Gas to Be Sold by Kilogram Starting May 1: Babken Tunyan

The unit of measurement for the sale of compressed gas at gas stations will change from cubic meters to kilograms starting May 1. However, this change has not yet been implemented as it requires an amendment to the Tax Code. This was stated by Babken Tunyan, the chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, on his Facebook page.

“The National Assembly's Economic Affairs Committee gave a positive conclusion to the bill on Friday. The bill will be discussed at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly tomorrow, and the second reading will be conducted on a 24-hour basis. This means that, most likely, the law will be finally adopted in the National Assembly on Tuesday, after which it will be signed by the President of the country,” he noted.

Regarding the timeframe, it was initially planned that the law would come into force on April 1, 2019. However, since it was technically impossible to implement it by that date, we have proposed to change the deadline to the 1st of the month following the official publication of the law. This proposal has been accepted. Therefore, if there are no unforeseen developments, gas will be sold by kilograms starting May 1.

As for the recent increase in gas prices at certain gas stations, Tunyan stated that it is unrelated to this change, and that the issue should be addressed by the Competition Protection Commission and the Market Regulatory Inspectorate.