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After the administrative act on imposing a fine for undercharging at a filling station became final, during the following three days, a sign must be posted at the distribution stations, in a visible area for the driver, stating that the given filling station has been fined for undercharging. The change is more of a preventive nature. Taking into account such a punishment, economic entities will be more vigilant. The RA NA deputy Tsovinar Vardanyan noted at the sitting of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs on September 7.

According to the key reporter, the package of draft laws on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Code on Administrative Offenses and on Making Addenda to the Law on Trade and Services authored by the deputies Tsovinar Vardanyan and Babken Tunyan was jointly developed with the Government. Debates related to the legislative package were also held with economic entities, and the latter responded positively to the proposed amendments.

The sign will be posted for a period of one month, and a fine will be imposed for removing it on purpose. From the day the torn sign was discovered, it will be posted again for another month. Each filling station will have a QR code, and citizens will be able to get information about inspections through it. This is a public control tool, with which customers will be informed of the complete information about the activities of the economic entity.

According to the current regulation, the fine formed as a result of undercharging is a fixed amount: 500 thousand AMD . It was proposed to introduce a more proportional principle : set a fixed fine of 200 thousand AMD and 0.5% of the turnover of the quarter preceding the day of the violation recorded at the given address.

The proposed amendments will provide a fairer distribution system for setting fines, through which a fine will be set for the addresses of the organization that have committed the given violation, including a coefficient related to the turnover of the given economic entity in the calculation of the fine.

According to the deputy Hovik Aghazaryan, the amount of the fine should be 3% instead of 0.5%.

According to Tsovinar Vardanyan, the package of draft laws is based on the principle of proportionality.

According to Babken Tunyan, the additional punishment, posting a sign on undercharging, is a more significant and severe punishment than the amount of the fine, and the society is eagerly waiting for that change.

Artur Asoyan, the Head of Inspection Bodies’ Coordination Bureau of the Office of the RA Prime Minister, noted that the initial position of the Government on the draft is positive. He informed that, 80 inspections were carried out, 5 violations were found regarding undercharging in the first semester of 2022.

The draft was endorsed.

The legislative package envisaging amendments to the Laws on Tax Service and on Customs Service was also debated in the first reading.

It is planned to fill the positions of the operational-investigative department of the tax (customs) body based on the results of the competition held under the procedure and conditions established by the RA Chairman of the State Revenue Committee. The Deputy Chairperson of the RA State Revenue Committee Tsovinar Soghomonyan presented the issue for debate.