On October 23 the National Assembly of Armenia passed the draft RA Law "On Freedom of Information" in the first reading. The draft law was developed by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on State and Legal Issues Viktor Dallakian and deputy Vardan Bostanjian, basing on the document developed by the task force of Yerevan Press Club. Further, YPC, the Association of Investigative Journalists of Armenia, the Civil Society Development Union and Internews-Armenia took part in the discussion of the draft. Before the adoption of the document in the first reading the representatives of these NGOs and Toby Mendel of "Article 19" British organization reviewed the last version of the draft. In their opinion, the Law "On Freedom of Information" must cover only the state structures and local self-administration bodies. The inclusion of non-governmental organizations into the draft makes no sense, since the mere status of NGO calls for transparency and openness in their activities. Besides, contrary to the numerous suggestions of journalists, the obligation of the state structures to provide information has not been stipulated by the draft, the notion of "information officer" in the state organization is lacking, too. Also, what is most important, the restrictions of information provision are not narrated clearly enough and can cause diverging interpretations. It is crucial to give a complete listing of all the possible cases when the information provision can be restricted. The possibility of getting an immediate answer to oral and not time-consuming queries is not envisaged, either.
These and other suggestions of the NGOs were submitted to the appropriate Parliamentary Committee. The authors of the draft law expressed their readiness to continue collaborating so that the draft is improved before its adoption in the second reading.
