Those Illegally Rejecting Information Requests Will Be Fined 30,000 to 70,000 Drams

The government proposes to increase the fines for unlawfully not providing information stipulated by law. The penalty, which currently ranges from 10 to 50 times the established minimum wage, is suggested to be raised to between 30 and 70 times that wage. Additionally, for repeating the same violation within one year after administrative penalties have been applied, the fine is proposed to increase from 50 to 100 times the minimum wage to between 100 and 150 times.

These regulations are being proposed to amend the Administrative Offenses Code. During a meeting on May 24, Deputy Minister of Justice Yeranuhi Tumanyan presented the reasons and basis for the legislative proposal. It was noted that according to statistics on inquiries and responses posted on the 'Givemeinfo.am' website, from 2019 to the present, 3% of written inquiries addressed to information holders received no response at all, in 9% of cases the responses were incomplete—meaning that certain requested information was not provided—and in 3% of cases, an unfounded response was received.

According to the study of cases published in the 'Datalex.am' judicial information system, there are not many applications for administrative liability filed based on violations of Article 189.7 of the Code. According to the deputy minister, the fines of 10,000 to 50,000 drams are not sufficiently motivating for citizens and legal entities to file lawsuits against officials of state and local self-government bodies, state enterprises, organizations funded from budgets, as well as officials of organizations of public significance, for unlawfully not providing information as stipulated by law.

Yeranuhi Tumanyan stated that when considering the expediency of filing a claim against the violator for administrative liability, an individual who does not receive information understands that they would waste more financial resources than the amount of the proposed fine against the violator, and often does not utilize their right to file a claim in this manner.

Lilit Minasian, presenting the positive conclusion of the permanent committee on state-legal issues of the National Assembly, expressed the opinion that the initiative will contribute to increasing the transparency of the activities of state and local self-government bodies. The parliament discussed the draft law on amendments and additions to the Forest Code of the Republic of Armenia, as well as a package of draft laws on amendments and additions to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.