The commotion about the re-registration of media, in order to bring their legal status in compliance with the requirements of the new RA Civil Code and the Governmental Decree #169 dated March 16, 1999, seems to be ceasing. As the Chief Counselor of RA Ministry of Justice Sergey Karapetian told the Yerevan Press Club, as of early January 2001, 1083 media enterprises are registered in Armenia. Of these, 193 are TV companies, 55 are radio companies, 27 – news agencies, 166 – magazines and 642 – newspapers.
On the other hand, these data are apt to change before long. According to Mr. Karapetian, the legal requirements are such that if the founder of a media enterprise has registered as an economic subject (e.g., as a limited liability or a joint-stock company) in its territorial division of State Register before January 1, 2001, the Ministry of Justice cannot but accept documents for registering this enterprise.
By preliminary data, 40% of the mentioned 1083 media were to re-register in accordance with new requirements but failed to do so for different reasons, and legally are subject for liquidation. Moreover, in 1991-2000 – also through various reasons – the registration certificates of 46 media enterprises became invalid, yet these enterprises are still formally among the registered 1083.
Thus, a simple arithmetic calculation shows that having subtracted these media enterprises as well as those subject to liquidation, and taking into consideration the possible submission of documents, about 650-700 media enterprises will remain officially registered in Armenia. Sergey Karapetian says the work at the documents is still in progress, and the exact data will appear by mid-February.
Meanwhile, "Hayastani Hanrapetutiun" daily, founded in 1990 by RA National Assembly, announced on January 11 its intention to stop the publication starting the following day, as the edition had failed to perform the legally stipulated procedures for re-registration. “HH” assures the readers of its readiness to try and overcome the existing problems in the shortest time possible.
