Doing business to become easier — a new draft

Deputy Minister of Justice Armenuhi Harutyunyan presented in the National Assembly the drafts of the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On making amendments and supplements to the Law of the Republic of Armenia "On state registration of legal persons, record-registration of separated subdivisions of legal persons, institutions and individual entrepreneurs" and a related law. The aim of the draft Law is to make it easier to do business in Armenia. Besides the legal norms aimed at accomplishing the aforementioned goal, certain norms that could, in practice, entail conflicts and misreading, have been amended and supplemented. According to the current regulations, the information provided by the Judicial Department and the Compulsory Enforcement Service on court cases instituted with the participation of a legal person and not completed and the absence of proceedings, shall be also submitted for state registration of liquidation of a legal person. In case the draft Law is adopted, the requirement for submission of such statement of information shall be lifted; it is recommended to submit a declaration of the manager stating that there are no court cases instituted with the participation of the legal person and not completed, there are no enforcement proceedings instituted and not dismissed, there are no administrative proceedings instituted by the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition against the particular legal person and not completed, as well as that there are no liabilities to the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, by which the number of documents to be submitted for the relevant service is reduced; in addition to this, the “one-stop shop” principle for provision of services adopted by the Republic of Armenia is ensured. The regulations in the current law related to performance of the functions of the Service Office of the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities by state and local self-government bodies have been specified. Information on participants of limited liability companies shall be recorded in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Passport data of participants are stated also in the Charter of a company on the basis of the existing Law “On limited liability companies”. Change of passport data of participants in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities shall entail discrepancy between the data recorded in the Register and the data indicated in the Charter. As a result, citizens have to make the relevant changes in the Charter as well, in which case it is necessary to submit the changes in the Charter, the decision of the competent body on approving the relevant changes. Under the draft, it is also recommended to define the status of the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities as an office of the Ministry of Justice, also providing for provisions on succession.