“Denigrating is one thing, but when the Civil Society organization tries to lend a hand and help the public authority is another thing,” Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project Manager said at the meeting with the Chair of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) of Republic of Armenia
Mr. Zadoyan presented the project and said that is implemented by a consortium of 6 organizations. The project shall have 9 target areas, three of which have already been identified. Currently studies are being carried out and meetings with the authorities of various governmental departments are organized to identify the remaining target areas aimed at finding the issues and mapping.
K. Zadoyan said that during the project implementation steps will be taken to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations, trainings would be organized with application of special methodologies, and grants would be provided to promote participation in constructive activities.
Referring to the issues of economic competition, Mr. Zadoyan mentioned one problem: currently from the legal aspect the existence of monopolies in a number of areas is denied, because of the lack of corresponding mechanisms for their identification. However, the proposals of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association and CSOs Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia on introduction of the beneficial ownership mechanisms are aimed at solving this issue.
Artak Shaboyan, Chair of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition of the Republic of Armenia welcomed the guests and said that he highly appreciate their active work and the Commission is ready to support the project implementation.
Referring to the activities of the SCPEC, A. Shaboyan noted that the name of the Commission gives rise causes misunderstandings and many people believe that the Commission is responsible for all matters related to economic competition. Whereas this structure has a definitely limited range of operations.
Mr. Hakob Avagyan, President of SME Cooperation Association, the partner of and “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project speaking about the functions of SCPEC noted that it should be advisable tpo carry out awareness activities to introduce and explain the target groups when and in which cases they need to apply to the SCPEC, and what steps they may anticipate from this body. It was decided to conduct a separate discussion of this issue for the joint solution.
As for the issues raised by the Commission, Artak Shaboyan said that they are often implications that occur as a result of not properly performed functions by other government agencies.
He also referred to studies carried out by them in the field of public procurement: of course, there were cases which were related to anti-competitive agreements; but violations mostly refer to procurement procedures.
A. Shaboyan also presented the work of the Commission and international statistical data, according to which Armenia has improved its position in the field of economic competition.
At the end, Artak Shabotan expressed his willingness for further cooperation and to organize similar meetings, as well as meetings in other formats of cooperation.
The “Commitment to Constructive Dialogue” Project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO in cooperation with its partners; Agora Central Europe o.p.s (an NGO from the Czech Republic), Armenian Center for Democratic Education-CIVITAS, “International Center for Human Development” Public Organization, SME Cooperation Association and Union of Communities of Armenia.
