YEREVAN, October 16. /ARKA/. Armenian lawyers are opposing a set of amendments to the laws "On Banking Secrecy" and "On Insurance and Insurance Activities" proposed by the State Revenue Committee (SRC).

Founding director of LSA law firm Arsen Sardaryan told a press conference today that the amendments may not only cause problems for local business entities, but also lower Armenia's attractiveness for foreign investors.

Sardaryan explained that the amendments are designed to monitor and oversee the activities of all entrepreneurs without any grounds. "This is called a total control regime, ' he said

"The amendments are fraught with extremely serious negative consequences. We may find ourselves under total control, which cannot be legitimate and democratic," he emphasized. 

In turn, Mushegh Khachikyan, founder-executive director of f MGM Partners firm, drew attention to the fact that according to a number of decisions of the Constitutional Court, information containing banking secrecy is equated to the inviolability of a person's private life.

"All values that are protected by the Constitution are inviolable from the point of view of the law and it is impossible to transfer them to an inspection body," he said.

Khachikyan emphasized that the proposed changes concern both legal entities and individuals: any taxpayer in Armenia would become a target of the tax authority if the amendments go through the parliament. Tax authorities would be vested with power to oblige a person to provide all bank statements within three days at any time. Otherwise, they may face a fine of at least 2 million drams.

He emphasized that a person has the right not to be "in the crosshairs" of state bodies without any grounds.

'If a person works and pays taxes in good faith, he/she has the right to expect that they will not be checked and controlled without grounds,' Khachikyan said warning that the adoption of the amendments may lead to an increase in the outflow of population. 

He recalled that in 2020 a similar bill had been put forward to limit the banking secrecy of some groups of people, but the president of the country did not sign it and sent it to the Constitutional Court, and in the end they were not approved.

Lawyer Armen Ghazaryan, the founder of Beer Academy restaurant, said that the amendments are unconstitutional as they violate the fundamental principles and laws. He emphasized that banking secrecy, like personal inviolability, is an exclusive right. 

The package of amendments initiated by the Armenian State Revenue Committee in the summer of 2022 called for direct and full access of the agency to information on bank accounts of individuals and legal entities.

After strong criticism of the business community they were removed from the e-draft.am site for 'revision of controversial points.' --0--