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On December 11, the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs Heriknaz Tigranyan, the Committee members Zaruhi Batoyan, Gayane Yeghiazaryan, Lilit Stepanyan, Mariam Poghosyan and the representatives of the organization the American Chamber of Commerce AmCham) in Armenia discussed the issues regarding the reforms of the charity sphere in Armenia, the NGOs, as well as the legislative draft moving to electronic platform of the employment contracts.

The participants of the discussion touched upon the amendment being designed in the RA Labor Code, which refers to the employment contracts, which is proposed to sign in electronic version. The initiative was debated and elaborated with a number of institutions. According to the Committee Chair Heriknaz Tigranyan, the adoption of the legislative initiative will make more visible and transparent the availability of employer-employee relationship and will decrease the risks of the hidden workforce. It will also give an opportunity to the RA Health and Labor Inspection Body (HLIB) to check with simpler toolset the availability or absence of the working relations at the employer.

The participants of the discussion noted the fact that not all employers or citizens seeking job have an opportunity of electronic signature.

“At this moment we should understand if the state has an opportunity to provide electronic proper signature for all citizens,” Heriknaz Tigranyan said.

At the meeting reference was also made to the problems regarding the charitable programs. It was noted that the formulation that is available to the RA law on Charity and the regulations that are in the Tax Code, do not promote the implementation of the charity programs.

It was underlined that the organization is not recognized as charitable, but the program which the given organization implements by the appropriate Commission of the Government. The process is rather time consuming, meanwhile the charity program implies certain urgency.

Reference was made also to the problem of passing the established threshold by law, according to which, the NGO is obliged to pay value added tax (VAT) of the means received by the grant.

It was mentioned that the grant term established by the RA legislation. Proposals sounded to follow the example of the countries of our region and adopt separate legal act, which will define what is the grant. It will give an opportunity to recognize the programs being implemented within the framework of the grants as charitable.

To improve the field, the deputies expressed readiness to organize work discussion with the participation of the concerned parties, the representatives of legislative and executive bodies.