{"id":279148,"date":"2017-02-18T16:34:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T12:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/epress.am\/?p=279148"},"modified":"2017-02-18T16:34:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T12:34:38","slug":"entrepreneur-on-the-corrupt-system-of-legalized-bribery-in-armenia-price-controls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2017\/02\/18\/entrepreneur-on-the-corrupt-system-of-legalized-bribery-in-armenia-price-controls.html","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneur On the Corrupt System of Legalized Bribery in Armenia: Price Controls"},"content":{"rendered":"

What obstacles do entrepreneurs in Armenia face when they also have civic responsibilities? In the first part<\/a><\/span><\/strong> of the ongoing series, entrepreneur, civic activist Vardges Gaspari tallked to Epress.am about his experience with Institute of Metrology; in the second part, Gaspari speaks about price controls.<\/em><\/p>\n

Part 2: Price Controls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Imported goods, Gaspari says, have 9-digit codes, to which Armenia adds another 3 digits; import duty is calculated based upon that code. Armenia’s adding it’s own digits to the original code, according to the entrepreneur, is illogical as these 3 digits, which are not published on any official government website, are often determined randomly and can vary from product to product. The lack of transparency, he says, creates corruption risks.<\/p>\n

It also happens when two power transformers of the same type \u2013 which Gaspary imports \u2013 are charged varying import duties, while in another episode, authorities set a higher control price on a much less powerful transformer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI complained, of course: how can two products of the same company and with the same parameters be charged such different rates? I even appealed to the prosecutor’s office; but I didn’t get any response from anywhere. They usually only issue me some irrelevant letters. This is nothing but a plain bribe demand,\u201d the entrepreneur notes.<\/p>\n

Details in the video:<\/p>\n