16 ANDREJEVA v. LATVIA JUDGMENT Section 239(4) “Applications challenging conduct by the central or local administrative authorities that has adversely affected the rights of a natural person or other legal entity shall be compulsorily examined by a court in the presence of the public prosecutor.” 40. The relevant provisions of the new Civil Procedure Act, which came into force on 1 March 1999, are worded as follows: Section 90 “(1) Public prosecutors shall be entitled to participate in the examination of a case where they have brought an action or application or where their participation is compulsory. ... (3) The participation of the public prosecutor in the examination of a case shall be compulsory where it is prescribed by law or deemed necessary by the court. (4) A public prosecutor who participates in the examination of a case shall be entitled to inspect material in the case file, to challenge judges, to adduce evidence and take part in examining it, to make [procedural] applications [to the court], to submit observations on issues arising in the course of the examination of the case and on the merits of the case in general, to appeal against court decisions, judgments and orders, to receive copies of the court’s decision or of documents in the file, and to perform other procedural steps as determined by law. ... (6) The withdrawal by a public prosecutor of an action or application he or she has brought before a court shall not deprive the person in whose interests the prosecutor was acting of the right to request the court to examine the case on the merits.” Section 471 “(1) After hearing the report by the senator [judge of the Senate], the court shall hear the observations of the parties or their representatives. It may set a limited time for making submissions; however, both parties shall be allotted equal time. (2) The person who lodged the appeal on points of law, or the public prosecutor where it was the latter who lodged the appeal, shall address the court first. ... (3) Senators may put questions to the parties. (4) Each party shall have the right to one reply. (5) If the public prosecutor takes part in the examination of a case where the appeal on points of law was not lodged by him or her, he or she shall give an opinion after the parties have presented their observations and their replies.”