As we have already informed, the Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union is being discussed at the National Assembly. State Revenue Committee Vice President Vakhtang Mirumyan presented the bright and positive points of the agreement, whether what opportunities it will give to Armenia and our businessmen.
“Yelq” faction head Nikol Pashinyan reminded Mirumyan about the situation the EAEU member Russia has put Armenian drivers in, that is, the EAEU settings do not work, our drivers are not able to work in Russia with their driving licenses. He asked: “You mentioned about so many things, but what guarantee do you have that this will work and our businessmen will not be put into the same situation unlike our drivers”.
Vakhtang Mirumyan said that the guarantee in the legal framework is the rules of the game which are clearly defined by the Customs Code, and the guarantee is the relationship that customs bodies should have with each other in the legal framework. If the customs authority sees that his citizen has a problem, he should respond quickly and solve the problems, subjective factors can always happen.
Pashinyan responded, that it turns out that the government is guilty of our drivers’ situation, it has not timely reacted.
Pashinyan also asked about tangerine import: “Let us suppose a man bought a tangerine from the wholesale market in Tbilisi, where should he go for a phytosanitary document? Do you know approximately what kind of procedure it is?”. Mirumyan told it was not related to the new EAEU Code, it is a provision in the current legislation. The list and the number of items that can be imported for personal use have been approved.
Later in his speech, Pashinyan presented a letter received from an Armenian compatriot from Moscow, Artak Karapetyan: “The EAEU gives us, all citizens of the Republic of Armenia, the right to free movement throughout the whole territory of Russia, and the right to work. I am here with my family, my wife and two teenage children. By law, we must register within 30 days, 90 days from the beginning, if there is a basis, that is, an employment contract, it will be prolonged for 9 months. So, what problem do we face now? I have a contract and I work, I am registered as an employee and pay taxes. Three months later, I had to extend the registration period prescribed by law. I extended mine and my children’s on the basis of my employment contract, but could not do it for my wife. They say she must have an employment contract. I represented documents that my children are small, 3.6 and 1 years old, and that my wife cannot work as she takes care of them. They replied that it is their law”.
He asked Russian officials whether our membership in the EAEU does not have any impact on that, and Migration Service replied to him: “it is all nonsense”.
According to Pashinyan, in Armenia they say that labour force will move, tomatoes will be exported, we will develop, but what actually happens? According to him, there will always be problems with these customs relations and when we hand these documents, they will say, it’s all nonsense. It turns out that the Republic of Armenia National Assembly has been busy voting for that nonsense for three years.
Pashinyan stated that they do not want to vote for that, so they will vote against for good reasons.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
