Discussions continue in Armenia regarding the draft law on establishing a state system for registering IMEI codes of mobile phones. Tigran Jrbashyan, Director of Management Consulting Services at Ameria, stated that before introducing a new mechanism, a comprehensive market analysis must be conducted to assess what specific problems it should solve.
The expert noted that over the past 3 years, the smartphone market in the country has significantly changed. According to the World Trade Organization, in 2024, Armenia imported smartphones worth approximately $760 million, while exports reached $675 million. He stated that such close figures indicate a significant role of re-export, so when developing regulations, it is important to consider not only the domestic market but also international commodity flows.
Jrbashyan questions whether an analysis was conducted before the draft law was prepared to determine what proportion of devices are imported for domestic sale and what proportion for subsequent export. He also believes that the state should publish the results of the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), if such work has already been completed. According to the analyst, modern regulatory policy should primarily be based on objective market analysis, and only then on the choice of control tools.