Mr. Artyom Mesropyan, representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, participated in the discussion of the draft law “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Administrative Procedure Code” and related laws, which was organized by the Fund of the ”Center of Legislation Development and Legal Researches” Ministry of Justice of RA on 4 February, 2019 :
Representatives of the judiciary, attorneys’ community, stakeholder bodies and civil society participated in the discussion.
The representative of the ALA positively assessed the possibility provided in the Draft Law “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Administrative Procedure Code” and the Draft Law “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the NGO Law, noting that the NGOs will be given an opportunity to challenge the legality of all sub-legislative acts in court, which will give them an additional opportunity as the main actors carrying out the civil control function, to more effectively organize the protection of their beneficiaries’ rights. Nevertheless, the representative of the organization suggested that the problematic provision in the mentioned draft according to which the non-governmental organization filing a complaint to the administrative court on the appeal of the legality of sub-legislative acts, in addition should also submit proofs of activity of the organization in the mentioned sector within at least two preceding years.
We consider that this requirement is not sufficiently specifically described, which can lead to complicated processes rather than justification for judges and to enable judges to exercise discretionary powers during decision-making, but also to create additional barriers for NGOs to often use their right to appeal to court.
Photos from the website of the RA Ministry of Justice