YEREVAN. - Armenian enterprises will not be denied full access to the common market of services of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Mr Rinat Galitdinov, Deputy Head of Entrepreneurship, Services and Investments Division of the EEC Entrepreneurial Activity Development Department, told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

The commission is now building up a legal base for the market of goods, services, and labor, currently shared by 4 member countries of the Eurasian Union.

Responding to the question on whether Armenian service providers may lose competition to larger Russian companies, he pointed out that under the EEU treaty, the national governments possess enough leverage to shield selected markets.

“The Eurasian Economic Union treaty allows the member states to take protection measures, which are strictly regulated.  National governments must themselves decide whether to apply exceptions for the protection of the domestic market of services. Exceptions may cover public procurement tenders and must not exceed 2 years”, he said.

Consequently, if that decision affects enterprises of another member state, restricting their access to market, that state can impose quid pro quo limitations. Hence this is a replication of the WTO model of market regulation.

“Of course, in some cases restrictions have some reasoning behind them – say, when a government wants a timeout for its industry to develop and to catch up with the rest. But again, those restrictions must be subject to the aforementioned rules”, Galitdinov added.