A LOT OF PROBLEMS WILL BE SOLVED IN SPHERE WITH PASSING THE LAW ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION, RA JUSTICE MINISTER ASSURES
YEREVAN, JUNE 17, NOYAN TAPAN. After passing the RA Law on Electronic
Communication, a lot of problems will be solved in the sphere,
Armenian Justice Minister David Harutyunian stated at the discussion
of the draft law on June 17. At the same time he did not rule out
the possibility that the application of the law may lead to some
controversy among various departments, which in turn will cause
the necessity to make amendments and additions to the law. The
Ministry of Justice started to develop the draft law as far back as
2000. It was passed by the National Assembly in the first reading
and is expected to replace the RA Law on Communication adopted in
1998. According to D. Harutyunian, the main purpose of the law is
specify the distinction between the functions of the executive power
and the communication sphere regulatory bodies. It is envisaged that
the main 6-7 regulatory powers will be reserved for the government,
while the remaining functions will be transferred to the Public
Services Regulatory Commission on January 1, 2006. D. Harutyunian noted
that in connection with ArmenTel’s monopoly, an attempt was made to
regulate the operation of the wire infrastructures. Some contradictions
between the provisions of the draft law and ArmenTel’s license were
pointed out as well. According to the minister, if for this reason
some problems with the company arise in the future, these problems
will discussed separetely. As regards the definition “the tariffs
shall be reasonable and fair” the draft contains, the minister said
that it is intended to ensure the maximum possible competition in the
sphere which will decrease the tariffs. The discussion was organized
by the initiative Partnership for Open Society.