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At June 3 extraordinary sitting, the Parliament debated in the first reading the draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the Law on State Regulation of Ensuring Technical Security with the enclosed package. The RA Deputy Minister of Economy Avag Avanesyan has informed that it is proposed to regulate the organization of fireworks, taking into account the classifiers set by the EEU Technical Regulations which Armenia also accepted. It is proposed to define the classes of fireworks, taking into consideration their degrees of danger. According to the Deputy Minister, fireworks worth about 1mln 100.000 $ were imported to our country in 2019.

The draft defines when and at what time of the day it will be possible to organize fireworks, and at what age people will be allowed to buy fireworks. In particular, it is proposed to forbid their sale in the areas of residential buildings. It is also suggested to ban the sale of explosives, a sound noise of which is more than 60 decibels at a distance of 250 meters.

A part of the deputies has proposed to improve the current system, not to propose amendments to the law and in response to which Avag Avanesyan has said that the proposed amendments are more acceptable for the Government, taking into account that in case of improving the system, more resources will be needed.

The MP Arusyak Julhakyan has been interested in whether there are effective control mechanisms, by which it will be possible to find out how many decibels the noise caused by the fireworks. Avag Avanesyan has clarified that the problem is controllable, there are mechanisms due to which it will be possible to find out the noise level. According to him, fireworks of such strength are not produced in our country. They are imported.

The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Babken Tunyan informed that the committee did not endorse the package, as the arguments of the Government that the package would solve the existing problems were not convincing. He offered to increase a set fine for those who disturb the citizens’ peace at night with fireworks. “For example, it can be 1mln or 2mln AMD instead of 100.000 AMD and the issue can be settled,” the Chair of the Committee said.

In his final speech, the Deputy Minister Avag Avanesyan urged the parliament to adopt the draft, considering it as an efficient variant for the solution of the problem.