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CHOP TALK: RESIDENTS MEET TO DISCUSS WHICH LAWS IMPEDE THEIR PROGRESS
http://www.armenianow.com/society/46569/undp_ijevan_national_center_for_legislative_regula tion
SOCIETY | 03.06.13 | 14:49
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The National Center for Legislative Regulation project implementation
office, a state institution founded in October, 2011, to operate under
the government staff of the Republic of Armenia, has been and will
be holding public discussion titled "Regulatory Guillotine Project in
Armenia", with the support of the United Nations Development Program.
The project launched last Friday (May 31) in Ijevan, in the north of
Armenia and will continue in other parts of the country.
The project is targeted for beneficiaries outside Yerevan and
is aimed at presenting the guillotine project to common people,
business communities, NGO and local government representatives,
get their feedback on the challenges of today's legislative field as
well as hear out their suggestions on possible improvements through
interactive discussions.
Varsha Redkar-Palepu, Assistant Resident Representative at UNDP,
says successful implementation of this project in other countries
has yielded 3-4 percent increase of GDP.
"This project stands out by the fact that some 20,000 legislative
acts will be reviewed and guillotined, and besides, it is designed
to help businesses to operate saving time and money," he says.
In the first part of the discussion Tavush-based NGO, business
community, and local government representatives were presented a
glossary of legislative acts regulating business processes, with
their respective definitions, drafted by the National Center for
Legislative Regulation and e-Guillotine, then the more than 50
participants were divided into teams to discuss taxes and customs
duties, entrepreneurship, socials and community development issues. The
teams later presented their conclusions to the Center, which will
consider them during the overall review and amendment processes of
Armenia's legislative field.
Geghetsik Gulakyan, heading Progress NGO dealing with community
issues in Ijevan, says during the public discussions many spoke about
the service charge for gas and suggested that it should be paid on
per-visit bases, instead of the current fixed compulsory payment.
An employee of Gandzakar village administration, in Tavush, says
agricultural reports are way too lengthy, with too much unnecessary
information, hence the suggestion is to simplify those as well as the
order of provision of construction licenses for private apartments
in the territory of the community.
Suggestions were also made during the discussion that frequent
changes to the tax legislation should be ruled out, because they
hinder business planning, development and management, and besides,
the turnover tax threshold for small and medium businesses should
be reconsidered, based on the fact that the existing tax rate does
not allow proper profitability; the other suggestion was that tax
burden be alleviated during the first six months of establishment,
so that businesses have a chance to become viable.
Among the issues voiced were also the lack of regular village-city
transport communication (no applications were made for participation
in tenders for passenger transportation routes, hence no tenders were
held), and the social benefits to socially vulnerable families.
Deputy governor of Tavush Levon Sargsyan believes such meetings are
important, because valuable suggestions are commonly made during them.
"I hope in the future these meetings will be decentralized and
will move to remote villages, so that more people participate
in the discussions. I believe there will be more issues raised,"
says Sargsyan.
Hasmik Manukyan, expert at the National Center for Legislative
Regulation, says, in fact, during the preliminary research they, too,
came across the issues later voiced by the residents of Tavush.
"It was important to hear firsthand about the shortcomings and
complications they face in their daily life. The issues raised were
all relevant and real, hence will be reflected in our work," said
the expert.
More discussion-conferences will be held within the next ten days in
Gyumri, Kapan and Vanadzor.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/46569/undp_ijevan_national_center_for_legislative_regula tion
SOCIETY | 03.06.13 | 14:49
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The National Center for Legislative Regulation project implementation
office, a state institution founded in October, 2011, to operate under
the government staff of the Republic of Armenia, has been and will
be holding public discussion titled "Regulatory Guillotine Project in
Armenia", with the support of the United Nations Development Program.
The project launched last Friday (May 31) in Ijevan, in the north of
Armenia and will continue in other parts of the country.
The project is targeted for beneficiaries outside Yerevan and
is aimed at presenting the guillotine project to common people,
business communities, NGO and local government representatives,
get their feedback on the challenges of today's legislative field as
well as hear out their suggestions on possible improvements through
interactive discussions.
Varsha Redkar-Palepu, Assistant Resident Representative at UNDP,
says successful implementation of this project in other countries
has yielded 3-4 percent increase of GDP.
"This project stands out by the fact that some 20,000 legislative
acts will be reviewed and guillotined, and besides, it is designed
to help businesses to operate saving time and money," he says.
In the first part of the discussion Tavush-based NGO, business
community, and local government representatives were presented a
glossary of legislative acts regulating business processes, with
their respective definitions, drafted by the National Center for
Legislative Regulation and e-Guillotine, then the more than 50
participants were divided into teams to discuss taxes and customs
duties, entrepreneurship, socials and community development issues. The
teams later presented their conclusions to the Center, which will
consider them during the overall review and amendment processes of
Armenia's legislative field.
Geghetsik Gulakyan, heading Progress NGO dealing with community
issues in Ijevan, says during the public discussions many spoke about
the service charge for gas and suggested that it should be paid on
per-visit bases, instead of the current fixed compulsory payment.
An employee of Gandzakar village administration, in Tavush, says
agricultural reports are way too lengthy, with too much unnecessary
information, hence the suggestion is to simplify those as well as the
order of provision of construction licenses for private apartments
in the territory of the community.
Suggestions were also made during the discussion that frequent
changes to the tax legislation should be ruled out, because they
hinder business planning, development and management, and besides,
the turnover tax threshold for small and medium businesses should
be reconsidered, based on the fact that the existing tax rate does
not allow proper profitability; the other suggestion was that tax
burden be alleviated during the first six months of establishment,
so that businesses have a chance to become viable.
Among the issues voiced were also the lack of regular village-city
transport communication (no applications were made for participation
in tenders for passenger transportation routes, hence no tenders were
held), and the social benefits to socially vulnerable families.
Deputy governor of Tavush Levon Sargsyan believes such meetings are
important, because valuable suggestions are commonly made during them.
"I hope in the future these meetings will be decentralized and
will move to remote villages, so that more people participate
in the discussions. I believe there will be more issues raised,"
says Sargsyan.
Hasmik Manukyan, expert at the National Center for Legislative
Regulation, says, in fact, during the preliminary research they, too,
came across the issues later voiced by the residents of Tavush.
"It was important to hear firsthand about the shortcomings and
complications they face in their daily life. The issues raised were
all relevant and real, hence will be reflected in our work," said
the expert.
More discussion-conferences will be held within the next ten days in
Gyumri, Kapan and Vanadzor.