“Six Months After the Adoption of the Law, Everyone Must Undergo a Technical Inspection Again”: Gevorg Gorgisyan

Gevorg Gorgisyan, a member of the “Bright Armenia” faction in the National Assembly, wrote on his Facebook page: “The RA government has presented draft amendments and supplements to the law on “Ensuring Road Traffic Safety” and several other related laws.

According to the draft:

• The requirements for issuing a technical inspection receipt for vehicles and affixing that receipt to the windshield of the vehicle are removed. From now on, the technical condition of vehicles will be monitored through a defect card issued by a licensed person and an electronic database controlled by the authorized body of the transport sector, which will include the necessary information about the vehicle, technical inspections, as well as the place, date, and time of undergoing a repeated technical inspection, and whether the vehicle is recognized as technically fit or has detected deficiencies. The defect card will be filled out electronically and stored in the electronic database, allowing for technical inspection control to be conducted electronically without stopping the vehicle.
• The deadlines and procedures for paying the environmental tax, as well as the amounts and conditions for administrative liability due to violations of the established procedure for registering and presenting vehicles for technical inspections, will also be amended. The procedure for exercising the right of recovery against insurance companies will also undergo certain changes.

There are some concerns related to the new draft:

1. Are there sufficient licensed stations across the RA? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to set the law's effectiveness period to one year instead of six months, which would allow for the necessary infrastructure to be established?
2. Our entire fleet, which has not undergone technical inspection for years, will be sent for inspections. Most will likely have issues detected. Will citizens be given time to rectify those issues, or will the first camera immediately capture and penalize the driver for not having undergone the inspection?
3. According to the final provisions of the law, it will come into force in six months. What will happen to the already existing receipts? It turns out that after the law is adopted in October, everyone must undergo technical inspection again in six months.”