, classified as dangerous for the environment or human health, in the period from 2011-2020, providing data on each active substance of plant protection products separately. The Ministry only provided information on the quantities sold per type of pesticide (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc.), without mentioning the active substances present, which does not allow for an assessment of their harmfulness.

The Court based its decision on the right of access to information as set out in Article 100 of the Latvian Constitution. It ruled that the Ministry, by indicating that the requested data were confidential, misinterpreted the preamble of Regulation No 223/2009 on European statistics. Indeed, the Court considered that information on the active substances of plant protection products sold, concern emissions into the environment, and are therefore not confidential. The public has the right to know information on emissions into the environment, even if it is collected for statistical purposes.

In accordance with the Court's decision, the website of the State Plant Protection Service has therefore published the quantities of active substances sold in the territory of Latvia since 2011.