Armenian government reconsiders ban on import of medicines by mail parcels

YEREVAN, February 19. /ARKA/. Prompted by the coronavirus pandemic that made many governments across the globe to close their borders, the government of Armenia has reconsidered the ban on receiving medicines by mail parcels, Artem Karapetyan, a senior official at the State Revenue Committee, said at a press conference on Friday.

According to the current regulations, an individual can, when crossing the border, bring a medicine exclusively for personal use and no more than 5 packages of 5 names of medicines. Armenian citizens cannot order shipment of medicines from other countries by mail.

Karapetyan said in view of all this the government and the State Revenue Committee have reconsidered the ban to allow the import of medicines by mail parcels once a year, but in the amount of no more than 5 names and 3 packages of each medicine.

He stressed that the permit does not apply to shipment of psychotropic medicines, which are completely prohibited for import by individuals.

He added that for a strict control, electronic systems have been launched, which, among other things, will eliminate any possibility of importing more than allowed medicines for commercial purposes.

According to him, during 2020, 1,500 citizens took advantage of this opportunity to receive the medicines they needed shipped in parcels from other countries.

He said also that the procedures for customs clearance of express parcels were also facilitated.

“Earlier companies were forced to submit customs declarations for all parcels of citizens that they transported, now, thanks to the changes that came into force in February 2021, it is possible to submit several parcels at once with one declaration, which greatly facilitate the procedures,” said Karapetyan. –0--