The first draft amendments envision to stop publishing information on the purpose of business trips of state employees, discussed topics, meetings, speeches, decisions, which have been made available on e-gov.am platform since 2017. The second draft amendments suggest changes to the government decision on e-gov.am platform in order to limit the information on single source procurements, including removing the requirement to publish scanned contracts on single source procurements. These amendments also suggest removing the information on the register of hazardous industrial facilities and the bulletin data on subsoil resources, including the data on mining rights. In addition, they plan to dismiss the provision on publishing information on the government-purchased air tickets: this information (with some exceptions) has been published on govtravel.am since 2016 on the basis of the relevant government decision.
The need for the amendments is justified by the fact that the above-mentioned information is of strategic importance and can be used to the detriment of the state interests of Armenia. Therefore, the minimal necessary information should be published to exclude any risky and sensitive information.
On July 7, the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia has published additional clarification to justify the necessity of the drafts. The Ministry explained that state information of strategic importance is posted on websites with easy access, and it can be used by third countries or organisations in various economic, political, and other analyzes to the detriment of the state interest of Armenia. At the same time, the Ministry mentioned that the information will be still available for the public through the inquiries.
These draft amendments were criticized by CSOs and experts. They mention that most of the provisions of the draft amendments contradict Article 51 of the Constitution, the RA Law on Freedom of Information, as well as Armenia's commitments within the framework of the Open Government Partnership. Such information restrictions are full of corruption risks and contradict to the principles of transparency and accountability of the state authorities.