YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. At the January 16 sitting, the RA Constitutional Court (CC) examined the case intitiated based on the application of 30 National Assembly deputies. The issue of constitutionality of a provision of Article 12 of the RA Law on Public Services Regulatory Body was disputed. Particularly, it is stipulated in the indicated provision that the amounts of tariffs set by the regulatory body are not subject to disputing in court. After 2-hour hearings, the CC started a closed-door consultation to make a decision. In the opinion of the claimant - member of the Orinats Yerkir faction Hovhannes Margarian, the disputed provision contradicts several articles of the RA Constitution. The key one is Article 18, according to which, in particular, everyone has the right to protect his/her rights and freedoms. In his words, an unprecedentedly supreme right is reserved for the RA Public Services Regulatory Commission - to determine the tariffs of public services, and the size of these tariffs may be disputed niether by consumers not by providers of the given services. He said that although the law envisages that the commission may reconsider its own decisions on tariffs, it has never taken such a step despite considerable changes in the foreign currency exchange rate (which forms the basis of tariff calculation) in the last 2 years. He asked that the CC recognize the above mentioned provision of the law as contradicting the constitution and invalid. In the opinion of Ashot Khachatrian, Head of the Legislation Analysis Department - the National Assembly's representative recognized as the defendant, the disputed provision does not contradict the RA Constitution. At the same time he admitted that it "maybe in terms of its formulation" contradicts the rights stipulated in Article 18 of the RA Constitution. According to A. Khachatrian, studies of international practice show that tariff amounts are not subject to disputing in other countries. In his opinion, otherwise the function of tariff setting would transfer from the independent regulating body to the court. "It is another matter that the methodology and principles of tariff formation may be disputed in court," the NA representative said.

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