Armenia to end harmonizing technical regulations with EU standards in 2020: deputy minister

YEREVAN, January 17. /ARKA/. Armenia is to complete developing  technical regulations  of its economy’s all spheres to meet with  EU standards in 2020, Deputy Economy Minister Garnik Badalyan said Thursday.

“There are thousands of technical regulations which we should review and make them meet the EU standards. Harmonization, according to the Armenian legislature, requires developing hundreds of standards. This is a long and complicated process,” Badalyan said at the seminar –“Legislature of non-harmonized EU spheres.” 

He noted there are several strategic spheres which require harmonization most. Here he mentioned low-voltage equipment, telecommunication equipment and toys.

Harmonization process, according to him, implemented in the framework of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement between the EU and Armenia will foster export of Armenian goods to the European market.

Lily Maksudyan, acting director of infrastructure quality department at Economy Ministry, noted the harmonization will be carried out gradually. 

 “New regulations on toys will be submitted to the government for an approval in June 2013,” she said.

The EU has been negotiating an Association Agreement with Armenia since July 2010 in the framework of the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighborhood Policy. The future Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area will be part of this Agreement, which aims at closely associating this country to the EU both in economic and political terms, in line with the Eastern Partnership objectives. The future trade relations will therefore expand significantly beyond the scope of current cooperation, set out in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements, in force since July 1999. -0-