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MPs Sergey Bagratyan and Narek Ghahramanyan are proposing an amendment to the Law on State Duty. The issue was debated at the sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.

The authors propose to set the state duty for issuing a license, as defined in Article 19.6 of the current Law on State Duty, at 55 times the base duty instead of 29 times.

The key rapporteur Narek Ghahramanyan clarified that this refers to the duty set for import of metal reinforcements. At the moment, the import duty is 29.000 AMD. Due to the depreciation of the Iranian currency after the Iran-Israel conflict, the prices of reinforcements in the Iranian market have sharply decreased (by about 35 thousand AMD per ton). Therefore, unequal conditions have been created for importers and local producers.

In his related report, the Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Edgar Zakaryan noted that as a result of the Government policy, several enterprises have been established in the field of ferrous metallurgy in the Republic of Armenia in recent years, at least 3 of which are also engaged in the production of reinforcing bars and several more - in the production of pre-reinforcement preparations. The Deputy Minister presented the calculation of the Ministry, which is determined not by the depreciation of the currency of the neighboring country, but also by dumping factors affecting competition. The calculation resulted in a limit of 45.000 drams. “We did not include the depreciation of the currency in the neighbouring country in our calculations, since it is a variable reality and may change after some time. Therefore, we were guided by dumping factors and tried to create a level playing field for both importers and producers,” Edgar Ghazaryan mentioned.

During the Q&A session and speeches, the protection of consumer rights, possible inflation fluctuations, risks of increasing budget revenues, state support for the sector, and other issues were addressed. It was noted that, according to data from a week ago, 24.000 tons of licenses had been issued.

The member of the NA Armenia Faction Tadevos Avetisyan, long-term development opportunities should be created for local producers, including in the regional market, so that there is no need to constantly raise or lower taxes.

As the Deputy Chair of the Committee Babken Tunyan assessed, the regulation refers to the s long production and economic chains. The decision to go this route was made taking into consideration the actual realities of the market and the producers’ real concerns. It was noted that the proposal was within the range of 55-60 thousand drams and as a result of discussions, the amount per kilogram was set at 45 drams. Underlining that there is an urgent need to protect local producers, Babken Tunyan emphasized the importance of adopting these regulations the day before.

As a result of additional reviews made during the period from the first to second reading, it will be proposed to set the state duty at 45 times the base duty instead of 55 times.

As a result of debates, the draft law was endorsed.