YEREVAN. – The Armenian government makes pharmacists increase spendings, Armenia's Medicine Producers and Importers Union chairman Samvel Zakaryan told reporters commenting on amendments to the law on trade and services.

The amendments adopted by parliament in June are related to the control of stamps on drug packages.

Zakryan explained that there is a large assortment of drugs and a variety of types and sizes of packages, besides the changes apply to both domestic and imported drugs. Therefore, it will be difficult to use one type of stamps.

“This means we will have to open each pile, stamp each package and close it again, and this requires new spending,” he explained.

If the purpose of a new law is to monitor legal trade, then this can be achieved much more easily. The customs service knows how much raw material is imported for local medicine producers, and knowing the technical regulations of a drug, the government can easily calculate the volume of production at each plant.