ARMENIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Varoujan Avedikian, Lena Mitichyan, Ani Tchagharyan and Anahit Zakaryan, Andersen Legal
and administrative proceedings. Currently studying at the Academy of Advocates of Armenia, Anahit combines strong transactional expertise with practical litigation experience, ensuring comprehensive legal support for both local and cross-border matters.
Andersen Legal Garegin Hovsepyan 180 Yerevan, 0011 Armenia Tel: +374 12 810 180 Email: info@am.andersen.com Web: Am.andersen.com
Foreign Investment Law Foreign investors in Armenia have enjoyed legal pro - tection since 1994, thanks to the Law on Foreign Investments adopted in the same year. The Armenian Ministry of Economy, with technical assistance from the World Bank, has developed a new Investment Law that draws upon modern international practices. Unlike the current law, the new draft does discriminate between foreign and local investors, but it also pro - vides legal protection to both. Additionally, the new law introduces protection of investments from indirect expropriation and, together with direct expropriation, forbids it except in extraordinary public policy circum - stances, in which case investors must be compen - sated in an efficient, quick and fair manner. As an additional tool, the draft law requires that in cases of investment-related disputes (both domestic and international), both the government and the inves - tors negotiate in good faith to reach an acceptable settlement before referring the matter to arbitration tribunals or the judiciary. The new draft also establishes a level playing field for government stimulus packages, ensuring that inves - tors are not discriminated against in receiving them.
Further, the draft mandates both the government and the Ministry of Economy to be transparent and pubic in their investment policies and publish those through official Investment Policy Statements. Additionally, the new draft mandates the government to institutionalise the quasi-government investment assistance and care agency known as Enterprise Armenia by dedicating this authority a clear mandate to work with investors and support them when need - ed. The draft law is expected to be adopted in 2025. Law on Crypto-Assets The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Crypto-Assets, which extends the Central Bank’s regulatory powers to the markets in crypto-assets, came into force in 2025. The Law is in line with European trends: its logic and effect are similar to those of the Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). The law covers relations arising from issuing, offering, buying and selling “crypto-assets” in Armenia, as well as providing “crypto-asset services”. The key regula - tory elements are as follows. • Public offerings of crypto-assets require publi - cation of a “white paper” (offering document) in
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