YEREVAN. –Armenian capital city Yerevan bazaars’ several hundred merchants, who are protesting the new amendments to the Law on Turnover Tax, on Monday assembled outside the National Assembly (NA) building.

“We are gathered here today to meet with the MPs, or the NA speaker, to speak about the law.

“We want to propose that two versions of the law be carried out: The old law remains as is, and the new one is carried out, and let the merchants work within the framework of the law that they want.

“Let it be like this for at least one year; people will learn. If it’s good, they will pass to the framework of the new law,” Stepan Aslanyan, chairman of the Armenian Union of Small Entrepreneurs, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The protestors are assembled in front of the NA entrance, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed from the location. A large number of police officers are on the sidewalk, and they have formed a human wall so that the demonstrators will not disrupt the traffic on the avenue running across the NA entrance.

Human Rights Defender’s advisor Anush Margaryan is on the scene, too. She told reporters that the merchants had petitioned to the ombudsman, and that the latter’s office likewise believes that there is a violation of human rights in the new law.

Margaryan informed that the office will soon offer proposals for amendments in the new law.

“It’s true that the law envisioned an easing of the tax load, but it requires documentation, which will create difficulties for merchants,” she added.

Yerevan bazaars’ merchants have staged several protests outside the Government Building, and demanded that the aforesaid new law be withdrawn.

Pursuant to the new amendments in the Law on Turnover Tax, which will come into force on Wednesday, a business enterprise will be warned at first, and, subsequently, it will be fined for not submitting a document on its commodity circulation. The large businesses, however, often do not provide documents to the small and medium-sized enterprises concerning the products.