🇪🇺🇦🇲 Civil Society Platform

We also welcome latest daft bill announced by Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs amending Trade Unions Act, that will further ease the public registration procedures for trade union organizations. Good news that union's proposals were taken into account!

As an example, the registrar procedures for trade unions are currently costly, lengthy & often with arbitrary scrutiny, which undermines the Freedom of Association principle, while businesses enjoy cheap and easy paperwork. The digitalization could free unions from long queues

CEPA: EU+Armenia | Համապարփակ և ընդլայնված գործընկերություն Հայաստան եվրամիություն Համապարփակ և ընդկայնված գործընկերության համաձայնագիրը (CEPA - ՀԸԳՀ) ուժի մեջ է մտել 2021 թ մարտի 1-ին։

We took a note of Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan's announcement lately on expanding the digitalization of legal entity registry procedures to new types of entities.

This is good news & we stressed the need of it in our advisory opinions (find them on 👉 eu-armenia.am)

In our latest declaration we welcomed the compliance w/ the technical procedure leading to the authorization for 🇦🇲 to export high-quality aquaculture fish farming products to EU under Commission Regulation (EU) 2025/354, in line with intended policy of economic diversification

Despite years of intense police reforms, results are not delivering 💔

❗️ Practice of use of excessive force by police continues, with lack of effective investigation of human rights violations committed by the police.

Corruption vulnerabilities in the private sector and public procurement in 🇦🇲 concerning.
The business environment continues to face integrity challenges, whilst insufficient oversight of public finance expenditure remains a problematic area requiring stricter attention!

Quick check of
#European #Integration
Upcoming pinpoints:

- we expect Visa-liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) for 🇦🇲 be ready at early October

- in January New 🇪🇺 Partnership Agenda for Armenia is expected to be signed (they call in CEPA+ !)

How's your September going? 🍂

Posting on X and socials is free. However, to continue to monitor #CEPA and run our online platform w/ progress chart indicators, we need 💲 infrastructures (domain, hosting, etc).
To help us continue to do this important job after September 2025, we need your help!

- regulation on product information and quality
- consumer protection for e-commerce and remote/virtual services
- manipulative and hidden marketing
- mechanisms for collective claims

and many more

However this are just baby steps, as the CP sector is virtually non-existent.
Important reforms are awaited to be done yet, i.e.
- adopting consumer protection law and establishing a body (till now, there is technically no institution or framework to protect your rights)
👇

The next sector we have reviewed is the consumer protection.
This is one of the bets performers of #CEPA.
Around 23% can be considered implemented
Reforms done it
✅public manipulation
✅tourism sector
✅financial and loan services

Yet, a lot to do in this neglected field!

To elaborate this thread:

We have reviewed the #CEPA #Environment sector.

✅ Around 6% of reforms are done (at least on paper).
❌ 76% is still undone

Learn more by looking at our progress chart 👉https://eu-armenia.am/enviroment

Stay tuned for next sectors!

Handful of reforms are still not done.
Such as
❌reducing waste
❌reduce bio waste and sort it
❌adopting drinking water directive
❌reforms on dangerous and mine waste and substances + labelling
❌industrial pollution
❌protection of agro from nitrates

Some regulations on waste are adopted:
✅ types of landfills are designated
✅ waste laws are improved (for example its now illegal to throw liquid in garbage)
✅a project to measure mass of landfills is starting
✅ strategy is adopted to implement other reforms
(see NEXT 👇)

Let's look on the environmental #CEPA reforms today!
What is done:
🟠impact assessment regulations are adopted
🟠 info transparency regulations made
🟠 public participation
🟠 waste-related regulations are in process
Those reforms are made but not in full manner.
(see NEXT 👇)

Now let's put a 📌 on this for while and check it more!
As you know we run online tool measuring the #CEPA implementation 👉http://eu-armenia.am

We have already updated the review of some sections, and will show you the CEPA enforcement progress in text tweets.
Stay tuned!

There is a #CEPA implementation commission, but our platform has no seat in it. This is contrary to democracy & transparency. We propose to Prime Minister to amend his Decree N906-A to grant our members permanent or an observer status in the Commission #Declaration
#Teardown

💔 The speed of implementation of #CEPA is concerning

We strongly encourage stepping up efforts to ensure
@armgov
fully, effectively & in deadlines fulfils its commitments in 👇

public administration
anti-corruption
judicial & legal systems
human rights protection
enforcement

The level of autocracy is the lowest in 🇦🇲 among this region, according to
@freedomhouse.bsky.social

Still, our democracy (in fact: hybrid regime) is very flowed. Social dialogue, consultation and info exchange with CS is the critically important for democracy.

11th point of our #Declaration reminds that we need continued support, including through direct funding from the
@ec.europa.eu and 🇦🇲 government;

the insufficient funding of this Platform prevented us from performing our full potential in 2024.

Btw, you can also donate to us 👉 eu-armenia.am

There's new EU cooperation agenda is being prepared now, named to come as an add-on to #CEPA.
While we welcome it, we still have little info of what it will be.
We call to share the text of the document with civil society to consider the CS recommendations.
#TEARDOWN

4/4

in our Declaration we emphasize:
to do the comprehensive commitments regarding OSH remain unfulfilled, with no clear deadlines set for their implementation.

CEPA is expected to be implemented by 2028, & imperative to immediately launch OSH reforms with a clear, robust, timely roadmap

3/4

Moreover, the EU-Armenia #CEPA agreement includes commitments to implement numerous EU OSH directives, yet no concrete deadlines have been established, despite our continuous calls and calls of trade unions.

2/4

In 🇦🇲there is still no national occupational safety and health (OSH) policy, no clear roadmap for progress, and key ILO conventions on OSH remain unratified - despite having been recognized as fundamental rights by the ILO in recent years.

Today is the Occupational Health and Safety Day.

Each year, 2.9 million people die due to work-related accidents and diseases—330,000 from accidents and 2.6 million from occupational illnesses, according to the
ILO estimate.

A thread 🧵👇

We appreciate the crucial role played by the
EU civilian Mission for the security of 🇦🇲 in reducing the number of 🇦🇿 attacks and welcome the extension of its mandate beyond 2025
We welcome readiness of the🇪🇺 to further support 🇦🇲 under the European Peace Facility

#TEARDOWN #Declaration

Transparency and meaningfulness of these reforms are the key!

We calls on the Armenian authorities, including the 🇦🇲 Parliament to keep this Platform involved in the process of visa liberalisation dialogue

Let's #TEARDOWN our declaration further.

Visa liberalization is the most favorite topic around!
In months it will be initiated & it means 🇦🇲 to develop benchmarks in:

document security
border & migration management
data protection
fight against corruption
organized crime
and more....

While we are mandated by #CEPA, we an independent body, which means we do not have technical resources to operate.
To continue to monitor the #CEPA, deliver u a content, & to remain independent we need your assistance.
You can donate us on our homepage!

EU-Armenia.am

it gives fertile soil for stronger🌎 influence of dystopian dictatorships 🇷🇺🇨🇳 including within Neighbourhood. We urge the EU & 🇪🇺institutions to enhance their international presence with cooperation and aid, counteracting the potential environment of growing illiberalisation 2/2