The National Assembly started the work of regular sittings on February 6. The Parliament approved the agenda of the regular sittings to be convened on February 6.
The draft law on Making Addenda and Amendments to the RA Water Code was debated in the first reading with the attached legislative package.
The RA Deputy Minister of Environment Tigran Gabrielyan informed that in order to legalize the existing problems regarding the illegal use of underground water resources of the Ararat Artesian Basin, the draft law on Making Addenda and Amendments to the RA Water Code was introduced.
According to the draft law on Making Addenda and Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, it is planned to apply differentiated administrative penalties for cases of illegal use of water from the surface and underground water resources.
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From the current articles of liability, the cases of whitefish species were separated and stricter measures of liability were defined for them.
The draft law on Making Addenda to the RA Criminal Code provides for criminal liability for reopening dissolved boreholes or for using water from underground water resources without a water use permit or for reopening conserved boreholes without a water use permit.
For illegal hunting of whitefish, the amount exceeding 150.000 AMD was considered a large amount of damage.
Sergey Bagratyan presented the endorsement of the NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection on the initiative.
During the exchange of ideas, the MPs highlighted the fight against illegal water intake and illegal hunting of whitefish.
It was considered necessary to have a new water resource management strategy, taking into consideration a number of circumstances.
The Deputy Minister Tigran Gabrielyan stated that now the Ministry of Environment is developing a strategy on the environment, which includes a new water management strategy related to the challenges.
He informed that discussions concerning the draft were held both with the scientific community and the concerned parties.
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia
