On June 18, the National Assembly adopted in the second reading and in full the legislative package on amendments and supplements to the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise and the Law on State Duty.
During the first-reading discussion of the legislative initiative on June 16, Deputy Environment Minister Ara Mkrtchyan noted that the package aims to promote afforestation activities by exempting environmental organizations implementing such projects on non-forest lands from the payment of the AMD 300,000 state duty, thereby reducing the financial burden on environmental programs financed through donor funds.
The Deputy Minister also emphasized that the package includes technical and editorial amendments aimed at fulfilling Armenia’s obligations under the international Aarhus Convention and Espoo Convention.
In particular, Article 21 of the law has been redrafted to specify which policy and planning documents are subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and expert review.
Accordingly, SEA and expert review will apply to draft policy and planning documents relating to the sectors of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, energy, industry, subsoil use, transport, territorial development, waste management, water management, communications, tourism, and urban development, where such documents envisage activities that may result in significant environmental impacts and where they establish the framework for the future implementation of projects listed in Annex I of the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, or projects listed in Annex II of the Protocol.
Article 22 of the law has also been revised by introducing a screening stage as part of the SEA process.
It should be noted that the draft package also proposes to simplify the construction process for educational institutions by introducing an exemption for the construction, reconstruction, or major renovation of state or community-owned schools and kindergartens. In such cases, the environmental impact position will be provided within the framework of the project’s comprehensive state expertise review.
June 19, 2026 at 18:04