Thursday, January 10 2019 15:53

ArmInfo. The government of Armenia has developed a draft decision allowing the importation of about 800 right-hand drive cars accumulated on the border with  Georgia.  Acting Minister of Transport, Communications and  Information of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan said this to journalists on  January 10.

The number of accumulated right-hand drive cars, according to  Arshakyan, was presented by importers, which allowed the issue to be  given a local solution. "This will allow us to solve the problem of  cars accumulated on the border, and our business entities will not  lose their investment," the Acting Minister said. 

The draft decision has already been published on the e-draft.am  website of the legal acts. If the ban on the "customs clearance" of  right-hand drive cars purchased after October 1, 2018 was imposed,  then, according to a new draft, the deadline is December 31, 2018.  "So that citizens and importers do not get confused, I want to say  that the ban on imports is preserved. On these days, only cars that  have accumulated on the border will be allowed to enter. I urge our  citizens not to make new purchases so that there will be no problems  in the future." Arshakyan explained. Earlier, ArmInfo reported that  right-hand drive cars could be imported to Armenia from December 20  with the condition of changing the wheel position. "Right-hand drive  cars can be imported to the Republic of Armenia before March 1, 2019  within the framework of the customs procedure 'Processing for  Domestic Consumption' Armen Pambukhchyan, Deputy Minister of  Transport, Communications and IT of Armenia, wrote on his Facebook  page.

To recall, at the December 6 meeting of the RA government, the  right-hand drive car owners were granted the right to import their  vehicles into Armenia before March 1, 2019. At the same time, owners  of right- hand drive cars within six months after their import will  have to change the location of the steering wheel, go through the  procedure of customs clearance, register cars with the police, after  which they will be able to safely operate them. Meanwhile, on  December 11, representatives of the Right-Hand Drive initiative  expressed a categorical protest against the decision of the Armenian  government adopted on December 6 to postpone the ban on import of  right-hand drive cars to Armenia until March 1, 2019. "There are  about 1,000 right-hand drive cars in Georgia that are not subject to  a change of steering. We did not ask for a delay, we demanded  permission to import these cars," said David Gasparyan, a member of  the initiative. It was reported that today about 450 cars are located  in the transit zone of the Bagratashen checkpoint on the border with  Georgia. "As a result, the government, without coordination with the  members of the Right- Hand-Held initiative, has made the wrong  decision. It's absurd to change the position of the steering wheel on  these machines, as these machines will automatically become dangerous  for operation," he explained.  Representatives of the Right-Hand  Drive initiative stressed that if the authorities did not reconsider  the decision, they would resume the protests and block the way to the  Bagratashen checkpoint.