No obstacles to residents planning import of electric cars - MP

ArmInfo. Artificial barriers cannot be created for citizens who have planned to import electric vehicles several months in advance. This was stated on June 12 in the National Assembly of Armenia during discussions on the  draft state budget for 2025 by Arsen Torosyan, a member of the National Assembly from the ruling Civil Contract faction. 

He recalled that earlier the State Revenue Committee issued a  statement that the quota of the Eurasian Economic Union for duty-free  import of 8 thousand electric vehicles from third countries to  Armenia in 2025 will cover vehicles no older than 3 years. In this  regard, the deputy stressed the need to adhere to previously assumed  obligations and not create additional problems. "We cannot limit the  benefits for the import of electric vehicles to Armenia halfway," the  deputy believes, pointing out that many citizens plan to import  electric vehicles many months in advance.

In response, the RA Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan noted that  the said measure is aimed at preventing the country from turning into  a large dump of electric vehicles. The department, as its head noted,  is working on compiling an analysis of all the pros and cons  associated with the import of electric vehicles, which he will  present to the country's parliament. Let us recall that in October of  this year, at a meeting of the RA government, RA Deputy Prime  Minister Mher Grigoryan proposed introducing recycling fees for  vehicles with electric engines. "Among the privileged countries, we  provide the largest volume of privileges for the import and operation  of electric vehicles. This gives about a 30% price effect compared to  other countries," he said.

At the same time, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, Armenia is  among the few countries that have not yet established recycling fees,  which again is a serious incentive for importing electric vehicles,  but at the same time, a serious challenge in the future. "We need to  establish fees, ince the costs of recycling these vehicles far exceed  the costs of traditional ones," he said. In addition, as Grigoryan  noted, it will be quite difficult to obtain a preferential regime  within the EAEU in the future, since Russia, Kazakhstan, and  Kyrgyzstan are planning to manufacture or localize the production of  such vehicles. "This suggests that obtaining quotas in the future  will become more difficult," he noted.