Thursday, 10 March 2011
Stabilization of retail prices targeted
A cabinet sitting was held today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan
The meeting took note of the 2010 national report on activities against human trafficking.
The government approved a package of draft amendments to the law on trade and services and the code of administrative offences of the Republic of Armenia. The amendments envisage the government’s intervention in case the food staples will rise in retail prices 30% and over within 30 calendar days in Armenia. Based on the proposal of the authorized agency, the government will have the right to establish an upper cap on the retail prices or the commercial margin for a period of not more than 90 calendar days. According to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, this badly needed tool has not been applied in Armenia so far while it is a common practice in many other countries. Once passed, the amendment will help keep inflation in check.
The Executive approved a draft law on amendments to the criminal code of the Republic of Armenia amending some prosecution-related provisions to ensure that proportionate punishment is applied for a number of economic offences. The Prime Minister pointed out in this connection that punishment will be mitigated considerably for some types of economic offences as material responsibility will be imposed instead of criminal prosecution.
The aforementioned drafts and the government’s findings will be submitted to the National Assembly in the manner established by law.
The cabinet also backed the concept of the new code of criminal procedure of the Republic of Armenia.
The meeting went on to amend a previous decree establishing rules for drug registration in Armenia, including the State-administered drug expertise fees. A 180-calendar day maximum deadline was set for such expertise in Armenia, exclusive of the ones imported from the European Union, the USA or Japan which shall be subject to 30-day-long.expertise. Concerning the above amendments, Tigran Sargsyan said they seek to improve the situation on the domestic drugs market by putting a check on inflationary pressures. The acknowledgement of international certificates and the healthcare ministry’s control is crucial in this respect.
The meeting decided to approve the name and identity requisites, as well as to provide assets and AMD 284158.8 thousand to the State Food Security Service by the Ministry of Agriculture. The head of government said enhanced food security measures are among the European Union’s key preconditions. Armenia has the commitment of operating radical improvements in this field within the next 3 years.
To streamline the process of providing grant-denominated State support to water user associations in 2012-2016, the government approved the rules for evaluation and the quotas for such support, as well as the maximum allowable rate of water losses and irrigated areas. The rules envisage that the size of State support will be amended in case of 10% and over annual inflation, as well as when changes occur in water supply and energy tariffs. Tigran Sargsyan noted that the applicable irrigation water prices will not be changed in the near future which may inspire confidence to the water users. Note that the State has been subsidizing irrigation system expenditures annually to the amount of AMD 4 billion.
The cabinet sitting passed decisions on over 40 agenda items.
