Register of Real Owners of Legal Entities being introduced

Within the framework of the Open Government Partnership, Armenia has assumed the commitment to introduce a public register of real owners of legal entities.

Adviser to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Gagik Harutyunyan and Chief Specialist of the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Hripsime Iskandaryan presented the results of fulfilment of the commitment to introduce the public register of real owners of legal entities, as well as the opportunities for the mass media to use the information available in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

During the meeting with journalists, President of the Freedom of Information Center Shushan Doydoyan, the OGP-Armenia Co-ordinator of the Office of the Prime Minister, the contact person in Armenia Lilya Afrikyan delivered their opening and welcoming speeches.

The description of the obligations and the purpose of introducing the public register were touched upon during the meeting. There was also a talk about the companies that have the obligation to submit a declaration and the time limits set for them to submit the declarations. The Chief Specialist of the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities of the Republic of Armenia presented the structure of the declaration and the procedure for filling it in.

At the end of the meeting H. Iskandaryan added that administrative liability measures will be applied in case of failure to fulfil the obligations within the prescribed time limits. The statistics of declarations registered in the previous year and this year and the instituted administrative proceedings were also presented.

The meeting was held with the support of the Freedom of Information Center and the Open Government Partnership within the framework of the EU for Integrity Programme for the Eastern Partnership funded by the European Union.