State institutions discuss EU legislation approximation commitments and the implemented work within the scope of Armenia-EU Agreement

The "Centre for Legislation Development and Legal Research" Foundation of the Ministry of Justice and the EU-funded project “Support to CEPA monitoring, implementation and communication” conducted a workshop devoted to the requirements, processes and objectives of approximation arising from the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) concluded between the Republic of Armenia and the European Union. The aim of the workshop was to assist the Ministry of Justice and the staffs of the key government agencies involved in the process in effectively fulfilling the obligations related to approximation of the legislation of the European Union that have been assumed under the CEPA. Director of the "Centre for Legislation Development and Legal Research" Foundation Tigran Dadunts; Chief Specialist of the Department of Co-operation and Reforms of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Astghik Hayrapetyan; Head of the Co-operation Section at the EU Delegation Frank Hess and Project Team Leader of the EU-funded project “Support to CEPA monitoring, implementation and communication” Eugene Stewart delivered their opening remarks. The speakers attached importance to the legal approximation process both from the perspective of fulfilment of the obligations and improvement of the social-economic relations in Armenia. Tigran Dadunts remarked that the process of checking compliance of EU legislation approximation was launched in January 2024 that the drafts of about 20 regulatory legal acts have already been checked through the use of this mechanism. The Director of the "Centre for Legislation Development and Legal Research" Foundation emphasised that, at the end of year, there is a growing tendency in terms of the frequency of receiving the drafts for approximation compliance checks.

During the workshop, Eugene Stewart, Head of the Agency for Expert Examination of Legal Acts of the Ministry of Justice Emil Margaryan and Haykuhi Harutyunyan, an expert involved in EU legislation approximation compliance checks, provided a general description of the approximation process, the challenges that often emerge within the scope of approximation, as well as discussed the issues that were raised by the attendees.

Based on the results of the discussions, the attendees expressed their willingness to be more consistent with the work that is associated with approximation of the EU legislation and to establish an exemplary practice for approximation compliance checks.