Reforms in Civil Status Acts Registration sector: citizens will have the opportunity to apply to a CSAR body most convenient for them in terms of area
21/06/2019
Today, Deputy Minister of Justice Anna Vardapetyan submitted to the National Assembly a draft law that will reform the lives of citizens of the Republic of Armenia in several directions in regard to the civil status acts registration sector. Adoption of the draft law will help reduce both administration and corruption risks and will help citizens save time.
1. Citizens will have the opportunity to apply to the Civil Status Acts Registration (CSAR) body that is the most convenient for them in terms of area in order to perform an action at a CSAR body:
On 30 September 2014, the uniform electronic management system for civil status acts registration was introduced in the system of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, and it is accessible for all the CSAR bodies of the Republic of Armenia. The electronic management system was introduced with the purpose of creating a unified register for civil status acts registration throughout the whole territory of Armenia under the "one-stop-shop" principle, maximally simplifying administration, which is characteristic of this sector. The expected outcome was the formation of healthy competition among the bodies providing services in the civil status acts registration sector, and this would serve as a ground for improvement of the quality of services provided to citizens. However, to this day, registration of civil status acts or performance of functions arising from civil status acts registration in Armenia has been conditioned by administrative-territorial belonging. Due to this, CSAR bodies still have a "monopoly of activities", with all the negative consequences of that “monopoly”. This draft law recommends vesting the structural and territorial subdivisions of the Civil Status Acts Registration Agency of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia with the right to provide the one-stop-shop service, giving people the opportunity to apply to the CSAR body that is the most convenient for them in terms of area.
1. In the civil status acts registration sector, it will be possible to provide all documents certifying act registrations in an electronic format:
If the regulations proposed in the draft law are adopted, in the civil status acts registration sector, it will be possible to provide all documents certifying act registrations, i.e. state certificates and statements of information, in an electronic format; moreover, it will be possible to make them accessible to applicants on the official website for citizens of the Republic of Armenia at www.e-citizen.am. As a result, the documents will be permanently maintained in the official e-mail addresses of applicants, and it will be possible to verify the authenticity of the copies at www.e-verify.am website by entering the codes posted on the documents or by using information technologies to verify it through the QR code.
1. 3. The procedures for state registration of a child born through the use of assisted reproductive technologies in the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On civil status acts" will be brought into compliance with the requirements of the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On human reproductive health and reproductive rights":
On 10 October 2016, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia adopted the draft Law of the Republic of Armenia "On making amendments and supplements to the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On human reproductive health and reproductive rights"". According to the draft law, Article 15 of the Law was supplemented with new points 14 and 15 which read as follows:
"14. A child born to a surrogate mother shall be returned to the person who has concluded a contract as prescribed by this Law and uses assisted reproductive technologies, if, as a result of DNA (desoxyribonucleic acid) testing, it is confirmed that:
(1) at least one of the spouses or the person who is not in marriage, is the biological parent of the child, and
(2) the surrogate mother is not the biological parent of the child.
15. The procedure and time limits for carrying out DNA testing (including sampling) shall be prescribed by the Government of the Republic of Armenia".
At the same time, no relevant supplements have been made to the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On civil status acts" regulating the grounds and procedure for state registration of the birth of a child, and today, if state registration of the child's birth is carried out upon declaration of the persons in marriage and the man or woman not in marriage who have benefited from the assisted reproductive technologies as provided for by law, one copy of the contract concluded with the surrogate mother as prescribed by law shall be submitted together with the standard document on birth, and the persons concerned shall be registered in the state birth registry book as parents (a parent) on the basis of the contract concluded with the surrogate mother.
