ArmInfo. A special autonomous body for cybersecurity will be created in Armenia. At its September 22 session, the National Assembly Committee on State and Legal Affairs approved the draft law "On Cybersecurity" and a package of related documents submitted by the Armenian government for the first reading.
Introducing the amendments, RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Aypapetyan noted that the purpose of the package is to create a legal framework for protecting information systems and critical infrastructure, including energy, transportation, and the financial sector, from cyber threats. The bill proposes the creation of a state autonomous body for cybersecurity that will monitor, assess risks, and coordinate incident response measures. The scope of regulation covers relations related to the uninterrupted functioning of information systems and critical information infrastructures used to provide vital services; ensuring the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of processed, distributed, stored, and transmitted information; notification of cyber incidents, their prevention and resolution; requirements for cybersecurity service providers; and monitoring compliance with the requirements of this law.
The draft law clarifies the powers of the body developing state policy in the field of cybersecurity, represented by the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia, and the body implementing cybersecurity policy, represented by the autonomous body, as well as other competent state bodies in this area. The adoption of the package will create a legal basis for developing a comprehensive state policy and action plan in the area of cybersecurity, inventorying and classifying cybersecurity challenges and risks, and principles for responding to cyber incidents, strengthening cybersecurity in emergency situations and under martial law, clarifying roles and responsibilities, planning and conducting cyber exercises, and implementing programs aimed at raising public awareness.
To ensure the security of the state information system, an autonomous body will be tasked with restricting the use of state information systems and the level of data exchange (X-road). These systems are created and developed using state budget funds, constitute critical infrastructure, contain a security component, and are aimed at providing the public with uninterrupted, secure, and high-quality services. To implement this function, the body must have clear legislative provisions and an enabling regulatory framework.
It should be noted that, with the adoption of the bill, the total annual salary and social security costs, once the relevant positions and employees of the autonomous body are fully staffed, will amount to 4-6 billion drams. When calculating the costs, it was taken into account that the salaries of employees of professional units are high on the market, and these teams will make up the bulk of the agency's staff.
