Today, representatives of more than 5 dozen business organizations participated in the discussion initiated by the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia on the topic of the declaration of beneficial owners.

What is the role of the declaration of beneficial owners for the business community, is the declaration a mere legal burden or a tool to promote the investment environment and business goodwill; these questions were the target of today’s discussion.

In the first part of the meeting held at the “Gortsq” educational center, FOICA researcher Harutyun Tsatryan presented the results of the research project on “The impact of the declaration of beneficial owners on the private sector” carried out with the support of the Center for International Private Entrepreneurship (CIPE). Based on the example of the media business, the authors of the study, Shushan Doydoyan, and Harutyun Tsatryan, mapped the main problems that the business sector is dealing with in the BO declaration process and analyzed the attitude of legal entities regarding BO transparency and its main reasons.

Harutyun Tsatryan notes that the research has shown that one of the main problems is the reliability of the already declared data, as well as the fact that those who submit an BO declaration, especially the business sector, perceive the process as a mere additional responsibility and have no idea what it can do for them. to be useful for this reform and how they can use this public data.

Let us remind that in 2023 from January 1, all Republic of Armenia legal entities are obliged to identify and declare their real beneficiaries. The deadline for submitting the statement is March 1. The persons who submitted the declaration in previous years are also obliged until 2023. February 20 to reconfirm the relevance of the data of the previous declaration or submit a new declaration if there are changes. Administrative and criminal liability is established for failure to submit the declaration and improper submission.

The head of the Armenian office of the Center for International Private Entrepreneurship (CIPE), Luiza Ayvazyan, welcoming the participants, emphasized the active involvement of the business community in the processes of the BO transparency initiative. He noted that CIPE, as a body that implements business support programs, supports programs on BO topics, taking into account the potential of a transparent business environment in the context of long-term, large investment attraction and economic development.

Taking into account the fact that the vast majority of participants are preparing to submit a declaration of real beneficiaries for the first time, the organizers planned a question-and-answer session related to the topic, during which the participants had the opportunity to address their concerns, a representative of the authorized body implementing the declaration process, the Agency for State Register of Legal Entities of the RA Ministry of Justice Hripsime Iskandaryan.

Mrs. Iskandaryan assured the participants that the answers to the main questions related to the declaration can be found in the relevant section of the official website of the State Register. You can get acquainted with the procedure of declaration also through video-guides specially prepared for that purpose.

The discussion was organized by FOICA within the framework of the project “Corruption undermines the development of transparency of Beneficiaries” funded by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE).