Wednesday, April 9 2014

Four non-governmental parties of the Armenian parliament, Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, Heritage and ARFD, have issues a joint statement calling the Government to stop wrongful interpretation of the Constitutional Court's decision on the mandatory component of the accumulative pension system. According to the statement, the Constitutional Court's decision says: 

1. A range of basic provisions of the law on introduction of the mandatory pension system are unconstitutional and invalid;

2. The conceptual provisions of the law applying to the mandatory component are subject to fundamental revision;

3. Part of the disputable articles of the law meet the Constitution within the legal views of the Constitutional Court.

Simultaneously, the Constitutional Court applied postponement and set 30 September as the deadline of recognizing invalid the unconstitutional provisions of the law. This has created ground for different and contradictory interpretations of the Constitutional Court's decision. 

"On the one hand, the Constitutional Court accepted the substantiations of the four parliamentary factions and recognized the provisions of the Law on Accumulative Pension as unconstitutional. On the other hand, the imperfect and ambiguous formulations in the Constitutional Court's decision make it possible for the authorities to continue charging mandatory payments. 

Obviously, the authorities have not refused from creating pension funds on the basis of the mandatory payments and gained time to implement this program in a modified form that will allegedly meet the Constitution of Armenia."

Considering the aforementioned, we demand the authorities:
1.  To stop wrongful interpretation of the Constitutional Courts decision dated 2 April 2014 and the actions based on it,
2. To make amendments to the by-laws to ensure return of the accumulative funds of the employees born after 1 Jan 1974 that have been charged since Jan 1 2014 against their will, as well as to prevent restrictions of the employees' property rights.
3. To make an explanatory statement to the public over the issue and give employers an opportunity to change the submitted reports. 

We urge: 
1. Employers not to charge mandatory accumulative payments from salaries of employees against their will and not transfer those payments;
2. Employees who were born  in 1974 and later not to choose a managing fund or a manager, if they disagree with the law;
3. The unions of employers and trade unions to protect their rights and do not allow illegal actions against their members;
4. All the citizens, organizations and the youth of Armenia to involve into the process of the legislative revisions in line with the Constitutional Court's decision.
We will continue to support the citizens and public interest groups fighting the mandatory accumulative pension system.
We confirm our commitment to further work for proper future of generations and make a legislative initiative within the coming days to stop application of the mandatory component of the law and restore the infringed rights of employees and employers," the four parties say in the statement.