The State Environmental Service (SES) is a state institution under supervision of the Ministry of the Environment. The SES was established on 1^st of January 2005 integrating former State Environmental Inspectorate, 8 Regional Environmental Boards and Marine Environmental Board.

The goal of SES is to ensure the compliance of implementation of legislation framework in the area of the environment protection and natural resources.

SES functions are:

• according to the procedure provided in the laws and regulations regulating the protection of the environment to carry out the state control of  the environment protection and natural resources use in the territory of Latvia, continental shelf, economic zones of the Baltic Sea and Rīga Gulf, territorial waters and inland waters.
• according to the procedure provided in the laws and regulations concerning fishing to provide the control of the fishing carried out by the Latvia’s fishing vessels in the waters of the European Union member states, of states which are not member states of the European Union and in the high seas.

SES performs the following tasks:

• controls the compliance with the laws and regulations regarding to the output and utilization of the natural resources,  the protection of the nature, the emissions of the polluting substances, the management of the hazardous and household waste, the activities with the chemical substances and products;
• issues the permits (licenses), the technical requirements and other administrative acts concerning the utilization of the natural resources and the performance of the polluting activities;
• informs the society about the activities of the service and gives to the society the disposable information about the environment;
• takes part in the management of the emergency situations.

More detailed information in the State Environmental Service homepage: http://www.vvd.gov.lv