Reforms in civil status acts registration sector continue

The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia continues reforms targeted at the civil status acts registration sector.

The following are the activities carried out in 2017-2018:

1.     The administrative actions for state registration of births and deaths have been simplified through combination of the electronic healthcare governance sub-system and the “e-civil” electronic governance systems for civil status acts registration, providing the opportunity to complete birth and death medical certificates through an electronic system at relevant medical institutions. As a result, submission by healthcare authorities of hard copies of medical certificates to bodies of Civil Status Acts Registration is ruled out. The extract of the medical certificate is submitted to a territorial body of Civil Status Acts Registration, and registration is carried out based on the data already generated in the electronic system.

2.     In 2017, the "e-civil" electronic governance system for civil status acts registration was combined with the electronic social security service system of the Republic of Armenia; as a result, the applicant has been provided with the opportunity to submit to a territorial body of Civil Status Acts Registration an application for lump-sum monetary allowance for the birth of a child when registering the birth of the child. The combination of these systems is being improved, and works are being carried out for the purpose of regulating the processes of exchange of data on birth of the third child in real-time regime.

3.     Combination of the "e-civil" electronic governance system for civil status acts registration with the "e-consular" electronic consular system operating within the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia is in the final stage; as a result, by the end of May, consulates of the Republic of Armenia benefiting in foreign states will have the opportunity to register in the "e-civil" electronic governance system for civil status acts registration and obtain the required acts registrations in real-time regime, and this will minimise the time limits for making transactions as much as possible.

4.     On 26 April 2018, the Government of the Republic of Armenia adopted the draft decision on making an amendment to Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia No 469-N of 14 April 2005 "On approving the procedure for completing certificates of state registrations of civil status acts, the samples thereof and the sample forms of other documents confirming the fact of state registration of civil status acts", as a result of which the sample forms of state certificates on civil status acts registration were completely changed. In particular, from now on, there will be one sample form of a state certificate for all registrations, the serial number of which will be automatically generated in the "e-civil" system. Moreover, the serial number of the state certificate generated through the system, as well as the special number and code for rapid response (informing) for verification of authenticity will also be inserted on the certificate. This change will provide the opportunity to avoid falsification of state certificates as much as possible, taking into consideration the fact that it will be possible to verify the authenticity of the state certificate through the Internet from any corner of the globe.

5.     Having regard to point 5 of Annex No 1 approved by Decision No 495-N of 26 April 2018, currently, the draft Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia "On making amendments to Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia No 96-N of 2 July 2005 "On approving the procedure for issuing duplicates of certificates on civil status acts registration and statements of information on civil status acts registration and the forms of registers for Civil Status Acts Registration", which will provide a person with the opportunity to obtain the duplicate of or statement of information on a state certificate at every territorial body of Civil Status Acts Registration, without restriction on the permanent place of residence or the place of registration of the act, has been drafted and submitted to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia for approval.

6.     By Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia No 65-N of 20 February 2018, amendments were made to Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia No 97-N of 14 May 2007 "On approving the directive instructions regarding civil status acts registrations", as a result of which the process of making changes in civil status acts registrations, as well as the process of state registration of marriage of foreign citizens permanently residing in the territory of the Republic of Armenia were specified and simplified.

International adoptions sector

1.     On the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, amendments aimed at ensuring transparency of the international adoptions sector, protecting the best interests of the child, establishing the institution of child and foster co-ordination, as well as establishing post-adoption oversight, which were not prescribed by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia before 2018, have been made to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia.

2.     Co-operation has been expanded with international organisations, particularly the UNICEF, the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, as well as the central bodies of a number of states, including the United States of America, the Republic of Italy, Switzerland and the French Republic.

3.     The draft of a new decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia laying down the process of adoption of a child who is a citizen of the Republic of Armenia is being drafted and will be submitted to the Government of the Republic of Armenia before 18 July 2018.

International child abductions sector

1.     Co-operation has been expanded with international organisations, particularly the Hague Abduction Convention, the UNICEF, as well as the IRZ. In 2018, the U.S. Department of State also officially recognised the Republic of Armenia as a partner within the framework of international child abduction; this will provide the opportunity to accept applications and appropriately process them for the return of children illegally removed from the United States of America and retained in the Republic of Armenia and return of children in the opposite direction.

2.     The draft Law of the Republic of Armenia "On proceedings of international child abduction", which will specify the process and the obligations of participants involved therein, is in the stage of development.

Apostille certification of official documents of the Republic of Armenia

1.     The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia introduced and launched the "e-apostille" electronic governance system through which exclusively all applications are accepted, circulation of documents on certification is conducted and the apostille is generated, taking into consideration the samples of seals and signatures existing in the register. The Agency undertook to obtain the seals and the samples of signatures of the officials of all the bodies, the documents issued by which are subject to apostille certification.

2.     As a result of the amendments made by Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia No 592-N of 24 November 2017, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia shall only place an apostille in English; this minimised the requirement for future translation of the apostille through notarial procedure. Besides, the special number and rapid response (informing) code intended for verification of authenticity are automatically generated on the apostille through the electronic governance system. This change provided the opportunity to avoid falsification of apostille as much as possible, taking into consideration the fact that it is possible to verify authenticity of the apostille through the Internet from any corner of the globe.