Extraordinary Meeting of the SME Development Council led by the Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan

On July 22, an extraordinary meeting of the SME Development Council was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.

The agenda included one question: the draft law initiated by the Ministry of Justice on making amendments and additions to the RA Administrative Procedure Code (eliminating the general rule on the suspension of an administrative act in case of appeal).

This issue had been previously discussed during the 27th session of the SME Development Council, where the Council members, along with representatives of the Ministry of Economy, expressed their negative stance on the proposed draft. It was decided during that session that the draft would be revised by the Ministry of Justice and reintroduced for discussion at a future Council meeting.

The session began with a presentation by Deputy Minister of Justice Tigran Dadunts, who introduced the revised draft, presented statistical data on administrative acts from 2024, and addressed several key issues related to the proposal. He was followed by Zhirayr Kharatyan, Deputy Head of the Inspection Bodies Coordination Office, who also delivered a speech.

Next, members of the SME Development Council presented their views. In particular, remarks were made by:

• Vahagn Hambardzumyan, President of the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia;
• Gurgen Grigoryan, representative of the Armenian Association of Developers NGO;
• Anna Nersesyants, Director of AmCham Armenia;
• Sargis Karapetyan, Director of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises NGO;
• Hakob Avagyan, President of the SME Cooperation Association;
• Karen Zakaryan, Executive Director of the FINARM Association;
• Hayk Malkhasyan, Senior Legal Advisor of the EBRD Investment Council of Armenia.

A speech was also delivered by Hrachya Muradyan, representative of the Union of Builders of Armenia. The series of speeches concluded with remarks by the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia, Gevorg Papoyan.

As in the previous meeting, Council members and representatives of the Ministry of Economy once again expressed their negative stance regarding the draft, emphasizing the potential risks and adverse impacts it may have on the business sector. They reiterated that the burden of proof for demonstrating significant damage to suspend an administrative act should not rest on the business community.

In his closing remarks, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan thanked all participants and summarized the key arguments raised during the discussion. He instructed representatives of the Ministry of Justice to further study statistical data related to administrative acts and appeals—distinguishing between initiated, completed, and ongoing proceedings. Following this analysis, the issue will be brought back for discussion within the framework of an upcoming session of the SME Development Council.