Thursday, 29 June 2017
“Excessive workload in courts of law may create serious risks in terms of efficiency and accessibility of justice” - PM Instructs to Handle Heavy Workload
A Cabinet sitting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. Before proceeding to the agenda, the Prime Minister issued a number of instructions.
Touching upon the need to handle the courts’ workload, the Prime Minister said, “A number of complaints about court proceedings refer to the duration of the proceedings. It should be noted that the long duration of court proceedings is often due to objective reasons. In 2016 alone, some 133,000 civil cases were brought before the courts of law. Such a heavy burden may create serious risks in terms of efficiency and accessibility of justice.”
Taking all this into account and considering the need for handling the courts’ workload, Karen Karapetyan instructed the Minister of Justice to make a statistics-based analysis and identify within a three-month period those types of civil cases brought before the courts, which constitute the vast majority of cases and submit proposals on having them investigated out of courts or through other simplified mechanisms. The Head of Government also instructed the Minister to discuss the issue with other stakeholders.
The Premier ‘s next instructions had to do with the introduction of geo-information systems, the continuity of activities under the Clean Armenia program, and the need to extend the term of suspension of inspections.
The Executive approved a package of draft laws on making amendments and supplements to the law On Licensing and a number of related laws. The purpose of the bills is to digitize the registers and to create a unified electronic registry for the registration of the types of licenses and activities subject to notification by State authorities. As a result, all government agencies will be able to provide the identical services online by applying the same criteria.
A unified information base will also be created. According to the substantiation, the adoption of the bills stems from the 22nd clause of the Action Plan for the implementation of the RA Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2015-2018. The introduction of the electronic registry will result in effective administration that will lead to enhanced quality of services provided to citizens, lower costs and reduced corruption risks.
The Government will allocate AMD 3,495 thousand to the Ministry of Defense to provide for the medical treatment in the Russian Federation of Roland Sahakyan who got a mine injury in the exercise of his army duties.
The Cabinet decided to authorize the Market Control Inspectorate by the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments to carry out inspections following the approved checklists as prescribed by law. The decision establishes the checklists of State control over non-food products to be carried out by the Inspection Authority. The meeting approved a procedure for the qualification of procurement coordinators and their continuous professional training.
The Tourism Development Fund of Armenia will be established to ensure more effective implementation of the Government’s marketing policy in the tourism sector. A corresponding was adopted to that effect. The new fund will address issues of involving additional financial and other resources for more active cooperation with international organizations and implementation of targeted measures.
The Executive approved a program of activities stemming from the need to draw up Dilijan’s historical-cultural substantiation and the implementation of the program of reconstruction and utilization of the historic area and its separate parts. It will serve as a guideline for the design of the town’s historical-cultural development project, which will make it possible to coordinate and streamline the efforts aimed at preserving historical and cultural monuments and the historical environment in order to promote the growth of its historical-encyclopedic attractiveness, develop inbound tourism and provide employment to local population.
