YEREVAN /ARКА/. At a meeting on Thursday, the Armenian government approved draft amendments and addi- tions to the “Law on Consumer Protec- tion” and the “Law on Advertising.” If adopted, these amendments are expected to create an effective consum- er protection system and an environ- ment necessary for the development of fair competition and entrepreneurship. The draft laws are expected to fully align consumer protection provisions with EU directives. Specifically, the draft law proposes introducing dis- tance contracts, defining requirements for them, the information provided to consumers, as well as consumer rights and the procedure for terminating such contracts. As Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan noted, the process of aligning Armenian legislation with EU law is ongoing. According to the minister, the four directives envisaged by the draft law concern unfair terms in contracts concluded with consumers, the pro- tection of consumer rights in distance contracts, misleading advertising, and consumer remedies in cases of product non-conformity. Specifically, according to the draft, any unfair clause in a con- tract is considered invalid. “Economic operators must elimi- nate any such unfair clauses,” Papoyan said. The minister also announced that comprehensive provisions on the term “misleading advertising” have been es- tablished. “We are adopting European stan- dards. This measure is being carried out within the framework of the Com- prehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (Armenia-EU – ed.),” noted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pash- inyan. He noted that the field of consumer protection is vast and multilayered.“Our strategy here is this: we must work con- sistently, because the only way to solve so many problems in this area is through consistent work. Let’s patiently compile a list of all our problems and work on solving them with the same patience and consistency, because no changes in the law, no government decisions will change this reality. But consistent work will,” Pashinyan said.
