Hovhannes Harutyunyan, Deputy Minister of RA Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, responded to the statement addressed to RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the draft law "On Making Amendments to the Subsoil Code of the Republic of Armenia" approved at the meeting of the Government dated on 10.02.2022. 54 civil society organizations of the Republic of Armenia joined the announcement, demanding that RA Government withdraw the problematic draft RA law "On Making Amendments and Addenda to RA Code on Subsoil".
The response letter of the Deputy Minister states: “We inform that the legal mechanisms of presenting public opinion are clearly laid down in RA legislation; if the affected community opposes the given mining program, then it has the opportunity to present its opinion, to make their voice heard during the public hearings.
Please also be informed that the draft law was posted for public discussion on 04.06.2021-20.06.2021 on the joint website for publishing draft legal acts of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia (https://www.e-draft.am/), which is created as an opportunity to present the draft normative legal acts developed by RA stated bodies to the public, to organize public discussions online, as a result, also to ensure the active participation of civil society representatives in the legislative work being carried out. No proposals on the draft law were received.
The Code is supplemented by a new Article 55.1, according to which the legal relations related to the extension of the soil management right due to the emergence of force majeure will be regulated, which will allow soil mining companies to properly fulfill the obligations that were not fulfilled or were not fulfilled properly. Considering that the mentioned legal regulation does not worsen, but on the contrary improves the legal status of the subjects within the framework of the law, the law has been given retroactive force for the last 4 years based on Article 73 of RA Constitution.
With the adoption of the submitted draft law, among a number of other regulations, the legal relations related to the extension of the soil management rights due to the emergence of invincible force will be regulated. At the same time, we would like to inform you that the law will apply to all organizations entitled to soil management and in case of submitting the insurmountable circumstances laid down in Part 1 of Article 55.1 of the Code, their duration, evidence proving their immediate effect, documents to the Authorized Body, the term of the soil management right may be extended for the maximum period of validity of those circumstances.
As according to the proposed changes, project amendments will be carried out solely to change the term of the soil management right and no amendments will be made to the area, annual productivity, technology, resources provided, the proposed modified schedule or geological survey program is not subject to a new environmental impact and technical safety assessment, whereas the terms of the expert examinations that have received a positive conclusion are considered to be extended accordingly.
The draft does not contradict Article 20 (7) of RA Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise, as Article 55.1 of the Draft defines legal structures for the extension of existing soil management rights in the case of soil management after the soil management right has been granted. An insurmountable force has arisen for the fulfillment of the obligations - extraordinary - unavoidable circumstances, which, regardless of the efforts made, have hindered the proper fulfillment of the soil manager’s obligations."
March 31, 2022 at 15:15