YEREVAN. – The working customs duties are planned to be zeroed within the framework of free trade with the European Union (EU), Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Economy Garegin Melkonyan said during a briefing with news reporters on Tuesday.

But in order for such action to go smoothly and not be drastic for domestic producers in the case of Armenia, talks are underway with EU, and with respect to temporarily maintaining the customs duties for a small number of products. 

A three to seven year transitional period for applying customs duty will be envisioned for these products.

Melkonyan also informed that the matter of collecting the value added tax at the border is not discussed with the European Union.