Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

On September 17, 2021 on the initiative of Freedom of Information Center, a working discussion on “Transparency of Real Owners” was held.

The event was attended by representatives of private companies, non-governmental organizations, as well as government agencies.

The purpose of the event was to present the newly adopted legal provisions regulating the field of transparency of real owners, the envisaged obligations, the norms of administrative and criminal liability case of non-fulfillment, as well as to discuss the issues related to application.

The participants were greeted by UNDP Kolba Lab’s “Future Today: Empowerment of Women, Youth and Children for the Strengthening of Democracy in Armenia” project’s head Hovhannes Eritsyan and OGP secretary Lilit Afrikyan.

During the working speech Shushan Doydoyan mentioned “Ensuring the transparency of real owners is a powerful tool in the hands of civil society to prevent, identify corruption risks, as well as raise issues in the field, promoting publicity and accountability. Transparency of real owners was a very ambitious reform initiated by civil society together with the government and successfully implemented within the framework of the Open Government Partnership in the scope of 2018-2020 national program.

The active role of the society is essential in the process of using published data of real owners”.

A representative of the Ministry of Justice, Ani Vardanyan, presented a legislation regulating the IP sphere and the launched electronic public register and the way how companies should fill in and submit the required declarations.

The reports were followed by active discussions by participants: private companies, mass media and the NGOs voiced their concerns and expectations from this reform.
Attendees gave importance to the consistency of public discussions on the following to avoid misunderstanding and to create a public demand for transparency of real business owners.

The event was organized by UNDP Kolba Lab's "Future Today: Empowerment of Women, Youth and Children for the Strengthening of Democracy in Armenia” project jointly with the OGP-Armenia Secretariat with EU funding.

The Government of the Republic of Armenia has joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative since 2011 and has already implemented 4 action plans. The 4 main principles of the OGP initiative are: transparent governance, accountable government, innovative mechanisms in the management system, citizen participation in decision-making and policy development.