Proposed Bill: Paying 50% of Fines on Time Will Be Considered Proper Performance

The Ministry of Justice of Armenia has developed a bill proposing that if at least 50% of an administrative fine is voluntarily paid within the legally stipulated timeframe, the obligation to pay the fine will be considered duly fulfilled.

The draft law titled "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses" has been published on the unified website for legal acts.

Describing the current situation, the Ministry of Justice reports that an analysis of the execution rates of fines imposed for administrative offenses in the traffic sector, as well as for violations of restrictions arising from the declaration of a state of emergency and quarantine, indicates that the overwhelming majority of these fines are not voluntarily paid by the debtors. According to the ministry, this situation overloads the operations of the police and the Administrative Court.

Additionally, due to the non-execution of these administrative acts, the monetary claims are subjected to compulsory enforcement, which significantly increases the workload on the Compulsory Enforcement Service.

The Ministry of Justice has also provided some statistical data, noting, for instance, that during 2019-2020, there are currently 71,030 enforcement proceedings pending in the Compulsory Enforcement Service based on the administrative acts of the Road Police, while as of December 22, 2020, there were 24,857 enforcement proceedings initiated based on violations of restrictions imposed due to the state of emergency and quarantine.

Through this bill, the Ministry of Justice aims to encourage the voluntary fulfillment of the obligation to pay fines imposed. Thus, for the violations prescribed in several articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses, when at least 50% of the fine is voluntarily paid within the legally stipulated timeframe following the day after the imposition of the fine, the obligation for the violator to pay the fine will be considered duly fulfilled.

The bill also proposes to extend the operation of the law to administrative acts issued prior to the adoption of the law when at least 50% of the fine is paid within the stipulated timeframe.

The Ministry of Justice also notes that a provision for reducing the amount of the fine by 50% if paid within 20 days of receiving the administrative act exists in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

According to the ministry, the adoption of this law will help mitigate the negative consequences resulting from the declaration of a state of emergency, martial law, and imposed quarantine in the Republic of Armenia during 2020.

It should be noted that this draft has been submitted for public discussion. It still needs to receive the approval of the Government before being sent to the National Assembly.