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“The assessment of person’s functionality will be conducted for the first time from February 1, 2023 in the case of citizens who have applied for disability assessment, and there will be a medical-social examination in the case of re-examinations until December 31, 2023. In this logic, there is a need for legal regulations in related laws,” the RA Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Tatevik Stepanyan noted while presenting the legislative package providing for the amendments and addenda to the law on Local Self-Government and a number of related laws.

According to the amendment to the Law on Assessment of Person’s Functionality, the conditions under which the medical-social examination should be conducted are defined. A transitional model is proposed. The implementation of the process is due to the purpose of introducing the reform in a more manageable and phased manner.

Pursuant to the Laws on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and on Assessment of Person’s Functionality, the authorized body will be empowered to approve the procedure and conditions of training and requalification of relevant specialists working with the persons with disabilities and the training of specialists who assess the person’s functionality. An authorizing norm for creating and maintaining the register of assessment specialists is also established for the authorized body.

“The NA Standing Committee on Labor and Social Affairs gave a positive conclusion related to the issue,” Lilit Stepanyan noted. According to her, if in the past a citizen who applied to the Unified Social Service was recognized as having disability in the presence of the appropriate application and documents and received the first, second and third degree, then from the point of view of the functional assessment, the limitation of the person’s functionality will be assessed from now on, which will generally be qualified by the terms deep, severe and medium.