EXPERTISE-APPROVED ARMENIAN PRODUCTS WILL UNIMPEDEDLY BE EXPORTED TO EU STATES
18:43 25/04/2013 ” ECONOMY
The EU Twinning Project “Harmonization with EU standards and
institution building of the State Inspectorate of Protection of
Markets and Consumer Right” was launched in Armenia in May 2012. The
EU-funded project is aimed at developing and enforcing national market
surveillance practices in line with the internationally recognized
best practices in the sector with the aim of preparation for wider
international agreements concerning the free movement of goods.
Panorama.am held an interview with William Harris, Resident Twinning
Adviser (RTA) of the project, about the project’s implementation
process and the expected results.
– What can you say about the project and its objectives?
– The project’s objective is to enforce the institutional capabilities
of national market surveillance and to bring them into line with
the EU standards. It is envisaged to remove technical obstacles
of trade, making it possible for Armenia to have free trade with
European countries. The project is implemented in the context of
the negotiations between Armenia and the European Union within the
framework of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. As part
of the removal of technical obstacles of trade and signing Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, we are going to bring three laws
into line with the European legislation – laws on General Security
of Products, on Market Surveillance and on Responsibility for Products.
The latter is still being drafted. These laws are very important and
the law on Responsibility for Products, which does not exist so far
in Armenia, has great importance for the Deep and Comprehensive Free
Trade Agreement negotiations.
– Will the harmonization of the laws contribute to the development
of the possibilities for trade with the European Union?
– This is really our goal. Any body for European market surveillance
aims to prevent dangerous products from entering the market and
reaching consumers. In Armenia, the market surveillance function
is to ensure placing exclusively safe products in the market. This
means that the inspection, having information about safe products,
will ensure the protection of consumers. This is very important
for the trade relations between Armenia and the European Union. The
European Union will allow to sell Armenian products in the European
Union states only when they are sure that there are only safe products
in the Armenian market. Besides, the European Union must be sure that
Armenian citizens enjoy the same rights as European Union consumers.
– What is the situation with the safety of products in Armenia?
– I think there are still a great number of products that need
expertise.
The majority of the Armenian population cannot afford to buy expensive
products. They mainly buy imported products. This means that we should
take into consideration the current condition of Armenian market. In
view of all this, we believe that the market surveillance activities
should be intensified.
– We talked about imported products, but it is known that many imported
non-food products are also low quality.
– I think the safety standards of imported goods should be reviewed
and raised. Safety standards-related reforms are being carried out
in Armenia. The safety standards of goods of primary importance such
as building materials, toys, gas appliances, non-automatic measuring
devices, electromagnetic compatibility devices will be brought into
line with European standards.
As regards quality, it is necessary to improve the quality of non-food
products in Armenia and the standards of tests of such goods should be
raised to European standards. In reality, our program and the quality
control improvement process should be in keeping with each other.
Such programs will be ineffective if all interested parties fail
to work together. In other words, NGOs dealing with problems of
consumer rights protection, scientific workers, business entities,
and government members should cooperate and make much effort in
this direction. The program’s implementation will help upgrade the
Market Control Inspection, make positive changes in terms of market
control in Armenia, improve the business environment and ensure the
protection of consumer rights. As a result, we also plan to increase
public awareness and ensure greater access of business entities and
consumers to information.
– When will the results of reforms become tangible and consumer rights
be better protected?
– Prior to the program’s completion, our partner beneficiaries
will have to gradually bring their activities to conformity with
European practices. In this case citizens will feel protected. We
will supervise their activities during this period. In other words,
market control practices in Armenia should be approximate to such
practices in European markets. Of course, it does not mean that the
practices used so far in Armenia are bad. But the Armenian government
has made a decision to use European Union practices in our country.
– In Armenia the laws on consumer rights protection and the control
of the non-food commodity market are so bad.
– I would not call the current laws bad, but we need to bring these
laws into line with European standards. The process will take quite
a long time. And the approximation schedule needs to be reconciled
with the European Union and the Armenian government.
Our program is mostly related to institutional capacity building. Once
the institutional capacities are built, the vision of the European
Union will be put into practice in Armenia, ensuring equal protection
of societies in EU countries and Armenia.
1 million-euro Twinning program is implemented in Armenia with the
support of Northern Ireland Cooperation, Lithuania’s State Non-Food
Product Inspectorate, and the State Market and Consumer Rights
Protection Inspectorate of the RA Ministry of Economy.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian