Armenia's State Revenue Committee to launch electronic customs clearance system

YEREVAN, February 19. /ARKA/. Armenia's State Revenue Committee (SRC) will launch a new electronic system of customs clearance in 2021, Artem Karapetyan, a senior SRC official said at a press conference on Friday.

According to him, the government and the SRC are working to reduce the contacts between customs officials and citizens as much as possible. He noted that the system is an electronic platform that has integrated all government agencies related to foreign economic activity.

“Importers and exporters will use this platform to fill out one application, and the system itself will generate sub-applications to various government agencies, which grant permits, licenses or certificates for import or export of goods, if no physical examination is required. In fact, citizens from their office will be able to apply to government agencies and get all the necessary permits,” Karapetyan said.

According to him, the system will enable entrepreneurs to fill out a customs declaration and all permits will automatically be attached and immediately become available to customs authorities.

“We planned to launch the system in 2020, however, due to a number of circumstances, the process was postponed, but will be completed in 2021,” Karapetyan said.

For his part, Mnatsakan Sharafyan, head of a SRC department in charge of customs statistics and revenue, added that the coronavirus pandemic, and then hostilities in Artsakh have had a negative impact on customs duties, as well as on export and import trends.

Thus,  in 2020, compared to 2019, exports decreased by 7% and imports by 17.5%. But the number of exporters, despite a difficult year, increased by 3%.--0--