During today’s session, the Constitutional Court of Armenia decided that certain provisions stated in the order of the Minister of Health are unconstitutional. In particular, the Constitutional Court declared the word-combination ‘at his or her expense’ in the sentence ‘the PCR test shall be carried out by the employee at his or her expense’ as contradicting parts 1 and 2 of point 6 and Article 39 of the Constitution and invalid, taking into consideration the fact that prescribing the scope of employees with the duty to pay for a PCR test is beyond the scope of powers of the Minister of Health prescribed by law.

According to part 2 of Article 170 of the Constitution, this decision is final and shall enter into force from the moment of promulgation.

Opposition MPs had applied to the Constitutional Court to challenge the constitutionality of the health minister’s order on mandatory coronavirus vaccinations and testing.

According to the decision, employers need to require that their employees submit a certificate of vaccination against the coronavirus or show negative result of a PCR test twice a month and/or a statement of information from a doctor stating that the particular employee has contraindications for vaccination.

According to the deputies of the National Assembly who submitted an application to the Constitutional Court, the order mandates all employees to either get tested for COVID-19 at their own expense or get vaccinated. The deputies stated that this has to be each person’s informed, not imposed decision.

According to Article 68 of the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court, the body having adopted the mentioned law (National Assembly of Armenia) and the body having adopted the mentioned order (Minister of Health of Armenia) are involved in the proceedings as respondents under this case.