Armenian regulator to allow companies breaching law to pay half of imposed fine

YEREVAN, January 20. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament has passed today in the first reading a set of amendments to the law on protection of economic competition and a number of related laws.

The chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) Gegham Gevorgyan said the country's antimonopoly law had been  adopted 20 years ago, and the new amendments are aimed at eliminating legislative problems and gaps.

According to him, the changes allow the SCPEC to conduct preliminary studies, which will save time and resources. Also, some procedures will be combined and facilitated. He noted that the current law provides for maximum fines, which allow some economic entities to still make profit, even after paying the fines.

He said the new legislative changes are designed in such a way as to not allow that companies' profits generated as a result of the violation of the law exceed the amount of the fine imposed by the SCPEC.

Gevorgyan said if a business entity  pleads guilty at the beginning of administrative proceedings and cooperates with the commission, then the fine cannot be higher than 50% of the stipulated amount. If a company does so at the end of the administrative process - the amount of the fine rises to 70%, and if the company challenges the fine at court and loses,  it will have to pay in full.

'We want to motivate the economic entities to cooperate with the government agencies, which will allow to identify more breaches of law and not generate unnecessary processes,” Gevorgyan said, adding that the upper limits of fines will not change.