Vardan Harutyunyan’s “odyssey”
"How does Armenia benefit when a poverty-stricken citizen is not able to pay for customs clearance of packages sent from a friend and writes an appeal to send them back?" this is one of the many questions presented by advocate Vardan Harutyunyan in an open letter addressed to RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
In his letter, Harutyunyan expresses his concerns over the customs clearance of cargo, which causes problems for average citizens. Harutyunyan was in a similar situation just recently.
The advocate presents all the difficulties and needless impediments that he faced for sending a package containing two books. Vardan Harutyunyan's friend from Moscow had sent a 17 Euro and maximum 1-1.5 kilogram package. The mailman came to Harutyunyan's house and informed him that he had to go to the terminal for products subject to customs clearance at "Zvartnots" Airport, pay the customs clearance fee and receive his package.
That is exactly the moment when the problems began as he turned to one employee to the next with different formulations, which Vardan Harutyunyan has described as "the odyssey of an RA citizen at the customs point" in his letter.
After all that, "...I came out with the one-kilogram package from the exit foreseen for large cars loaded with cleared products. After entering the building through the main entrance, I went to the young man with the metal detector, handed my pass, received my passport and came back home with unanswered questions regarding what I had seen and what I had heard while waiting in the long lines," says Vardan Harutyunyan as he ends his letter.
Harutyunyan looks forward to receiving responses to his "why" questions. For instance, why should RA citizens not be able to receive their packages at home? Why should RA citizens pay enormous amounts of money for customs clearance for packages sent by their friends?
