The Community Leader's Decision to Collect Waste Collection Fees was Declared Invalid
- 2021-09-14
According to the decision of the community leader, the Plaintiff was required to pay 101,204 AMD to the community budget as the amount resulting from the failure to pay waste collection fees.
The decision was unlawful because it was made in violation of Decision No. 360-N, which regulates the registration of waste collection fee payers, the calculation of the waste collection fee, and the collection of this fee in Yerevan. Specifically, points 7 and 8 of Decision No. 360-N establish the method and rates for calculating the waste collection fee. Point 8 specifies that the methods and rates for calculating the fee are only applied when it is impossible to determine the volume or weight of waste from non-residential buildings or structures. Therefore, in each case, when applying the methods and rates set in point 8, the community must conduct a comprehensive, objective, and complete examination to determine whether such impossibility exists.
However, in this case, after reviewing the materials of the administrative proceedings and the content of the disputed decision, the court reasonably concluded that in violation of Article 37 of the Law on Administrative Procedure of Armenia, the impossibility of determining the waste collection fee under the method prescribed in point 7 of Decision No. 360-N was not established. Moreover, in violation of Articles 55 and 57 of the same law, the disputed administrative act did not substantiate the impossibility of determining the amount of the waste collection fee, particularly regarding the volume and weight of the waste.
Additionally, the court found that the violation of Articles 55 and 57 of the Law on Administrative Procedures was also manifested in the fact that the disputed act did not contain factual information about the time period for which the obligations were raised, to what extent the Plaintiff had fulfilled its obligations, and how the amount of the obligations had been determined. As a result, the Plaintiff was deprived of the opportunity to effectively protect its rights.
Regarding the Plaintiff’s other arguments about the unlawfulness of the disputed act, the court did not consider it necessary to address them since the other arguments were already sufficient to declare the act invalid.
Notification:
The decision of the Administrative Court of Armenia in case No. VD/5789/05/20 has entered into legal force and has not been appealed.