One million for decommissioned electric cars: what is the essence of the new initiative of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers?

Electric cars imported to Armenia for the purpose of write-off and sale for spare parts do not have such a volume to exhaust the quota set for duty-free import. This was stated by Tigran Mikayelyan, Director of Tesla Motors LLC, in an interview with Sputnik Armenia, referring to the government's new legislative initiative.

The Cabinet of Ministers wants to exclude cases of importing used electric cars to Armenia for sale as spare parts.

Thus, the authorities do not want the importers of used and dismantled electric cars to spend part of the annual quotas for duty-free import of 8 thousand electric cars allocated within the EAEU.

The draft of the relevant amendment to the Code of Administrative Offenses was published on the platform of legal projects. It is submitted for public discussion until February 25, after which the Economy Ministry will submit the document to the government for consideration and, if approved by the government, to the parliament. Our interlocutor, however, does not agree with the government's position, explaining his point of view by the fact that people engaged in car dismantling import a total of 500-600 cars, while importers of new cars import thousands of cars.

“If they consider the issue from the point of view of the quota, let them first consider the activities of those importers who bring in 50-100 pieces, while taking advantage of the quota provided for individuals. If they analyze, they will realize that the quota applies only to new cars,” says Mikayelyan.

According to the authors of the draft law, importers of electric cars for the purpose of selling them for spare parts, who enjoy customs privileges granted by the state, have unequal conditions with those who import spare parts. To settle the situation, the authors of the project propose to establish administrative responsibility in the amount of 1 million drams (about $2.5 thousand) in case of non-registration or deregistration of electric cars imported to Armenia within 1 year, except for cases of having a certificate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the accident.

The director of Tesla Motors considers the size of the fine disproportionate, instead suggesting to apply a more flexible taxation mechanism, for example, based on the engine capacity.

“The rate of 1 million drams is from the genre of absurdity, and it will be beyond the capacity of people engaged in the trade of used spare parts. A person may not even have such an income from dismantling one car. That is, a certain group of people will simply be deprived of the opportunity to earn their daily bread. I am now more concerned about whether the law will be retroactive or not. For example, people used to bring cars for this purpose. Now they are told that they must register them, while these cars may no longer exist,” says our interlocutor.

He reminds that the current legal regulation does not prohibit the import of electric cars to Armenia for the purpose of their utilization or dismantling for spare parts.

Note that the preferential quota for 2024 in Armenia was exhausted ahead of schedule (in mid-October).

Reprinted from https://am.sputniknews.ru/