In its meeting held on January 30, 2015, the Armenian Government made an amendment to public procurement decree by bringing it into compliance with the requirements of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Thus, upon purchasing commodities worth up to 70 million AMD the government would hereafter give preference to the commodities that were produced in EEU member-states even if they were 15 percent higher in price than similar goods made in Europe. It turned out that in public procurement process the executive makes commodities produced in EEU countries preferable to buy even if they are more expensive and of low quality.

In his interview to Mamul.am Artak Manukyan, Procurement Expert of Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) explained, “There are two criteria in our legislation - more profitable supply and minimum price. Essentially the clients apply minimum price as selection criteria for award winning participant. If any of the companies before adopting the decree offered some price, for instance, 1000 AMD, and the other company offered 1140 AMD and 1000 was chosen, now the 1140 AMD worth EEC commodities will be purchased.”

In the opinion of the expert the decree implies serious corruption risks. In particular, the company may be registered somewhere in EEU territory and present commodities of European origin in tender and receive profit and the same product will be acquired from state budget for higher price. If the purpose is defending national producers the state had more effective tools to promote them that will make them more competitive, for instance, state guarantees, lower interest rates, favorable investment climate, etc.