The Administrative Court terminated the proceedings, noting that the dispute had been exhausted following the revision of the administrative act

• 2025-05-12

Our client, in their capacity as the former director of a company, applied to the Administrative Court seeking to annul an administrative act issued by a public authority, which had imposed an administrative sanction against them.
In challenging the lawfulness of the sanction, the plaintiff presented a number of legal arguments before the Court. In particular:
The plaintiff demonstrated that they had ceased to serve as the company’s director prior to the alleged violation, and therefore bore no responsibility for the submission of reports. The administrative authority had failed to prove the plaintiff’s personal culpability in the alleged violation and had not ensured a comprehensive, full, and objective examination of the case, thereby breaching Article 37 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Fundamentals of Administration and Administrative Proceedings.”
Furthermore, the mere presence of the referenced pharmaceuticals in the pharmacies of other business operators could not serve as proof that the medicines had been distributed through the company previously headed by our client. The case materials did not include any relevant invoices or supporting documentation.
At the time of the judicial review of the administrative act, the official state register of medicines was not being maintained by the Ministry of Health, effectively depriving the business operator of the opportunity to verify the legal status of the imported medicines.
The plaintiff also emphasized that the pharmaceuticals had been imported under emergency conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the law allowed for the import and use of unregistered medicines in Armenia.
Despite the existence of prior cases with similar circumstances already being examined by the Administrative Court, the administrative authority failed to suspend the proceedings—an inaction which could have affected the legal outcome of the case.
Before the court hearing took place, the administrative authority issued a new decision annulling its own previous administrative act. The Court concluded that this action had effectively resolved the dispute, thereby justifying the termination of proceedings.
This case once again reaffirms that effective legal protection against administrative acts may result not only in court-annulled decisions, but also in compelling administrative authorities to exercise their own power of revision within the framework of legality control.

Notice
The decision rendered in Administrative Case No. VD/4626/05/23 by the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia has entered into legal force.