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It is designed to regulate the processes of laboratory tests within the framework of border control at the phase of food import. In particular, it is planned to establish a legal regulation, according to which, in case of the necessity for examination of imported food products within the framework of border state control, the importing organization itself chooses the laboratory, which should carry out sampling and appropriate examination, and in case of disagreement with the test results, the owner of the product will have the opportunity to send the reserve sample at his own expense to the reference testing laboratory of another country, according to the list approved by the decision of the RA Government. The answer given by that laboratory will be considered final until the appointment of the reference laboratory in the Republic of Armenia. This was stated by the Inspection Bodies’ Coordination Bureau Head of the RA Prime Minister’s Office Petros Martirosyan who presented the draft law on Making Amendments and Addendum to the Law on State Control of Food Safety at the sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs in the first reading on September 5.

It is expected that with the adoption of the draft, the process of organizing laboratory tests will be improved, an opportunity will be created to solve the problem of appointing a reference laboratory.

“When will we have a reference laboratory?”, the Deputy Chair Babken Tunyan asked the rapporteur. Petros Martirosyan stated that there will definitely be reference laboratories in Armenia. “When we have reference laboratories, the Government will define the list according to which laboratories will be able to overcome the threshold and become reference laboratories,” the rapporteur noted. The deputy Hovik Aghazaryan also inquired what will happen to those laboratories that give a false conclusion about the product based on corruption processes. According to Petros Martirosyan, criminal liability is provided for giving a false conclusion about the product. “People will be held accountable, many people will be held accountable, if they try to deviate even a little from the reality regarding the food imported to Armenia,” Petros Martirosyan stressed. According to him, not only business entities can apply to the reference laboratory, but also the Food Safety Inspection Body in case of doubts. According to the rapporteur, if the conclusion given by any laboratory contradicts the conclusion given by the reference laboratory twice in a year, then this is at least a basis for suspending the activity of that laboratory.

Touching upon the question of the deputy of Armenia Faction Tadevos Avetisyan, whether this regulation refers to goods imported from the EEU, the key rapporteur stated that yes, the regulation will also refer to goods imported from the EEU countries.

The Committee endorsed the draft.