Article 13. State Registration, State Recording and Restrictions of Vehicles
1. The rights of ownership, pledge and rights under a lease agreement of vehicles are subject to state registration. The list of types of vehicles subject to state registration is established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
1.1. Prior to the state registration of a right arising from transactions concerning a vehicle, the road police, upon notification by a notary, makes a preliminary notice of rights in the name of the rights holder of the property, which includes information concerning the vehicle and the data of the rights holder in whose favor the preliminary notice of rights is made.
2. The right of ownership arising from transactions concerning a vehicle is subject to (must be submitted for) state registration at the road police within a period of 15 days from the date of signing of the transaction by the parties, and where the vehicle has been imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Release for domestic consumption" or for the purpose of free circulation by natural persons—within a period of 15 days from the date of declaration, with the exception of cases of deregistration connected with the decommissioning of the vehicle. The state registration and state recordation of vehicles are carried out within one working day after the submission of the vehicle (or a certificate concerning the vehicle's data provided by the administrative unit of the road police or by the authorized subdivision serving the location of the vehicle) and of the documents established by the legislation to the road police.
3. In the Republic of Armenia, the right of ownership, pledge and rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle arising from transactions concerning the vehicle arises (is recognized by the State) from the moment of state registration. If the vehicle that is the subject of pledge, in accordance with the law or the contract, is to be in the possession of the pledgee, the right of pledge arises from the moment of transfer of the pledged vehicle to the pledgee, and if it was transferred before the conclusion of the contract—from the moment of its conclusion. The rights and restrictions of spouses with regard to a vehicle, established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, have legal force even if those rights have not been registered separately.
4. Transactions concerning a vehicle may not be carried out without the certificate of ownership of the vehicle, and, at the request of any of the parties to the transaction, also without a certificate of encumbrances on the vehicle issued by the subdivision of the road police that carried out the state registration of that vehicle. The certificate of encumbrances on the vehicle is issued within one working day for a period of 5 days; moreover, each subsequent certificate of encumbrances on the same vehicle is issued only after the expiry of the period of validity of the previous certificate. The risks of non-registration, on the ground of the existence of a restriction, of rights arising from transactions carried out without a certificate of encumbrances on the vehicle are borne by the parties to the transaction.
5. Failure to comply with the requirement to register the right of ownership, pledge or rights under a lease agreement arising from transactions concerning a vehicle leads to its invalidity (such transaction is null and void), with the exception of the right of ownership arisen in other countries in the manner established by the legislation of that country, failure to comply with the requirement of registration of which leads to liability established by law.
6. In the case of offenses committed by means of a vehicle after a transaction concerning the vehicle (after the acquisition of the vehicle) and prior to the registration of the right of ownership of the vehicle, the liability provided for by the legislation for the owner is borne by the buyer, if the seller proves that a proper transaction was concluded between them.
7. To vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Release for domestic consumption" or by natural persons for the purpose of free circulation, whose right of ownership is subject to state registration at the road police and which do not have registration plates, or whose registration plates contain non-Latin letters or non-Arabic numerals, the road police, after customs clearance, issues transit registration plates.
8. For the state registration of the right of ownership of a vehicle, the following must appear at the authorized subdivision of the road police:
1) the alienator (or their representative) and the acquirer (or their representative), if the alienation is formalized by a simple written transaction (the execution of a simple written transaction and the state registration of the right of ownership of the vehicle arising therefrom, as well as the state registration of the right of pledge and rights under a lease agreement, may also be carried out on the electronic platform of the road police—without appearing at the authorized subdivision of the road police, in the manner established by a decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia);
2) only the acquirer (or their representative), if they submit:
a. a judgment of a court that has entered into legal force, or
b. a notarised alienation contract, and if the vehicle has been acquired in another country, a proper document or customs declaration certifying the acquirer's right to the vehicle within the meaning of the legislation of that country, or
c. an alienation contract concluded with a bailiff or a bankruptcy administrator, or a record or contract of acquisition of a vehicle from a commodity exchange, or
d. an alienation contract (invoice) of vehicles specified in part 3 of this Article, concluded with an economic entity carrying out commercial activity in vehicles, or
e. a certificate of joint common ownership of spouses issued by a notary, or
f. a document established by the legislation on the reorganization of legal persons, or
g. documents established by the legislation certifying the transfer of the right of ownership to the pledgee through the extrajudicial enforcement against a vehicle that is the subject of pledge;
3) the heir of the deceased owner of the vehicle (or their representative), if registration is in their name.
9. The state registration and recording of the rights provided for in this Law of a vehicle re-equipped on the basis of a permission of the competent body, with the exception of cases of deregistration connected with the decommissioning of the vehicle, are carried out after the technical inspection of the vehicle in its re-equipped state, on the basis of an entry (positive conclusion) made in the diagnostic card of the technical inspection concerning the serviceability of the vehicle with regard to the changes made during the re-equipment. In the case of re-equipment of a vehicle, it is prohibited to change the year of manufacture of the vehicle, as well as to assemble (create) a vehicle of another make as a consequence of the re-equipment.
10. The state registration of the right of ownership of a vehicle is refused if:
the documents provided for by the list of documents mandatorily submitted for the state registration of vehicles, established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the basis of point "k1" of part 1 of Article 9 of this Law, have not been submitted;
the period established by part 2 of this Article for the submission for registration of the right of ownership arising from transactions concerning a vehicle (with the exception of the right of ownership arisen in other countries in the manner established by the legislation of that country) has not been observed (null and void transaction), with the exception of cases where the non-observance (missing) of the period occurred without the fault of the person, in which case the person may submit an application to consider the missed period as excused and to restore it;
the vehicle has not been submitted to the road police, with the exception of cases established by a decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia;
there is a discrepancy between the actual (factual) and the documentary data of the vehicle;
the vehicle or one of its numbered parts is on the wanted list;
a restriction has been applied to the vehicle in the manner established by law, with the exception of cases established by Article 243.1 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Armenia;
the vehicle is assembled from separate parts of various vehicles or from separate spare parts, with the exception of individually constructed vehicles;
the vehicle is equipped, without appropriate permission, with flashing beacons and/or special sound signals, or color graphics, inscriptions and other markings have been affixed without appropriate permission to the outer surface of the vehicle's body, or these do not comply with the established requirements, if they cannot be removed before the refusal of the state registration of the right of ownership of the vehicle.
11. The state registration of the right of pledge and rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle is carried out within a 5-day period from the date of the transaction, on the basis of an application submitted to the authorized subdivision of the road police, to which are attached the pledge or lease contract of the vehicle, properly drawn up in accordance with the requirements established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, and a copy of the certificate of ownership of the vehicle, while the certificate of ownership of the vehicle is kept by the pledgee at the pledgee's wish. The right of pledge and rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle is registered within one working day after the submission of the documents specified in this part to the authorized subdivision of the road police. The authorized subdivision of the road police carries out the registration of the right of pledge and rights under a lease agreement by making the appropriate entries in the register and in the vehicle registration card. The form of the register is established by the Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia.
12. The registration of the right of pledge and rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle may not be refused, with the exception of cases where:
the application or the documents attached thereto specified in part 11 of this Article have not been submitted, or the period established by part 11 of this Article for the submission for state registration of the right of pledge or rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle has not been observed;
a restriction has been applied to the vehicle transferred under a lease agreement, in the manner established by part 13 of this Article.
13. In the case of registration of the right of pledge or rights under a lease agreement of a vehicle, as well as in the cases of placing a vehicle under restraint or attachment by decision of the competent bodies, including the court, in the cases and manner provided for by law, a restriction is applied to the vehicle—within the limits provided for by the pledge or lease contracts or by the documents on placement under restraint or attachment.
14. The authorized subdivision of the road police carries out the restriction by making the appropriate entries in the register of restrictions and in the vehicle registration card. The form of the register of restrictions is established by the Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia.
15. A vehicle registration certificate issued by the state authorized body before 16 October 2010 is considered a document certifying the right of ownership of the vehicle; however, it is prohibited to carry out a transaction by means of that certificate. The owner of the vehicle has the right to apply for and to receive free of charge, on the basis of that registration certificate, a certificate of registration of the right of ownership of the vehicle.
16. A person who acquired the right of ownership of a vehicle before 16 October 2010 and does not have a registration certificate for that vehicle may, after 16 October 2010, submit an application to the state authorized body in the manner established by this Law for the issue of registration documents for the vehicle.
17. The registration of the right of pledge or rights under a lease agreement of vehicles, carried out before 16 October 2010 in the manner established by law, is considered, within the meaning of this Law, a restriction on the vehicle.
18. The state recordation of a vehicle on the basis of the certificate of state registration of the right of ownership of the vehicle (with the exception of vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedures "Customs transit" and "Temporary import" or temporarily by natural persons) is a function of collection and recording of information concerning the technical characteristics of the vehicle, as a result of which a vehicle registration certificate (on the registration certificate, in addition to the registration data, the inscription "Not a basis for alienation" is also indicated in Armenian and English) and/or registration plate is issued, with the exception of vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Customs transit" or under the customs procedure "Temporary import" or temporarily by natural persons for a period of up to 2 months, in which case a registration certificate and plates are not issued.
19. A vehicle may need not be submitted for state recordation if it has been acquired (imported) for commercial purposes by an economic entity carrying out commercial activity in vehicles which will not operate it in the Republic of Armenia, or if it has been imported into the Republic of Armenia under customs procedures other than "Release for domestic consumption" or if it will not be operated in the Republic of Armenia.
20. A vehicle is recorded in the name of the owner (in the case of more than one owner, the vehicle is recorded in the name of one of them with the consent of all owners).
20.1. If the natural person who is the owner (lessee) of a vehicle does not have the right to drive a vehicle of the given category, or is deprived of the right to drive a vehicle, or whose such right is suspended, that person is obliged to submit, upon recordation of the vehicle, the data (name, surname, public services number (PSN) or the data of the identity document, driving license number) of only one person who has the right to drive a vehicle of the given category and who will operate that vehicle.
20.2. In the case provided for in part 20.1 of this Article, the presence of the person operating the vehicle and their written consent to the provision of their personal data are mandatory upon the performance of the vehicle recordation action. The operating person is given a written explanation that they may bear administrative liability for road traffic offenses committed by means of the given vehicle and detected by video- or photo-recording devices. The form of the consent given by the operating person to the provision of their personal data and of the written explanation given to them is established by an order of the Head of Police.
20.3. If the data of the person operating the vehicle are not provided, the vehicle is not recorded.
20.4. In the case of a change of the person operating the vehicle, the owner (lessee) has the right to submit, in the manner established by this Article, the data of another operating person.
20.5. The natural person (individual entrepreneur, in the case of a legal person—the head of the legal person) who is the owner (lessee) of a recorded vehicle and who does not have the right to drive a vehicle of the given category, or whose right to drive vehicles is suspended, or who is deprived of the right to drive vehicles, has the right to submit, in the manner established by this Article, the data of the person operating the vehicle.
20.6. If the data of a foreigner who has a driving license obtained in another state and who is registered in the state register of the population are submitted as the person operating the vehicle, the presence of the foreigner operating the vehicle and the submission of their driving license are mandatory.
20.7. In the case of the death of the owner of the vehicle, until the state registration of the right of ownership of the new owner of the vehicle, the person actually possessing the vehicle, who submits the registration certificate of the deceased person's vehicle, is registered as the person operating the vehicle.
20.8. In the case of suspension of the right to drive vehicles of the person operating the vehicle, or of deprivation of that person of the right to drive vehicles, a notification is sent to the owner of the vehicle (in the case of a legal person—to the head of the legal person), proposing to submit the data of a new person operating the vehicle.
20.9. The authorized body of internal affairs is obliged to ensure the possibility of receiving by electronic means the consent of both the owner (lessee) of the vehicle (in the case of a legal person—the head of the legal person) provided for in this Article, and of the owner (lessee) (in the case of a legal person—the head of the legal person) having the right to drive a vehicle of the given category and of the person operating the vehicle, with the exception of the cases of submission of the vehicle for recording established in part 20.1 of this Article and the cases provided for in parts 20.6 and 20.7 of this Article.
21. Vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Customs transit" are subject to recordation at the border customs points simultaneously with customs clearance.
22. Vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Temporary import" or temporarily by natural persons for a period of more than 2 months are subject to recordation by the authorized body of internal affairs, while vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia for a period of up to 2 months—by the customs body.
23. To vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Temporary import" or temporarily by natural persons for a period of more than 2 months, temporary registration documents and registration plates are issued (and if the vehicle's plates contain non-Latin letters or non-Arabic numerals, registration plates are issued regardless of the period of import), with the exception of cases established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
24. The procedure for recording vehicles imported into the Republic of Armenia under the customs procedure "Temporary import" or temporarily by natural persons is established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
Article 13.2. Vehicle Registration Plates
1. The registration plate of a vehicle is the property of the State.
2. When changing (alienating) a vehicle, the user of a high-demand registration plate transfers it for safekeeping to the body that records the vehicle. If, within six months, the user of the given registration plates or their close relative (father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, child) submits for recording another vehicle belonging to them by right of ownership, those registration plates are issued to the user or close relative upon payment of the state duty established by law for the allocation of registration plates, and if those registration plates had been allocated before the allocation of high-demand registration plates by auction procedure—without an auction—also upon payment of the established price. If no other vehicle is submitted for recordation within the indicated period, the user is deprived of the right of priority of use of the registration plate transferred for safekeeping. The user of a high-demand registration plate may, at any time, renounce the right of use of that registration plate. The right of use of high-demand registration plates may be transferred to a person who has inherited the vehicle, upon payment of the state duty established by law for the allocation of registration plates, and if those registration plates had been allocated before the allocation of high-demand registration plates by auction procedure—without an auction—also upon payment of the established price.
4. The right of use of high-demand registration plates may be transferred to a close relative specified in part 2 of this Article only by the person who has the right to use the given registration plate for the first time, with the exception of cases of transfer by inheritance or to persons who have the right to use the given registration plates for the first time.
6. When changing or disposing of a vehicle, the user of a registration plate in special demand shall surrender it for safekeeping to the vehicle registration authority. If, within six months, the user of that registration plate or a close relative of the user (father, mother, brother, sister, spouse, or child) presents another vehicle owned by them for registration, that registration plate shall be assigned to the user or the close relative upon payment of the state duty prescribed by law for the assignment of registration plates. If another vehicle is not presented for registration within that period, the user loses the priority right to use the registration plate surrendered for safekeeping. The user of a registration plate in special demand may waive the right to use it at any time. The right to use a registration plate in special demand may be transferred to the person who inherited the vehicle, upon payment of the state duty prescribed by law for the assignment of registration plates.
7. The right to use a registration plate in special demand may be transferred to a close relative specified in part 6 of this Article only by the person entitled to be the first user of that registration plate, except where the right is transferred by inheritance or to a person entitled to be its first user.