Draft Law on Cinematography Endorsed

At April 29 regular sitting, the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport debated the legislative package in the first reading on Cinematography, on Making Addenda to the RA Code on Administrative Legal Offences, on Making Addenda to the RA Tax Code authored by the NA deputies Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Anna Kostanyan, Artur Manukyan and Arman Yeghoyan.

The Committee Chair Mkhitar Hayrapetyan informed that the abovementioned legislative package was debated in the first reading and passed in September of the previous year, but the debate of the item was postponed, and the package was put out of circulation.

According to the key rapporteur Anna Kostanyan, the package has passed a long phase of revision. The sphere of the cinema in our country is regulated by law by now. The film production, the film rent, the film showing, other forms of the state financing and state support for the film to take part in the international film festivals are not regulated. The shooting of the foreign films is encouraged in any way in Armenia.

By passing the legislative package the development of the cinematography sphere will be ensured in Armenia, sufficient legal guarantees the creation, the dissemination, the screening and the advancement of the national films, as well as the ensuring of the preservation and accessibility of the film heritage and the film chronicle will be supported.

It was noted that the draft laws had been revised, taking as a basis the experience of the legislative regulation of the sphere of cinematography in a number of countries. Particularly, legal acts regulating the sphere of cinematography of France, Russia, Romania, Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Georgia, Bulgaria, Iceland and a number of other countries were studied.

Anna Kostanyan underlined that proposals had been previously, which were taken into consideration and certain amendments were made.

The co-rapporteur deputy Artur Manukyan has noted that this had been a long awaited draft law on which he had numerous debates. He met with the specialists of the sphere and listened to their positive opinions, the MP proposed his colleagues to endorse it.

Presenting the opinion of the Government, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Arayik Khzmalyan noted that the main objections that were presented by the executive body during the previous debates had remained unchanged.

The Government has objections and reservations on the package, some provisions of the bills are controversial and need specification.

The NA deputy Artur Manukyan was interested in the necessity of the law on the cinema sphere.

The Deputy Minister stated that there was necessity, but the law would have a problem of applying it.

The Committee Chair proposed the Deputy Minister to put aside the opinion in written form submitted by the government and present his own viewpoint as a specialist of the sphere. He was interested in the works done by the Ministry on the sphere during two years.

The Deputy Ministry has underlined that the most serious problem of the sphere is the cinema education. The Ministry revises projects in that direction.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan proposed the representative of the Government to present the alternative of the law during the debate of the NA regular sittings.

In his final speech the key rapporteur proposed to set a special procedure for debate at the NA regular sittings.

As a result of voting the legislative package was approved by the Committee.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.