Free Services to Become Paid as State Fee is Established

The newspaper "Pazat" reports that the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure is proposing amendments and additions to the government decision N 834-N dated June 6, 2024. According to Article 7, Part 2 of the Law on Civil Aviation, the Civil Aviation Committee is the authorized body responsible for the regulation of the air transport sector, the activities of civil aviation and non-military state aviation, air traffic services, aviation security, flight safety, as well as the regulatory frameworks for the safety and security of ground services and services provided in the aviation sector, and the oversight of aviation services and facilities operating in Armenia.

Alongside carrying out its regulatory and oversight functions, the Committee is currently providing several services for which no state fee has been established (only one service was subject to a nominal fee). Consequently, with the law on amendments to the “Law on State Fees” dated May 2, 2024, a state fee has now been established for the services provided in the civil aviation sector, based on the Committee's examination of international practices. This has shown that in several countries around the world, similar services are provided on a paid basis by aviation authorities. Specifically, experiences from Georgia, Latvia, Singapore, and several other countries have been examined.

The draft proposes to establish a procedure for collecting the state fee stipulated by law and taking appropriate preventive measures in case of non-payment of the established annual fee.

There is also a necessity to clarify the procedure for the air transportation of dangerous goods as outlined in Chapter 4 of Decision N-834-N. Operators of aircraft registered in the Republic of Armenia receive permission for the servicing of air transportation of dangerous goods according to Form N 1.
Chapter 4 pertains to the process of proper packaging and documentation for the air transportation of dangerous goods based on applications submitted by aircraft operators or their freight transportation agents to the authorized body. For the execution of the package and documentation procedures necessary for the air transportation of dangerous goods specified in the application, consent from the authorized body is required. This consent is for carrying out the transportation specified in the application, rather than simply granting permission. The authorized body examines the information presented in the application, particularly focusing on the special provisions related to the operation of the airline conducting the transportation, the nature of the dangerous cargo, the four-digit code assigned by the UN to the dangerous cargo, the quantity of cargo according to measurement unit, total number of packages, type of packaging, direction of transportation, day, flight number, and provides consent to carry out the transportation.