Military Training Notifications to Become Public

The government approved a draft law today to amend the "Law on Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel," which stipulates that notifications for mandatory military service recruitment and military training will be conducted online. The government sent the draft to the National Assembly for approval under urgent procedures.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during the meeting: “Every notification is a burden on the state budget, it represents an expense. Therefore, if we need to invite 10 people to a military training, why would we send 100 notifications, consequently spending 10 times more than we could have? We face this reality where legislative barriers emerge concerning the formal notification of citizens, and now the essence of this initiative is to make the de jure registration of citizens as notified an unavoidable process that will lead to concrete results.”

Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan added that the entire notification process, through all possible means, including public notifications, should take no more than 30 days.

“According to the current law, paper or electronic notifications are required for citizens to return to their military registration authority; however, the proper formats for delivering these notifications are not clearly defined. As a result, there are many instances where citizens avoid attending the relevant procedures due to inadequate notifications, preventing the resolution of their corresponding responsibilities. The same issues apply to the preparatory phase of military training where citizens refuse to show up at the military recruitment office citing that there has been no declaration for military training.”

To address this, it is proposed that a document certifying the fact of proper notification be established. For notifications delivered personally, a signed receipt confirming receipt must be provided. In cases of notifications sent by postal means, the postal delivery document confirming receipt or electronic certification will be required.

In the case of individual notifications, the notification sent to the citizen’s official email address will require electronic confirmation of reading it by the citizen, and for public notifications, the relevant excerpt must be placed on the official public notification site of the Republic of Armenia.

The sequence of notifications will be established as follows: notifications will first be sent to a citizen’s official email if available and if the citizen consents to receive notifications solely through that address. Even if there is no electronic confirmation of having read the notification, the citizen will be deemed properly notified from the fifth day following receipt of the notification.

In cases where a citizen does not have an official email or there is no electronic confirmation of receipt of the notification sent to their email, notifications will be delivered personally or by postal means. If personal delivery is impossible, or if the citizen refuses to accept the notification, the notification will be made public in accordance with the regulations set by the government. After the 10th day from the date the notification excerpt is published on the official public notifications site, the citizen will be considered properly notified.

It is also defined that military recruitment offices will carry out the preparatory process for organizing military training at least three months prior to the declaration of military training to ensure the participation of citizens. Within this framework, citizens residing in Armenia are obliged to present themselves before their military registration authority based on the relevant notification.”

Papikyan noted that the process entails a duration of 30 days: “This means ensuring that all types of notification for citizens are in place, culminating with public notification, should take 30 days,” he said. “The essence of this legislative initiative is to make the de jure registration of citizens as notified an unavoidable process that will lead to concrete results. The matter, of course, carries many layers and nuances, and it must be stated that we have discussed this in detail and made such a decision. We need to continue these processes in this direction,” Pashinyan emphasized.

Under the current law, a citizen is considered notified if there is a receipt confirmed by their signature upon receiving the notification. However, with the modification, if it is not possible to deliver the notification directly, it will be sent to their electronic address. If the citizen still does not appear at the military recruitment office, their name will simply be published on the “Azdarar” informational site, and five days later, they will be considered officially notified.