Corruption Prevention Commission of the Republic of Armenia

By the new RA Law on “Public Service”, the conflict of interest regulations will cover not only certain groups of high-ranking officials, but also larger scope of officials, including people holding state positions, heads of communities with a population of 15,000 and more, their deputies, heads of Yerevan’s administrative districts, their deputies, as well as public servants.
Within the meaning of the Law, conflict of interest is a situation in which, when exercising his/her powers, a high-ranking public official must perform an action or adopt a decision which may reasonably be interpreted as being guided by his/her personal interests or those of a related person. There is no conflict of interest situation, when the personal interest of a public official has an apparent effect on the proper exercise of the official’s duties, which is actually absent.
The scope of the related persons in terms of conflict of interest has been enlarged by law, including the spouse of the official, the child, parent, sister, brother, grandfather, grandmother, grandchildren, aunt, uncle, children of the sister, brother of the official or his/her spouse, as well as the spouses of the sister, brother and child of the official.
Mechanisms to manage the conflict of interests’ situations, according to which in case of personal interest, the high-ranking officials is obliged to submit a written statement on the conflict of interests to his/her superior (if the latter has a superior or direct supervisor) by laying down the concrete circumstances of the conflict of interests, which should immediately be discussed. The superior or direct supervisor initiates or suggests to initiate measures directed towards the solution of the conflict of interest situation. In terms of the officials, who don’t have superiors or direct supervisors, their right to submit a written statement to the Corruption Prevention Commission, which recommends to take measures for solving the situation, including to make a statement on the existing concrete conflict of interest situation has been established. The Law has also envisaged the duty of a person, holding a position and lacking a superior of direct supervisor, to present a public statement on the conflict of interest situation, the availability of which has been recorded by a conclusion. The statement will be published on the official webpage of the body, where the person holds a position.
The conflict of interest regulations for the deputy, judge, member of the Highest Judicial Council, prosecutor and the investigator are prescribed by the sectoral laws.