Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia's Constitutional Court earlier today recognized the mandatory component of a new, unpopular pension law as null and void, implying that deductions made from salaries must be returned to employees.
The Court began to publish its ruling on the case since 11 am today. Constitutional Court President Gagik Harutyunyan read the ruling for about 90 minutes.
At the end of his speech, he said that the provisions of the article under question were unconstitutional.
"With this decision, September 30, 2014, has been set as the deadline by which the legal instruments recognized as contradicting the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia will lose their effect, giving an opportunity to the Government of Armenia and the RA National Assembly, within their jurisdiction, to have the legal language of the law on mandatory pension comply with the requirements of this decision. Based on the legal language stemming from the requirements of the decision, all mandatory pension contributions made until then must be recalculated," said Harutyunyan.
Recall, according to the new law, which came into force on Jan. 1, 2014, employed citizens in Armenia born after 1973 were required to pay 5–10% of their monthly gross salaries to one of two private pension funds set by the government. They would be able to access these funds when they turn 63 (the age of retirement in Armenia). In December 2013, 36 MPs from the four opposition and opposition-leaning parties in parliament filed an application with the Constitutional Court, arguing that several provisions of the new law were unconstitutional. The plaintiffs asked the Court to revoke the mandatory component of the law.