Reforms in the areas of beneficial ownership transparency and labor law were discussed with journalists

May 4, 2022

On May 4, the third meeting of the Freedom of Information Center with the journalistic community within the framework of the Open Government Partnership took place.

The purpose of the meeting was to raise the level of awareness of the media representatives about the OGP initiative and the resulting commitments.
Adviser to the RA Minister of Justice Gagik Harutyunyan, Chief Specialist of the State Register Agency of the RA Ministry of Justice Hripsime Iskandaryan, Head of the Labor Legislation Control Department of the RA Health’s Labor Inspection Body Igit Hakobyan took part in the meeting.
During the meeting, in particular, the issue of transparency of beneficial ownership was discussed as an OGP commitment. how journalists can use public registry data. Labor law reforms as an OGP commitment were discussed.
Welcoming remarks were also made by Shushan Doydoyan, President of the Freedom of Information Center, Lilya Afrikyan, Coordinator of the OGP-Armenia Office of the Prime Minister, Armenian Contact Person.
The officials of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia presented the results of the implementation of the commitment to introduce the public register of real owners of legal entities, as well as the opportunities for the media to use the information available in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
During the meeting, the description of the obligations and the purpose of the introduction of the public register were referred to. The journalists were also introduced to the companies with the obligation to submit the declaration, the deadlines set for them. The chief specialist of the RA State Register of Legal Entities has comprehensively presented the structure of the declaration and the procedure for filling it out.
At the end of the meeting, the speakers answered the journalists’ questions.
It should be noted that within the framework of the OGP program, the FOICA organized training and awareness-raising meetings for the media on April 20 and April 26.
The meeting is supported by the Open Government Partnership within the framework of the EU-funded “EU for Ethics for the Eastern Partnership” project.