Riga City Funeral Service
Information service 24/7
The short answer: on 29 April 2026 the Cemeteries Law came into force in Latvia — the first single set of rules for every municipality. Until then each municipality set its own order. Grave plots already held by your family do not disappear, but the record-keeping, the inspection procedure and some technical requirements change. Here is what matters most for families in Riga.
If your question concerns your own plot at a Riga cemetery, a specialist of Riga City Funeral Service will explain the procedure and point you to the right office. Advice around the clock: +371 2208 4540
The law does not take away a family's right to a plot already allocated, and it does not change how a funeral itself is held. It puts three things in order: record-keeping, the checking of a plot's condition, and common technical requirements for burials. Municipalities must set up and maintain an electronic burial register — with a layout plan of the plots, data on those buried and notes on neglected graves. New information goes into the register within four years, while the archive already accumulated has seven years, that is until 29 April 2033. The law does not create one state-wide register of everyone buried: each municipality is responsible for its own.
| What the law sets | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Depth of a coffin burial | from 1.5 to 2 metres |
| Depth of an urn burial | from 0.5 metres |
| Reburial in the same plot | not earlier than 20 years (15 with permission from the Health Inspectorate) |
| Inspection of plots | once a year, from 1 April to 1 November |
| A neglected plot | the holder's rights may be withdrawn if the plot is untended for three years |
| Municipal rules | new binding regulations are to be adopted by 30 June 2027 |
How these requirements work at a particular cemetery — how deep the grave is dug, whether a second burial is possible — is agreed when we arrange the cemetery plot. For the list of Riga cemeteries, see the cemeteries section.
The second change concerns cremation. The law states that an urn may be buried in a plot or placed in a columbarium, and that cemeteries must provide areas for scattering ashes. In Riga this is already developing: the first columbarium operates at the II Forest Cemetery, and the municipality plans further solutions at other cemeteries. In practice a family now has more options than before — both cremation and urn burial in an existing family plot.
For the first time the law also sets out the municipality's duty to bury or cremate people with no relatives and unidentified deceased — an area that was not regulated until now.
Riga City Funeral Service arranges funerals in full and helps with the formalities around the plot:
Call +371 2208 4540 — the specialist on duty will tell you how to proceed in your case.
