Round-table discussion on draft Administrative Offences Code

A round-table discussion on the draft Administrative Offences Code of the Republic of Armenia, chaired by First Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Arsen Mkrtchyan, was held on 29-31 July. It was organised with the support of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe having its primary objective to strengthen the independence and professionalism of the justice system of Armenia.

Senior Project Officer of the CoE Office Narine Gasparyan, Head of Chair of Constitutional Law of Yerevan State University Gevorg Danielyan, representatives of the Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Armenia, National Assembly, General Prosecutor’s Office, Judicial Department, Central Bank, employees of the Ministries of Justice, Finance, Healthcare, Education and Science, Human Rights Defender’s Office and those of other fields of state administration, as well as CoE experts participated in the working discussion.

Arsen Mkrtchyan expressed his gratitude to Senior Project Officer of the Council of Europe Narine Gasparyan for the effective co-operation, to all the experts engaged in amending the Code and employees of the field of state administration, as well as urged them to come up with new recommendations which will contribute to the improvement of the draft Code.

During the three-day working discussion, the draft Administrative Offences Code of the Republic of Armenia, with its General and Special Parts, was presented.

Main principles of administrative liability, administrative offences and types of respective administrative penalties, procedure for imposition and execution of penalties, procedure for instituting proceedings on administrative offences, bodies competent to institute and conduct proceedings on administrative offences, as covered in the General Part, were presented during the working discussion.

The Special Part, covering peculiarities of administrative offences relating to different fields, was presented separately and in detail.

During the elaboration of the draft Administrative Offences Code, the participants were divided into groups, where administrative offences specified in the Special Part and related to the fields of healthcare, education and employment, natural protection, economic activities, taxation, transport and communication and other fields were discussed.

During the meeting organised in respect of the draft Code, an opinion on the General Part was presented wherein a study was made on the compliance of several provisions of the General Part with the European standards, in particular, with the European Convention on Human Rights and other related documents. An opinion with regard to the General Part was presented during the meeting on the draft Code. The opinion covered a study of compliance of certain provisions in the General Part with the Euoropean standards, specifically with the European Convention on Human Rights and related documents.

The draft Administrative Offences Code will be submitted to the Government on 29 August.