2.1. General definitions

Defined widely as all persons proved to have paid a bribe and/or elicited a bribe will be subject to liability as separately defined under the provisions of the Criminal Code referred to in Section 4.1 below. One party in the corruption activity (excluding provisions on commercial bribery) have to be persons with relevant status under the laws of Civil Service, Service in Police, Service in Military, Service in Administration of National Assembly, Bailiff Service, Judicial Service, Criminal-Punishment Service, Municipal Service, the Judicial Code, the Law on the Central Bank (Public Service Laws).

Below is a summary review of the relevant legislation in relation to civil servants.

Article 3 of the Law of Republic of Armenia “On Civil Service” defines the following terms:

Official – professional whose work is independent from the changes of politics and political rulers, which is performed in the bodies highlighted in Clause 1, Article 4 of the Civil Service law, with the purpose of implementing the objectives and functions reserved to those bodies by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

Official Position – position envisaged by the Roster of Official Positions.

Roster of Official Positions – list of all Official Positions approved.

Official/s– persons occupying a position (with the exception of a temporarily vacant position) envisaged in the Roster of Official Positions or enlisted in the Official Personnel Short-term Reserve.

Section 2 of Article 3 of the Civil Service law identifies the following positions as political:

The position of the President of the Republic of Armenia, Deputies to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Ministers of the Republic of Armenia and the Leaders of Communities of the Republic of Armenia.

In addition, under the section 3 of Article 3 of the same law, Discretionary Positions shall mean the following:

The positions of the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic of Armenia, the Chief of Staff of the Government of the Republic of Armenia (RA), Head of Control Service of the RA President, Head of Control Service of the RA Prime Minister, Heads of State Administrative Bodies attached to the Government of the Republic of Armenia as well as their Deputies, the Deputy Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia, Permanent representatives of the Republic of Armenia in international organizations, the Marzpets (Regional Governors) of the Republic of Armenia (the Mayor of the City of Yerevan), the deputy Marzpets /the Deputy Regional Governors/, (Deputy Mayors of the City of Yerevan), as well as the positions of advisers, press secretaries and assistants of the President of the Republic of Armenia, of the Chairman of the RA National Assembly and his/her deputies, of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, of the Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the positions of the deputies, advisers, press secretaries, assistants secretaries of the Leaders of Communities of the RA.

The stated personnel do not fall under the classic definition of the civil servant.

The Civil Servants are those public servants who have relevant status under the Law on Civil Servants. Those who have public servant status under relevant Public Service laws are considered as judicial, municipal, criminal-punishment service servants, bailiff service servants, military servants, parliamentary servants, police servants, and Central Bank servants.

2.2. List of persons subject to anticorruption regulations

The following are subjects to anticorruption regulation:

1. Officials (as mentioned above)
2. Civil Servants
3. Other public servants (judicial, municipal, criminal-punishment service servants, bailiff service servants, military servants, parliamentary servants, police servants, and Central Bank servants)

2.3 Legislative changes

2.3.1 The state registration of legal entities

One of the most corrupted areas in the system of the State bodies of the Republic of Armenia was deemed to be the State Registry of legal entities.

Reforming the process of applying to various agencies and getting documents from them that are required for state registration of legal entities is important for reducing the levels of corruption. Thus, commercial legal entities were required to go to a bank to pay the legally established state duty for the registration of a legal entity, and then go to the tax authorities to get a taxpayer’s code. Within a single registration process, a person had to deal with a number of state servants, which increases the risk of corruption. To reduce this risk, progress has been made with the implementation of a new law on company names, enacted in 2008, which allows entrepreneurs to go directly to the state registration body instead of the previous requirement to submit a decision of an authorized body on state registration.

Besides, changes have been made in the Law of the RA on “The State Registration of the Legal Entities” which provides a new system for the registration of legal entities. The new system is an electronic version for the submission of all the necessary documents/Charter, Decision of the shareholder(s) on establishment of a new legal entity, the application, the receipt of the paid state fee that is required for the State registration. The applying person only has to fill in the templates approved by the Minister of Justice of the RA with identification data.

Now the corruption risks are reduced because the direct contact between the citizens and the personnel of the above mentioned state body have been reduced to the minimum.

2.3.2 The state registration of the Property rights

The other changes of equal importance were made in the area of State Cadastre (registration of property rights). These draft laws are already signed by the President of the RA, and will come into force in 2012. The changes are made in the Civil Code of the RA and in the Law of the Republic of Armenia on “The State registration of the Property rights” (new edition).

It has removed the obligation of notary verification of all Real estate agreements, and the Property rights registration process will now use an electronic form. This also the direct contact between the citizens and State body, as well as the corruption risks.

2.3.3 The new anticorruption centre

Recently a new center was created called the “Advocacy and assistance centre”, which gives a free consultation to the victims of corruption. It is governed by Armenian NGO’s, and people may apply to these centers to get free assistance. Since the opening of the first center in October 2008, AACs have served over a thousand citizens and handled cases in a variety of corruption-related matters, including land registration, pension payments and health services. go to top