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The draft adoption stems from the RA-EU C omprehensive and Enhanced P artnership Agreement, as well as from the problems that emerged as a result of the law enforcement: the RA Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan said at March 15 sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection.

The Committee debated the draft law o n Making Amendment to the RA Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise and the related legislative package authored by the Government in the first reading .

“ The draft law has been debated many times both in the Government and with the civil society. We can say that the law has been written in a new edition, the amendments are quite a lot , ” the Minister said and added that there are also many amendments in the basic notions .

Within the framework of the proposed amendments , the processes regarding the development of the foundation  document with a possible impact on the environment and human health and the provision of an experimental conclusion for the implementation of the designed activities have been simplified.

The MP Garnik Danielyan inquired how it is decided which is considered an affected community. The Minister Hakob Simidyan informed that the settlement closest to the mine is considered affected. According to him, the representatives of the civil society are interested in the matter , the issue is under debate , and it is expected that certain standards will be defined as a result of the debates .

The draft was endorsed by the Committee .