Civil protection plans must be developed for all categories of high-risk facilities, as well as for designated areas.

A Civil Protection Plan (CAP) must be developed for locally significant, or Category C, high-risk facilities. This applies in cases where a company’s activities involve substances (hazards) and quantities listed in Annex 1 of Cabinet Regulation No. 563 — ‘Procedure for the Identification and Classification of High-Risk Facilities and the Planning and Implementation of Civil Protection and Disaster Management Measures’.

Locally significant high-risk facilities are those where the following substances are stored, for example:

• Complex fertilizers containing ammonium nitrate (from 100 tonnes);
• Liquefied petroleum gas (from 5 tonnes), and similar substances;

Currently, many companies that were issued polluting activity permits over the past two decades have not developed civil protection plans, even though such plans were required by law. The State Environmental Service is now requesting these companies to prepare civil protection plans, even if no changes have occurred in their operations involving hazardous chemical substances.

In addition, the civil protection plan must also be developed as one of the required steps for Category A and B high-risk facilities.

Latvian municipalities and regions prepare civil protection plans in accordance with the requirements of Cabinet Regulation No. 658 ‘Regulations on the Structure of Civil Protection Plans and the Information to Be Included Therein’.

In light of the geopolitical situation, the Ministry of Defence has drafted amendments to Cabinet Regulation No. 658. These amendments require municipalities to update their existing Civil Protection Plans (CAP) by more thoroughly planning measures for scenarios involving military invasion or wartime situations..

Therefore, the military section of the Civil Protection Plan (CAP) must include the following information:

• Early warning;
• Situation monitoring and public information;
• Mobility and counter-mobility measures;
• Involvement of fuel, heating, drinking water, and food reserves;
• Use of buildings suitable for shelters;
• Deployment of mobile energy supply sources;
• Reception of evacuated persons within the municipality’s territory;
• Identification of critical functions of municipal institutions and other related measures.