Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union has created additional bureaucratic problems for Armenian companies and entrepreneurs that force them to turn to corruption in order to save their businesses, Val Automation LLC Managing Director, engineer Vardges Gaspari said in an interview with Epress.am.
Recently, Gaspari has been facing serious obstacles related to customs clearance of goods imported from Taiwan. Gaspari intends to export the imported item, a crane remote control, to neighboring Georgia.
Prior to the import of the remote control, 14 August, Val Automation Director appealed to the Ministry of Finance and “Zvartnots” customs house to find out what documents were necessary for the clearance of the goods. Gaspari also attached the technical description of the item to his appeal.
The Finance Ministry, Gaspari said, did not respond to his letter, while “Zvartnots” answered 4 days later. The reply stated that for customs clearance Gaspari had to obtain a document from one of three licensed companies evidencing that the item had no military value. However, the commodity code marked in the letter of the custom house – 8543 – was incorrect, which Gaspari found out about when examining his goods. He then wrote another letter informing about the error and clarifying that the code of his item was actually 8526. Gaspari received a reply only on 1 September, when the goods had already arrived in Armenia. The customs house acknowledged their mistake; however, they added that goods with the commodity code of 8526 had to be verified by the National Security Service. This policy, officials stated, was adopted by the Armenian government after the country joined the Eurasian Economic Union. Under this decision all wireless remote controls have to undergo a check at the NSS.
Despite the acknowledgement of the mistake, the customs house did not wish to intervene in the case, and since Gaspari's item had arrived in Armenia by the express mail service of DHL Global Mail, it was sent to another customs office where Gaspary was told the incorrect information had been given at “Zvartnots” and they could do nothing about it. All customs offices, the VAL Automation Director stressed, operate under the Ministry of Finance – a government agency that has still not responded to his letter.
On 2 September, Gaspari appealed to the National Security Service via e-mail; he then phoned the structure where he was assured that the letter and all attached documents had been received.
Having received no response, on 4 September Gaspari went to the NSS and wrote an application on the site. He also asked the NSS employee to sign a receipt in that his application had been received; the employee, however replied: “We don't sign anything: nothing gets lost at the NSS.”
After waiting for a while, Gaspari announced he would hold a protest action in front of the NSS if the employee did not sign the receipt. The employee then phoned someone, signed the receipt and took the application. As of today, 5 September, Gaspari has not received a reply, and his imported item is still at the customs office.
In a conversation with Epress.am Gaspari said he would easily get the desired permission if he gave bribes, as do many others. After Armenia's entry to the EEU, a number of goods have to get verified in Russia, which, as stated by Gaspary, creates additional corruption risks. By the same logic, he added, similar documents will also have to be obtained by importers of TVs, remote control toys, etc.
In another letter to the Customs Gaspari inquired as to how many importers have applied to the National Security Service to get authorization for the import of toy cars, air conditioners, and other goods that require remote controls. The entrepreneur has not received an answer to this inquiry yet.
“All this takes time, and that's exactly what corruption runs on – time. I have to pay money for each day my item stays at the customs office. It would be cheaper for me to give a bribe. But if I ever used connections [to get by], you’d never see me fighting on the streets again. That’s why people are afraid. Authorities allow all this to later point out the violations of people fighting [against it],” Gaspari stated. His other option, he added, was going to court, which, however, “I can't do since I don't respect the [Armenian] courts.”