Recording job interviews in Latvia: Labour Law Section 33, the GDPR and the Data State Inspectorate's guidance

Recording a job interview with a candidate in Latvia is governed by the GDPR, applied through the Personal Data Processing Law, and by the Data State Inspectorate's guidance: a voice recording of an identifiable person is personal data, so you need a lawful basis, must tell the candidate before you record, and must delete the recording once the selection and any challenge to it are over. Section 33 of the Labour Law limits what you may ask in the interview, and secret recording is acceptable only to expose unlawful conduct, which an employer's interview is not. This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds Latvia to our country series alongside Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. It is for recruiters, agency consultants and hiring managers who interview candidates located in Latvia by video or phone, including from the US. Laws are quoted from the English translations on likumi.lv; quotations from the Data State Inspectorate's Latvian pages are our translations.

Latvia's rules at a glance

Is it legal to record a job interview in Latvia?

Yes, on a data protection footing. Article 96 of the Satversme says "everyone has the right to inviolability of his or her private life, home and correspondence." Section 144 of the Criminal Law punishes "intentional violation of the confidentiality of personal correspondence" with up to two years in prison, and "unlawful interception of publicly unavailable data transmissions or signals in telecommunications networks" with up to three years. Those offenses are aimed at people who open or intercept other people's communications; we found no Latvian provision addressed to a participant who records their own call.

The DVI answers that question through data protection. Its 2022 explanation on secret recording at work says that "a person's voice (in the form of a recording), if it can be attributed to an identified or identifiable person, is personal data, and making an audio recording in which people's conversation is recorded is processing of personal data." It then says a conversation at work may be recorded secretly "only if there is a justifiable purpose, for example, it is the only way to reveal unlawful activity," and that the recording may go to the labor inspectorate, the police or a court but must not be published or circulated among colleagues. The DVI was discussing employees protecting themselves against an employer. An employer or agency recording an interview has no comparable reason to keep it secret, so the GDPR's ordinary rules apply: a lawful basis under Article 6, which Section 25 of the Personal Data Processing Law requires for any processing, and the Article 13 information before the recording starts.

For the basis, legitimate interests or steps taken at the candidate's request before a contract usually fit better than consent, which is hard to give freely to a prospective employer; see legitimate interest in recruitment. Ask the candidate anyway: it is the practical way to meet the information duty and to avoid recording someone who objects.

What does the Data State Inspectorate say about recruitment?

The DVI published a three-part series for employers on personnel selection in April 2024. The points that bear on interviews and recordings:

• Collect only what the vacancy needs. Employers must avoid excessive processing and request "only such information as is really necessary to assess the applicant for the specific vacancy" (part 1). A recording captures everything said, so decide whether written notes would do.
• Tell candidates who, why and how long. Candidates must know who processes their data, the legal basis, the recipients and the retention period; a link in the job ad to a privacy policy is the DVI's suggested route (part 1).
• Agencies need a defined role. Where a recruitment company is used, the employer must settle its role in the processing, and if it is a processor, sign a contract meeting Article 28 GDPR (part 1).
• References with the candidate's knowledge. If you plan to obtain references, the applicant must be informed and asked to name contact persons; this processing "can almost always be justified by the applicant's consent" (part 2).
• Private social media is off limits unless the nature of the position gives an essential reason, such as a senior or public-facing role, and the candidate is told before the selection (part 2).
• Volunteered sensitive details cannot be used. If a candidate mentions health, religion or similar information the employer did not ask for, the employer "is not entitled to use it in the evaluation" or to record and store it without a legal basis (part 3). In a recording, that means editing it out of the notes and keeping the audio short-lived.

What may you ask in a job interview in Latvia?

Section 33 of the Labour Law defines a job interview as "an oral or written inquiry prepared by the employer to assess the suitability of an applicant," and bars questions that "do not apply to performance of the intended work," or that are "directly or indirectly discriminatory," in particular on pregnancy; family or marital status; a previous conviction, "except for the cases where this may be of essential importance with respect to the work to be performed"; religious conviction; membership of a party, union or other public organization; national or ethnic origin; and foreign language skills that do not matter for the job. Section 33(4) obliges the applicant to disclose health and occupational preparedness only insofar as they matter for the work. Under Section 34, an applicant refused in breach of the prohibition of differential treatment may sue within three months of the refusal. A recording of the interview is evidence in such a case, for either side.

How long can you keep recordings and transcripts?

The DVI's guidance says the employer should delete documents submitted in the selection "once the deadline for appealing the decision on the selection results has passed and the hired employee's ability to perform the work has been checked, for example at the end of the probationary period." The Labour Law sets the outer edges: three months to sue under Section 34, and a probationary period that under Section 46 may not exceed three months, or six where a collective agreement with a trade union allows it. Set the period for recordings inside those limits, keep written notes rather than audio if you need a longer record, and delete on schedule. Keeping applications for future vacancies is allowed, the DVI says, but it should be stated in the job ad and needs the candidate's clear consent, with the retention period. Our retention policy template gives the structure.

Can candidates get the recording?

Yes. Under Article 15 GDPR the candidate can ask for a copy of their personal data, including a recording or transcript, and Article 12(3) requires an answer within one month, extendable only where the GDPR allows. The DVI reminds employers that applicants who submit data have the right to ask how it is processed, so the employer must be able to answer. Our candidate data access requests guide has a workflow.

What if you interview a candidate in Latvia from the US?

An employer or agency established in the EU is covered by the GDPR under Article 3(1); a US company with no EU establishment is covered only where Article 3(2) applies. Article 96 of the Satversme protects the candidate wherever the recorder sits, and your own state's law governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states. A recording or transcript sent to a US vendor needs a transfer basis under Chapter V of the GDPR, such as the Commission's adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (certified recipients only) or standard contractual clauses.

Can you use AI note takers or transcription?

Yes, with the checks the DVI set out on November 10, 2026 in its explanation on AI tools in meetings. If a conversation contains information about identifiable people, "recording it, converting it into text and preparing a summary is processing of personal data," and "even if the audio recording is not saved, personal data may remain in the transcript and the summary." Each organization must find out "where the data are stored, who has access to them, how long they are kept and whether they are also used for other purposes, for example improving the AI," set which tools staff may use, define the purpose and legal basis, and consider whether a full transcript is needed or a summary of decisions would do. Participants must be informed, for example in the meeting invitation, and the summary must be checked, "because AI may wrongly attribute a statement to another person." In hiring, a misattributed answer can sink a candidate, so review AI notes before they reach a client or a scorecard. A tool that scores or ranks candidates is likely to be high-risk under the EU AI Act. Interview Signal, for example, captures audio on the interviewer's own computer with no bot joining the call, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, and does not retain audio after transcription; the transcript is still personal data under the rules above.

A consent line for interviews in Latvia

Pirms sākam: vēlos [ierakstīt mūsu sarunu / izmantot programmu, kas
sarunu pārvērš tekstā], lai precīzi pierakstītu jūsu atbildes.
[Ierakstu / Tekstu] izmantosim tikai šajā atlasē, nodosim tikai
[klientam / vadītājam, kurš lemj par pieņemšanu darbā] un dzēsīsim
[termiņš] pēc atlases beigām. Vai jūs piekrītat? Jūs varat atteikties
vai jebkurā brīdī lūgt, lai pārtraucu ierakstu. Tas neietekmēs jūsu
pieteikumu.

(Before we start: I'd like to [record our conversation / use software
that turns the conversation into text] so I capture your answers
accurately. We'll use the [recording / text] only for this selection,
pass it only to [the client / the manager deciding on the hire] and
delete it [period] after the selection ends. Do you agree? You can say
no or ask me to stop the recording at any time. It won't affect your
application.)

Put the same information, with the Article 13 details, in the job ad or invitation and your candidate privacy notice, and add a line about references if you plan to take them. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in Latvia

• Candidate told before recording or live transcription starts, asked, and the answer noted; no secret recording.
• Article 6 basis documented; privacy notice linked from the job ad, naming any client who receives the recording.
• Interview questions checked against Section 33 of the Labour Law; volunteered sensitive details kept out of notes.
• Agency role settled, with an Article 28 contract where the agency or tool is a processor.
• Recordings deleted after the appeal window and the hire's probation check; future-vacancy pools only with consent.
• AI notes reviewed for misattributed statements; vendor storage, access, retention and training use checked.
• US vendors certified under the Data Privacy Framework or covered by standard contractual clauses.

Interviewing elsewhere around the Baltic Sea? Compare Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.