Environmental and Health Programs
The presented information refers to the years 2016-2019.
Pursuant to the current regulations among the list of companies defined by Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Targeted Use of Environmental Tax Made by Companies”, deductions are made from the environmental tax paid by only 5 metal ore mining companies, namely “Agarak CMC” CJSC, “Aktala Mining and Processing Enterprise” CJSC, “Geopromining Gold” LLC, “Kapan Mining and Processing Company” CJSC (currently Chaarat Kapan CJSC), “Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine” CJSC, to implement environmental and health projects/programs in the affected communities of these companies.
CALCULATION AND RATES OF THE ENVIRONMETAL TAX
According to the RA Tax Code, which came into force on January 1, 2018, an environmental tax has been imposed instead of an environmental payment. The Tax Code defines the concept of the "environmental tax", the purpose of its payment, calculation and payment procedure. According to the Tax Code, the environmental tax is a tax paid to the state budget, which serves the purpose of creating the necessary funds for the implementation of environmental activities.
Calculation and rates of the environmental tax
The proportions of environmental tax distribution (1)
Calculation of the proportions of the distribution of the environmental tax (payment) among the communities affected by the activities of each of the companies mentioned in the Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Targeted Use of Environmental Tax Made by Companies” is carried out according to the following principles:
- The proportions of the distribution of the amount of environmental tax among the communities in relation to the emission of harmful substances into the atmospheric air (% of the total) are determined on the basis of the preliminary results of the territorial norms on pollution. The proportions are distributed among the affected communities, based on the amount of pollution and the population of the communities (in the case of large communities, affected settlements);
- The proportions of the distribution of the amount of environmental tax among the communities in relation to the emission of harmful substances into the environment (water basin), for disposal of environmentally hazardous production and consumption wastes in compliance with the defined order are determined based on the population of the respective communities (in the case of enlarged communities, affected settlements) and the volume of water resources pollution in their administrative territory;
- The proportions of the distribution of the amount of environmental tax among the communities are defined on the basis of the enlargement of a number of communities stipulated by the RA Law “On Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Law on Administrative-Territorial Division of the Republic of Armenia”.
Clause 2 of Article 1 of the draft law of the Republic of Armenia "On Making Amendments and Addenda to the Law On Targeted Use of Environmental Tax Made by Companies " approved by the Government Decision N212-A of February 27, 2020, stipulates that the calculation of the amount of deductions to the affected communities or settlements is done by the authorized body in the field of environment. The procedure shall be adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia within six months after the law enters into force.
The list of communities affected by the activities of the companies defined by the RA Law “On Targeted Use of Environmental Tax Made by Companies” and the proportions of distribution of the amount of environmental tax among the communities for 2016-2019
2019Proportions of environmental tax distribution among communities affected by the activities of companies defined by the RA Law “On Targeted Use of Environmental Tax Made by Companies” and the amounts available to the communities for 2016-2019
2016-2019The amount of contributions (deductions) for the implementation of environmental and health programs for each community is calculated as a sum of actually paid amount of the environmental tax by the respective companies for the second, third and fourth years preceding the current budget year, reducing it by the amount of actual contributions (deductions) to the respective communities for the first two years prior to the budget year.
(1) Data provided by the Ministry of the Environment.
Subsidies provided by communities from the RA state budget for implementation of environmental and health projects/programs
The draft of the project is developed by the head of the community in compliance with the procedure defined by the law and based on the approved documents on development (social-economic development) plans of the given community or region (marz) or local action-plans for environmental protection or other project- or strategy-level documents.
The project should include actions aimed at the protection of the environment and addressing environmental issues in the land, water and air conditioned by the activities of companies operating within administrative boundaries of the community, actions aimed at preserving the health of the population of the community conditioned by the activities of companies and priorities of implementation of programmatic activities and proportions of their financing.
The projects/programs submitted by the communities are reviewed and approved in accordance with the legislation by the authorized bodies, which are the Ministry of Environment or the Ministry of Health, after which they are approved in the State budget as a subvention given to the community.
The RA Law on the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia and State Budget Annexes are available on the website of the RA Ministry of Finance at the following links:
2016 http://www.minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2016_t
2017 http://www.minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2017t
2018 http://www.minfin.am/hy/page/byuje_2018
2019 http://www.minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2019_t
2020 http://www.minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2020t_nakhagits_
2021 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2021t
2022 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byuje_2022t_nakhagits_
The information on the adjusted budgets for the communities receiving subventions for the projects and their actual implementation within the framework of the program "Providing Subventions to the Communities of the Republic of Armenia" for the implementation of environmental projects from the State budget of the Republic of Armenia is presented in the annual reports of the State budget.
The reports are available on the website of the RA Ministry of Finance at the following links:
2016 https://minfin.am/hy/page/_petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2016_t_tarekan_
2017 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2017_t_tarekan_
2018 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2018_t_tarekan_
2019 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2019_t_tarekan
2020 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2020_t_tarekan_
2021 https://minfin.am/hy/page/petakan_byujei_hashvetvutyun_2021_t_tarekan_
In order to increase data accessibility, the links to the website of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the relevant annexes of the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia have been presented and uploaded on the website of the EITI Armenia at the following link:
Annual planned, annual adjusted and actual implementation data on subsidies provided to the communities from the state budget for the implementation of community environmental projects/programs (Annex 5).
The legislative initiative of the Government of the Republic of Armenia to eliminate legal inconsistencies and gaps
According to the 2016-2017 EITI Report disclosures and during the meetings with the stakeholders in the scope of Validation Mission in Yerevan, a number of regulatory gaps have been registered. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure had developed a draft law on making amendments and additions to the Law to address those gaps which was approved by the Government on 27 February, 2020, and at the first reading has been adopted by the National Assembly on 6 May, 2020. The (draft) Law stipulates that:
- Starting from 2021, deductions from the environmental tax paid by all mining companies possessing permits for extraction of metal minerals will be made for the implementation of projects in the communities the territories of which are adversely affected as a result of the operations carried out by stated companies.
- In order to increase the efficiency of Local Self-government Bodies, to improve performance quality and accountability, and to ensure transparency, approved community programs shall be published each year on the municipality's website and / or on the website of the relevant regional administration.
- The Head of the Community shall prepare a report on the implemented program. The implementation report approved by the Council of the Elders shall be published on the websites of the municipality and / or the relevant regional administration by 1th March of the following year of the reporting year. The report form shall be approved by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.
- The procedure for calculating the amount of deductions to the affected communities or settlements shall be adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia within six months.
Links to programs published on the websites of affected communities, 2016-2018
Following the recommendation of the EITI MSG of Armenia, approved environmental and health projects/programs for 2016-2018 have been published on the websites of the affected communities.
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2018 Environmental Projects |
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Name of the marz (region), community |
Publication links |
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Lori marz |
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Alaverdi |
http://alaverdi.am/Pages/DocFlow/Def.aspx?nt=1&a=v&g=99c3d7f2-1ed0-4b66-9de9-67b9f70aaa21 |
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Syunik marz |
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Kapan |
http://kapan.am/Pages/DocFlow/Def.aspx?nt=1&a=v&g=dcb80711-ac39-4abe-9538-fbec1b5db10d Decision of the Council of Elders http://kapan.am/Pages/DocFlow/Default.aspx?a=v&g=bdf07905-6c90-4139-9bc1-3ab31af630b5
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Ararat Marz |
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t.Ararat |
http://araratcity.am/Pages/DocFlow/Def.aspx?nt=1&a=v&g=9fd81fd5-77dc-423b-9c92-fa59be270839 |
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Kotayk marz |
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t.Charentsavan |
http://37.252.66.134/Pages/DocFlow/Default.aspx?nt=1&a=v&g=50c4cd8d-81fe-4b38-a43b-352578a771ae |
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t.Tsaghkadzor |
http://212.34.229.98/Pages/Misc/Announces/view.aspx?recID=356#.XrRc8mgzZPZ |
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