27th Session of the SME Development Council led by the Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan

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Council Meetings

On May 20th, the 27th session of the SME Development Council was held under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.

At the beginning of the session, Hovsep Patvakanyan, Head of the Investment Council of Armenia, presented the work carried out following the decisions made during the previous session. Specifically:

On the progress of discussions regarding the 2025–2030 Entrepreneurship Development Strategy,
On the activities carried out to identify and address issues concerning small and micro SMEs in the regions,
On a program encouraging the recruitment and on-the-job training of new employees, including individuals with no work experience or those requiring requalification, by companies in the processing industry,
On regulations aimed at preventing the repeated failure of retail chains and supplier organizations to fulfill payment obligations,
On the introduction of the possibility to defer the obligation to pay the difference in cadastral values arising from changes in land designation purpose (draft law on “Making Amendments to the Land Code of the Republic of Armenia”),
On various issues related to the legislation on Limited Liability Companies (package of draft laws on “Making Amendments and Additions to the Law on Limited Liability Companies,”
“On Making Additions to the Labor Code of the Republic of Armenia,” and “On Making Additions to the Law on State Registration of Legal Entities, Separate Subdivisions of Legal Entities, Institutions and Individual Entrepreneurs”),On issues related to product marking with identification means (QR codes), based on the February 2, 2018 Agreement "On Marking of Goods with Identification Means in the Eurasian Economic Union" and Article 396.1 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia,
On the non-comprehensive nature of the list of cases under Part 9 of Article 53 of the RA Tax Code, which defines when the taxpayer’s activity is not considered resumed (from the Sub-Council meeting),
On the lack of necessity to regulate cashier operations under Part 4 of Article 388 of the RA Tax Code (from the Sub-Council meeting),
On introducing legal regulations for convertible loan agreements involving shares of Limited Liability Companies or stocks of Joint-Stock Companies (package of draft laws on “Making Additions to the Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia,” “Making Additions to the Law on Limited Liability Companies,” and “Making Additions to the Law on Joint-Stock Companies”),
On a package of amendments to the Tax Code aimed at increasing the volume of donations from businesses to universities, vocational colleges, and general education institutions (draft law on “Making Amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia”),On defining the concept of an option agreement and its main application conditions, and establishing a legal framework for option contracts,
On the possibility of revising the liability defined by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Armenia in cases where an employer fails to calculate or pay salaries in accordance with the law (draft law on “Making Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Armenia”),
On expanding the possibility of correcting transactions/payment documents in cases of product returns (from the Sub-Council meeting),
On various issues related to e-commerce (from the Sub-Council meeting).

The next item on the agenda was the draft support program for obtaining safety management systems and product compliance certificates, presented by Tigran Poghosyan, a representative of the World Free Zones Organization. The program proposes co-financing the costs of compliance assessments and/or consulting services, as well as certification costs, for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs registered and operating in Armenia, engaged in one of the activity types listed in the program’s defined categories. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the issue is among key priorities. The draft has been circulated by the Ministry of Economy and will soon be submitted for Government approval.

The following agenda item concerned the draft law on making amendments and additions to the Administrative Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, posted on the E-draft platform (which proposes eliminating the general rule of suspension of an administrative act in case of an appeal). Members of the SME Council and representatives of the Ministry of Economy expressed a negative stance on the draft. It was decided that the Ministry of Justice will revise the proposal by incorporating exceptions within the existing regulatory framework, after which the Ministry will present the outcomes at the next SME Council session, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister.