Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

On October 14, 2022, the joint legislative initiative of the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia and the Ministry of Justice to increase the amount of administrative liability for the violation of the right to receive information entered into force.

The author of the proposal was the FOICA, which submitted a petition to the Ministry of Justice, and the ministry gave a positive conclusion. Later, the FOICA jointly with the Ministry of Justice developed a draft law "On Making Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Armenia": see https://www.e-draft.am/projects/3931.

The amount of the fine provided for in Article 189.7 has been increased by the amendment. now, instead of the previous fine of 10 to 50 thousand drams, a fine of 50 to 70 thousand drams has been set for the illegal disclosure of information by those in charge of information, and if the same violation is committed again within a year, instead of the previous 50 to 100 thousand drams, a fine of 100- a fine of 150 thousand drams.

Thanks to this initiative, the fines set for violation of the right to freedom of information will become comparable to the public danger of the offense, they will be 17.2 to 40% of the average monthly nominal salary in state and local self-government bodies (less compared to the higher salary of the official responsible for freedom of information), the other will have a real deterrent effect on officials responsible for freedom of information in refraining from violating their duty to provide information.

On the one hand, the adoption of the legislative amendment enables journalists and CSOs to properly protect their right to receive information in the event of a violation of the right to freedom of information, on the other hand, it will have preventive effect, forcing information holders to properly comply with the regulations set by law for responding to written information requests.