Public Administration in Armenia 2025

The Principles of Public Administration

Principle 19. Users are at the centre in design and delivery of administrative services.

Principle 20. The public administration delivers streamlined and high-quality services.

Principle 21. Administrative services are easily accessible online and offline, taking into account different needs, choices and constraints.

Principle 22. Digitalisation enables data-driven decisions and effective, efficient and responsive policies, services and processes in the whole of government.

Armenia has made notable progress in digitalising public services since the last SIGMA assessment in 2019, but gaps remain in the strategic framework for improving over-the-counter service delivery. The Public Administration Reform (PAR) Strategy 2023-2025 includes service delivery goals, but it lacks a comprehensive framework for physical services. While digital transformation is advancing, the quality and accessibility of over-the-counter services are not systematically addressed, and no central institution is clearly responsible for their improvement. The strategy’s internal logic and data-based problem diagnosis are also weak, limiting its effectiveness.

User-centric design is gaining traction through digitalisation and innovative life-event projects, but broader engagement and burden-reduction mechanisms are still limited. The Information Systems Agency of Armenia (ISAA) is leading 12 pilot projects to redesign services using life-event integration methodology, for events such as starting a business, having a baby or registering a car. These efforts mark a shift toward a user-centric approach. However, reducing administrative burdens is not a standard regulatory requirement, and ISAA’s methodology for analysing the economic and social impacts of digitalising services has yet to be adopted across ministries.

Service standards are in place for digital services, but quality commitments and performance monitoring remain absent. The online portal (https://hartak.am) provides standardised service descriptions, including several aspects, such as legal deadlines, steps of the procedure and required documents. However, publication of concrete quality commitments is missing. Thus, users are not informed in advance what level of quality and accessibility of services they can expect. A common methodology of user satisfaction measurement tool (based on QR codes sent by e-mail to users) has been introduced. However, relying only on this method to gather user insights might give no voice to digitally underserved populations. Objective performance indicators and general social surveys representative of the whole Armenian population are still limited in scope and not yet systematically used across government services. This limits the ability to monitor, benchmark and improve services.

Digital availability of administrative services is progressing fast, but usability and proactive features of existing electronic services lag behind European Union (EU) standards. Citizen satisfaction with all administrative services in Armenia is in general high (63%), but business satisfaction is notably lower (45%). 81% of assessed services are available online to some degree, a strong result, although still below the EU average of 93%. However, despite the wide spread of online information about services, many services are still accessed mostly in person. Moreover, a deeper analysis of online services shows that several key dimensions, such as the mobile friendliness of websites or the transparency of the digital service process, remain limited. Life-event redesigns and new re-engineered digital services are very promising. Nevertheless, proactive features such as automatic renewals and notifications are not yet implemented.

Accessibility of services is uneven, and digital compliance with accessibility standards is stronger than physical inclusiveness. In fact, government portals offering digital services largely comply with WCAG 2.1 standards, but in-person services face significant accessibility gaps. The 2023-2027 Disability Inclusion Programme lacks a general objective on administrative service accessibility, but it contains relevant actions such as improving physical accessibility to public buildings and ensuring remote sign-language interpretation. Nevertheless, implementation is hindered by inadequate funding and the absence of a monitoring mechanism. Moreover, there are other shortcomings, such as the exclusion of key buildings such as police stations and courthouses from accessibility plans and the absence of legal rights to communicate with public authorities in official sign language or to receive braille versions of administrative communications. Despite the progress in digitalisation of services, the omni-channel principle is still not fully implemented, as some services are only available offline, and for digital-only services, users cannot access human support during the application process.

Armenia’s digital governance framework is solid, but legislation could benefit from alignment with the EU standards. The Digital Strategy 2021-2025 provides a clear roadmap, with responsibilities shared between the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and ISAA, with the Information Systems Management Council playing a co-ordinating role across the government. Methodological guides are in place, including digitalisation principles and a business-case methodology for deciding on new digital projects.

A strong data governance framework is in place, including a public metadata inventory. However, historical data is not fully digitised, and the legal framework does not establish a general definition of base registries ensuring their probatory value. The data exchange through the interoperability platform is increasing rapidly, However, alignment with the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) remains at the planning stage. Armenia has developed a plan to align its interoperability framework with the EIF requirements, including the future adoption of the X-Road platform. At the moment, cloud and open-source adoption remain low. The process of establishing an inventory of IT assets is in progress1. Electronic identification (eID) and digital signature systems are functional and free, but take-up by citizens is modest (only 6.3% of adults used eID in the past year). 

Cybersecurity is covered in the Digital Strategy. In August 2025, the Government approved and submitted a draft Law on Cybersecurity, which is currently awaiting consideration by the National Assembly. Only 42% of surveyed public servants reported having received enough training on cybersecurity skills to understand risks and know how to avoid them.2 There is no structured approach to developing or retaining digital talent in the public sector. While the principle of re-use of digital solutions is established, there is no repository to support it. Digital access to legislation is exemplary, but other IT tools, such as open data portals, are not yet developed and others, such as the e-procurement system, need improvements.

There are notable differences in alignment with the SIGMA standards across the five types of criteria assessed by SIGMA (Figure 48).

Criteria on legislation score the lowest (28% of possible maximum points), due to the absence of key laws (e.g. on cybersecurity), partial alignment of others with EU standards (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Digital Identity Regulation [eIDAS 2.0], and the EIF), and the lack of legal guarantees for core principles, such as the probatory value of some authentic sources or the right to communicate electronically with the administration. For the criteria on strategy and guidance, the score is 68%, supported by a digital strategy and methodological tools, but lacking a coherent framework for improving over-the-counter services. Institutional set-up (82%) is strong for digital governance, with clear mandates assigned to the Information Systems Management Council, the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and ISAA, but no institution is responsible for physical service delivery. Practice in implementation (43%) is weakened by the absence of implementation of several important elements of user-centric services, such as proactive features, limited application of the omni-channel principle, gaps in accessibility for people with special needs and limitation in the development of quality standards for physical services and performance dashboards based on administrative data. Criteria focused on results are high (84%), driven by strong results in the accessibility tests conducted by SIGMA of government portals and satisfaction levels among citizens, while businesses report more mixed perceptions.

1. The Government should strengthen the strategic framework for service delivery by explicitly including measures to improve the quality and accessibility of over-the-counter services, alongside digital services.

2. The Government should designate an institution with the mandate to steer, co‑ordinate and monitor service delivery improvements across both digital and physical channels.

3. The Government should establish a methodology and create incentives for public service providers to develop service charters or equivalent instruments that include quality and accessibility commitments beyond legal requirements, ensuring that users are informed of expected service standards.

4. To assess and improve the quality and accessibility of digital and physical public service provision across the administration, the Government should expand the Decision of the Information System Management Board of 16 May 2025 to develop a comprehensive set of performance indicators based on objective administrative data and user perception.

5. To enhance service efficiency and responsiveness, the Government should accelerate the implementation of proactive service features, including automatic pre-filling of forms, benefit renewals and user notifications.

6. The Government should amend current strategies and action plans to include a general objective and a clear set of measures focused on improving accessibility to administrative services for people with special needs, and should provide adequate funding and establish clear monitoring mechanisms to ensure proper implementation.

7. The Government should ensure that all digital-only services include accessible human support channels (e.g. live chat, call-back options or in-person assistance) to support users with limited digital skills or complex needs.

8. The Government should adopt a legal framework to regulate base registries as authentic sources, ensuring that electronic data in digital registries take precedence over paper records unless proven otherwise.

9. The Government should finish the implementation of the current plans to fully align the national interoperability framework with the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the Interoperable Europe Act and should increase the number of institutions and information systems connected to the interoperability platform, especially at the local level.

10. The Government should strengthen cybersecurity implementation by increasing compliance among public entities and expanding training for public servants.

Principle 19: Users are at the centre in design and delivery of administrative services.

Armenia’s service delivery strategy prioritises the improvement of public services primarily through digitalisation. However, it lacks a comprehensive strategic framework and central institutional leadership for enhancing over-the-counter services. Notable progress has been made in enabling digital transformation, particularly through life-event pilot projects that apply innovative, user-centric methods. Although service information is accessible via a central platform, institutions are not yet publishing concrete quality commitments, leaving users uninformed about the level of service quality they will receive. A unified tool has been introduced to measure user satisfaction, but broader performance monitoring based on administrative data is still at an early stage.

Armenia’s service delivery strategy is included in Goal 2 of the PAR Strategy 2023-2025 (Improving the quality of services provided to the public).3 The strategy presents two general outcome-level indicators (service user satisfaction and digital service usage) and identifies the institutions responsible for specific activities, along with their completion dates.

Nevertheless, several factors impede the full realisation of a comprehensive strategic approach for the service delivery area. First, the existing strategic framework focuses mostly on digital services, while over-the-counter services lack comprehensive actions and a institution with responsibility to steer and facilitate cross-agency administrative simplification. Second, the service delivery strategy document has methodological weaknesses: 1) it lacks clear connections between the three sub-objectives, the eight actions and the outcome level baseline and target indicators; 2) the problem diagnosis included in the strategy is not supported by data to quantify current shortcomings; and 3) the available implementation report does not contain the information necessary to allow calculation of the implementation rate of activities or achievement of objectives. Despite this absence of strategic framework for improving the quality of physical services, some good initiatives have been implemented, such as introducing electronic queue management systems in many central and municipal public institutions. Such initiatives could be further strengthened and made more effective if supported by a comprehensive strategic framework for service quality improvement.

Regarding user engagement and the collection of user insights for service re-design, in 9 of the 12 public services analysed by SIGMA, institutions collect user satisfaction feedback after the service experience, using short online questionnaires. This result shows clear progress from the situation analysed by SIGMA in 2019, when the only user feedback mechanisms were boxes for complaints and suggestions. However, there is limited evidence that this user satisfaction feedback is being systematically used to identify areas for service improvement.

In contrast, the ISAA is adopting a more comprehensive and advanced approach to gathering user insights for service re-design. The ISAA is currently engaged in a wide service re-design project covering 12 different life events.4 As part of this initiative, the ISAA conducts in-depth interviews with users to map complete user journeys (i.e. the series of interactions between users and public authorities). It also applies the so-called “sludge audit methodology”, a tool designed to identify and reduce administrative frictions encountered by people when interacting with public services. Additionally, the ISAA involves users in testing prototypes of new digital services. Moreover, the ISAA is steering administrative simplification as part of the digital transformation of public services, including the creation of working groups with different ministries and agencies of related services to promote life-event integration of services. This is a clear improvement related to the situation assessed by SIGMA in the 2019 baseline report, where it was highlighted that “Much attention has been paid to technological solutions, but little attention has been given to simplifying procedures, eliminating unnecessary administrative burdens or improving accessibility to services in general.”5

On the other hand, reducing administrative burdens of new regulations is not a regulatory requirement, and the Regulatory Impact Assessment reports of laws reviewed by SIGMA do not contain an actual analysis of the proportionality of administrative burdens being created.

The ISAA has devised a model for conducting a cost-benefit analysis. This model examines the economic and social impacts of digitalising public services from the viewpoints of both the state and its citizens. The analysis aims to assist ministries in reducing administrative burdens. Although the methodology was fully developed, it had not been shared with other ministries at the time of this report's writing. This methodology will require training and adaptation for individual ministries to employ it independently, given the inherent challenges associated with these models.

Regarding service standards, the ISAA has developed an online portal (https://hartak.am) which includes a catalogue of services and access to electronic services (if and where available). The information in the catalogue follows a standardised format that typically includes the service's purpose, target audience, required documents and relevant deadlines.

Of the 12 services analysed by SIGMA, 8 do comply with the publication of basic standard information, such as legal deadlines and documents required to apply for a service. Some ministries, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also publish their own service catalogue, which includes additional services not presented in the central catalogue, mostly niche services aimed at a designated group.6 Nevertheless, there is no evidence of service charters or similar publications that include quality commitments from the service providers to the users. Thus, citizens are not informed in advance of the level of quality they can expect from service providers.

With regard to monitoring the actual performance of services against quality and accessibility standards, the authorities mostly focus on monitoring user satisfaction. The ISAA has developed an online tool that enables users to provide feedback by scanning a QR code (or manually entering a numerical code). The codes are sent to the service recipient’s email address following the completion of the service, regardless of whether the interaction occurred through a digital or physical channel.7

While some Ministries, such as the Ministry of Interior, are developing a set of objective performance indicators to measure the quality of their services, a general approach for defining quality objective indicators based on administrative data is still in a very embryonic stage. On 16 May 2025, the Information System Management Board adopted a decision requiring all ministries to introduce service quality dashboards for their digital services by 2026. However, this instruction only defines four basic key indicators: 1) user satisfaction; 2) completion rate (successful online transaction); 3) share of online transactions; and 4) most visited services/website pages. While this is a good start, the list of indicators is still very limited. Regarding physical services, the government has launched a Request for Proposals inviting companies to develop mechanisms for defining and measuring service quality. However, at the moment of finalising this report, this process was still ongoing.

Relying primarily on digital satisfaction surveys via QR codes to assess performance of public services presents several methodological limitations. First, the use of QR codes and Internet links excludes individuals with limited digital literacy, which might significantly skew the results. Similarly, users who apply for services in person and do not provide an email address do not receive the QR code, limiting their ability to participate in the feedback process. Second, dissatisfied users are more inclined to complete the survey, potentially introducing bias in the results. Third, survey fatigue may lead to a low participation rate, leading to incomplete or biased data. Fourth, due to the need for brevity in email-based surveys, the scope of questions is limited, restricting the ability to capture the full range of the service experience.

In summary, while user satisfaction surveys sent by email can provide useful insights into direct service experiences, they are unlikely to be sufficient on their own to identify areas for improvement. To ensure a more comprehensive understanding of service performance, such surveys should be complemented by other tools, including general population surveys and objective performance indicators.

Principle 20: The public administration delivers streamlined and high-quality services.

Armenia is progressing in digitalising public services, with 81% of services digitalised to a certain extent, still below the EU average of 93%. Broader usability aspects, such as mobile-friendliness, transparency of personal data used by authorities and online delivery of administrative decisions, reveal further room for improvement compared to EU standards, particularly in certain service delivery areas, such as education, services for families, career, and economic operations. Armenia is progressing on life-event integration and improving the quality and usability of electronic portals for public services. Despite these promising initiatives, challenges remain in digital take-up and proactive service delivery.

The digitalisation of services is a keystone of service transformation in Armenia. The country is making notable progress in the digitalisation of public services. According to the SIGMA mystery shopper analysis conducted using the EU eGovernment Benchmark methodology,8 81% of the 95 services assessed are digitalised to a certain extent,9 a commendable result, although still 12 percentage points below the EU average. Armenia performs slightly above the EU27 average in two service delivery areas: health and justice, while it continues to lag behind in other areas, notably career, economic operations, business start-up and moving.

A significant advance in Armenia’s digital transformation is the overhaul of civil status registration by the Ministry of Justice. Since 2021, certificates for all legally defined changes in civil status—including birth, marriage, divorce, death, and related acts—are issued in fully electronic form, featuring digital signatures, electronic seals, and QR codes for secure online verification. Civil registration service centres and hospitals now serve as front offices for these registrations. Building on this foundation, electronic applications for birth and death registration have been progressively enabled through the Ministry of Justice’s digital platform since 2024, further streamlining access for citizens who possess an electronic signature. This reform marks a substantial improvement in convenience and reliability for users interacting with core public services.

Another good example of service digitalisation is the ArMed platform, the national digital health system introduced in 2017. ArMed includes several modules that have been progressively added to the system. These modules enhance access to services for both providers and recipients by facilitating electronic health records, appointment scheduling, insurance claims management, patient referrals, diagnostics, and public health monitoring and reporting.10 Patients can access ArMed via a phone app or computer, and government officials use a dashboard through a desktop platform. This platform is gradually connecting health providers from both the private and public sectors.

Delving deeper into the analysis, while Armenia demonstrates solid progress in terms of online availability, there is still considerable room for improvement when broader usability dimensions are considered. The overall score of this mystery shopper methodology, which incorporates many additional criteria, such as mobile-friendliness, pre-filled forms, transparency of personal data use and online delivery of outputs, reveals a more modest performance. Armenia’s average score stands at 50, significantly below the EU27 average of 71. The largest performance gaps are observed in the service delivery areas of studying (39 percentage points), family (30 points), career (24 points) and economic operations (22 points), indicating key areas where Armenia’s service delivery significantly trails the EU27 average. This highlights the need for a more comprehensive and user-oriented approach to service design and delivery.

Currently, the Government is promoting a user-centric transformation of service delivery by clustering several services around 12 life events.11 The process of analysing the various services through different research techniques and offering service prototypes commenced in 2024. These techniques included in-depth interviews with users and front-line staff, journey mapping, sludge audits and usability testing. For all those 12 life events, the portal https://hartak.am already offers a complete description of the user journey, including detailed information about each service and links to the online forms when available. At the cut-off date for this report (30 June 2025), a minimum viable product enabling service integration (several services triggered by a single online form) has been defined for the life events of childbirth,12 entrepreneurship and property rights,13 and owning a car.14

The government is also establishing physical one-stop shops, called Unified Offices for Public Services,15 including nine different services providers.16 Currently, there are such offices in four cities: Yerevan, Ijevan, Gymuri and Vanadzor,17 and there are plans to continue increasing this number.

Regarding the take-up of digital services (percentage of applications filled online versus offline in the last year), Armenian authorities did not provide the data for most services. For services with available data, the picture is mixed. While some services (especially those targeting companies) have good take‑up, for others digital usage remains very low. In fact, 70.2% of applications to renew an identification card were filed in person, and 100% of applications to change the ownership of a personal vehicle.18

On the topic of pre-filled forms, although Armenia has not yet adopted a legal provision granting citizens the right to submit personal information only once, it is making notable progress in practice. As services are being digitalised, Armenia is actively introducing features that automatically retrieve and pre-fill personal data from authentic sources once users log in. The mystery shopper exercise conducted by SIGMA for 95 administrative services found that 78% of available online application forms in Armenia pre-filled personal information after user authentication. This is above the EU average (67%) and significantly higher than the Western Balkan average (51%). However, this percentage refers only to services where an online application form exists. While the EU average is lower, it reflects a broader base of digital services. EU Member States have more online forms overall, but a smaller share of them offer pre-filled data compared to Armenia.

Perception data about this topic gathered in the SIGMA Survey of Citizens on public administration in Armenia 2025, conducted in March-April 2025, is also very positive, with 94% of valid respondents answering that the last time they applied for an administrative service they did not have to present documents or information that the public administration already has (date of birth, birth certificate, copy of tax declaration, etc.). This percentage is much higher than the result for the SIGMA Survey of Citizens on public administration in the Western Balkans 2024, conducted in March-April 2024 (61%).

Exploring the topic further to encompass more complex data pre-filling, Armenia still has room for improvement. For instance, in the case of personal income tax declarations, the online tax portal already pre-fills personal data and key income sources, such as salaries and pensions. However, certain deductible items, such as tertiary education expenses, health or life insurance premiums and donations to registered charities, are not yet pre-filled and must be entered manually by users. The Tax Authority could enhance the user experience by establishing integrated data-sharing mechanisms with universities, insurance providers and charitable organisations.

Concerning proactive service provision, Armenia still has ample room for improvement. There is currently no automatic renewal of social benefits when the citizen’s circumstances, such as disability status or income level, remain unchanged and are already known to the administration. Similarly, proactive notifications, such as automated alerts sent by government systems to inform citizens about upcoming deadlines for renewing licences, entitlements or documents, have not yet been implemented.

Concerning the average duration of administrative procedures (a fundamental indicator of quality), measured as the number of days from the date of the initial application to date when the user receives the final outcome of the procedure (e.g. the document, or the licence, or the payment for monetary benefits such as pensions), it is not possible to give an accurate picture, as this information was not available for many of the services analysed during the assessment. In some services, the registration process or receipt of the relevant document is immediate, such as receiving a tax number and registering the first employee for a company. In other cases, there is a distinction between free-of-charge and paid services.

With respect to citizen satisfaction with public services, SIGMA conducted two random sampling surveys in 2025, one targeting citizens and another targeting businesses. The results for citizens in Armenia indicate that 63% of respondents declared that they were satisfied with the functioning of all administrative services in the country, and only 12% expressed dissatisfaction, while the remaining 25% were neutral. This level of satisfaction is comparable to the Western Balkans (62%), where the satisfaction rate varies across economies but generallwy falls within a similar range.

When asked about the last experience with services provided by concrete institutions, satisfaction is much higher for all surveyed service provider institutions. The level of satisfaction ranges from 78% to 88%. Although the SIGMA Survey of Citizens on public administration 2025 was conducted with a random sample of the population using face-to-face interviews, high satisfaction cannot be interpreted automatically as high quality of all those services, as satisfaction is also determined by expectations and comparisons with past experiences regarding public services. Moreover, cultural and social desirability factors may influence respondents to provide positive answers about the functioning of their government to a survey commissioned by an international organisation aiming to benchmark their country.

The SIGMA Survey of Citizens on public administration 2025 also includes questions about particular elements of the service experience. Results are also positive in general: 79% of respondents found it “somewhat easy” or “very easy” on average to complete the administrative procedure from a selected sample of services. Furthermore, 81% were “somewhat satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with the time taken, and 77% were “somewhat satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with the channel used to contact public authorities.

Regarding business satisfaction with public services, 45% of businesses in Armenia reported being satisfied, with 15% “completely satisfied” and 30% “somewhat satisfied”.19 This is notably lower than the satisfaction rate among respondents to the survey of citizens (63%), which contrasts with the trend in the Western Balkans, where business satisfaction typically matches or exceeds that of citizens. Moreover, Armenia’s business satisfaction rate is statistically significantly lower than that of all Western Balkan economies except Montenegro.20

Principle 21: Administrative services are easily accessible online and offline, taking into account different needs, choices and constraints.

Armenia has not yet implemented the omni-channel principle, as users cannot seamlessly switch between online and offline channels across all services. While digitalisation is advancing, there is no legal right to communicate electronically with all public authorities, and some digital-only services lack available human support options. The Programme for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities 2023‑2027 lacks a general objective on administrative service accessibility, but includes general actions such as making public buildings accessible, setting web accessibility standards and providing remote sign-language interpretation. However, implementation of these measures is hindered by insufficient funding and inadequate oversight. Moreover, citizens do not have the legal right to communicate in sign language or receive braille correspondence. Accessibility standards for digital portals are set and technically met. Public service information is easily accessible through http://hartak.am, but there are no official guidelines to improve the clarity of government communication.

Although Armenia is advancing substantially in the digitalisation of services, as described in the assessment of the previous principle, the country has not yet fully implemented the omni-channel service delivery principle, which requires that users have a seamless journey across online and (digitally assisted) offline channels, with the possibility to interact digitally or physically with any part of the administration, when desired. In Armenia’s legislation, there is neither a general legal right for citizens to communicate electronically with all public authorities nor an obligation for public service providers to offer tools for online application. However, citizens can submit requests and petitions electronically to any ministry or government agency through the unified platform e-request.am, which serves as an official channel for online communication with the public administration.

Among the six services assessed under this principle, only one (applying for benefits for temporary financial insecurity) is currently available both online and offline, thus fulfilling the criterion. Of the remaining services, three are only available offline (retirement pensions, disability pensions and car registration), although the government is actively working on the digitalisation of all three. The other two (declaring VAT and corporate income tax) are available only online, but there is no evidence that taxpayers can access human support during the application process if needed. This might present a challenge for certain types of users (e.g. micro businesses or individual entrepreneurs) or for complex individual cases. Summing up, Armenia’s digital service delivery is expanding and promising developments are underway. However, the legal and practical frameworks for ensuring consistent multichannel access across all services remain incomplete.

Institutions are actively working to ensure territorial access to administrative services. Unified Social Services (USS) offices cover a wide range of support, including unemployment and social benefits. Geospatial analysis performed by SIGMA21 shows that 91% of the population can drive to a USS office within 30 minutes, and 98% within 45 minutes. A very small share – less than 1% – lives in areas where drive times exceed 60 minutes. Access to Tax Authority offices is also generally good, with 71% of the population within 30 minutes and 87% within 45 minutes. About 3% of the population live in areas where drive times exceed 70 minutes, mostly in remote southern and southeastern locations.

The Migration and Citizenship Service offers an interesting solution for remote locations, as it dispatches mobile service centres to rural villages. The schedule for these visits is published monthly. Finally, HayPost branches across Armenia offer selected administrative services (such as criminal record certificates, family status documents and business registrations), further expanding access, especially in areas underserved by other offices.

Accessibility of digital services for users with special needs, as mandated by WCAG 2.1 standards, is recommended by the Ministry of High-Tech Industry.22 The standardisation of web pages is facilitated through the Henaket Design System.23 Typically, government entities claiming WCAG compliance publish an accessibility statement on their official websites. The accessibility statement can be found on the Ministry of Interior’s website, but it is lacking in most other ministries. Yet, a test on 13 public services performed by SIGMA determined that all of them had 0 errors, which implies de facto compliance with the WCAG standard.24

The Republic of Armenia has adopted the Programme for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities 2023-2027,25 a strategic document guiding the reforms needed to improve the situation of people with disabilities. While the strategy includes a wide range of sectoral objectives, covering areas such as health, education, culture and employment, it does not contain a general strategic objective specifically addressing the accessibility of public or administrative services for people with special needs. This omission represents a notable weakness in the strategic framework.

Nevertheless, the action plan annexed to the strategy includes several general commitments that directly support accessibility to administrative services. Among these are: 1) the development of a legal act establishing a programme and timeline for ensuring accessibility of public and industrial buildings; 2) the inclusion of mandatory accessibility standards for websites and mobile applications; 3) the availability of software solutions for converting Armenian speech to text and vice versa; 4) the provision of a remote interpretation service in Armenian Sign Language (“A remote interpretation service in Armenian Sign Language is available for users”); and 5) the introduction of accessible and/or social taxi services. These actions demonstrate a concrete commitment to improving the accessibility of administrative services, even in the absence of a dedicated strategic objective. The strategy also meets the formal requirements of SIGMA methodology: responsible institutions are clearly assigned, timeframes are defined and cost estimates are included for each action.

However, important limitations remain in practice. Some budgetary allocations are inadequate. A government order mandating the retrofitting of a list of public buildings for accessibility for persons was published without any fiscal allocations.26 The budget proposal for 2025 lacked measures to implement the programme.27

Secondary reports analysed by SIGMA included several examples of accessibility issues in practice: 1) shelters for survivors of domestic violence and support hotlines are not accessible for people with disabilities; 2) 98.9% of polling stations do not meet the standards required to be considered fully accessible; and 3) the government decree outlining 20 buildings to be made accessible did not include police stations, offices of public defenders and courthouses – critical information regarding access to social support that is not accessible to persons with disabilities.28 Moreover, there is no specific monitoring oversight mechanism for accessibility and no evidence that the government is performing accessibility analysis of public services in practice.29 Finally, citizens do not have the legal right to communicate with the public administration in official sign language or to receive government written communication in braille.

Information on public services is easily accessible. The portal http://hartak.am offers different options for citizens to find the services they need. The website features a search option and also organises the services by life events and the most common topics. Moreover, the government has imposed the WCAG accessibility standard for public authority websites, and SIGMA analysis of ten different portals found those websites fully compliant with this international accessibility standard.

However, there are no guidelines to improve the clarity of government communication with citizens, which would assist in clarifying the typical bureaucratic language associated with communications from public entities.

Data from the SIGMA Survey of Citizens on public administration 2025 shows that 78% of respondents found it “somewhat easy” or “very easy” to locate information for applying for across a selection of six services. Regarding clarity of administrative language, 71% of respondents found it “somewhat easy” or “very easy” to understand written communication from the authorities.

Principle 22: Digitalisation enables data-driven decisions and effective, efficient and responsive policies, services and processes in the whole of government.

Armenia has a solid digital transformation framework, led by a clear strategy and shared responsibilities between the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and the ISAA. While digital registries are advancing, gaps remain in digitalisation of historic data and the lack of a general legal definition of authentic sources. The usage of the interoperability platform is advancing notably, but it is not yet fully aligned with the EIF. Electronic identification and digital signature are functional and provided to all citizens free of charge, but take-up remains low. The government has adopted a legal and strategic framework for enterprise architecture, but cloud and open-source adoption are limited. Initial steps have been taken toward AI governance, but no public sector strategy or regulation is yet in place. There is neither complete IT talent development, nor an attraction and retention strategy for the whole public sector. The principle of re-use of digital solutions is established, but there is no evidence of inventories or similar mechanisms to facilitate re-use. Finally, the results on digital government tools are mixed. There are strong elements, such as full digital access to legislation, but other elements, such as the e‑procurement system, show weaknesses, as its data does not always comply with the required standards, such as machine-readability.

Digital government readiness and maturity

Armenia has a well-defined structure in place to guide its digital transformation, which represents significant progress from the situation assessed by SIGMA in 2019. The foundation of this framework is the Digital Strategy,30 launched in 2021 and set to run until 2025. This strategy is comprehensive, incorporating key components found in most strategic plans: an analysis of existing challenges, clearly defined objectives, an action plan and assigned responsibilities to ensure accountability.

The responsibility for implementation of this ambitious digital agenda is shared between two entities. The Ministry of High-Tech Industry is responsible for designing the overarching policy, shaping the vision and direction of digital government. The ISAA is tasked with the operational aspects of the policy, translating strategic goals into actionable initiatives. Moreover, the Information Systems Management Council (ISMC) functions as a high-level co-ordination body, with the permanent participation of representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and key ministries such as the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice. Other line ministries and agencies are invited to participate in meetings when projects relevant to their mandates are discussed. The ISMC is responsible for decision making and continuous monitoring of the digitalisation agenda.

In addition, the government has adopted a standardised business case methodology and template for submission of new IT projects. This framework requires definition of project objectives, consideration of alternative solutions, risk analysis, and presentation of a detailed description and implementation roadmap for the proposed solution.31

Armenia's vision for digital public services relies on a robust network of interoperable digital registries, which are regulated by a comprehensive framework established in 2015 and governed by a data policy overseen by the ISMC.

While digital registries are largely established and cover all or most basic fields about people, companies, taxes, land property, vehicles and health, two key limitations persist. First, not all existing historical paper-based records have been fully digitised and integrated into the registries. Second, although the information contained in these digital platforms holds legal validity, there is no explicit regulation stating that all electronic data stored in digital registries are defined as authentic sources, serving as full proof and taking precedence over paper documents unless proven otherwise. For example, while the Law on the State Registration of Property Rights explicitly recognises that digital records are presumed correct and have evidentiary value, the Civil Registration Law does not contain such provisions. The government has recently approved a draft State Population Registry Law and submitted it to Parliament. Drafted in parallel with the proposed Law on Public Information, this draft legislation represents a meaningful step toward aligning sectoral legislation with data governance principles. However, as the law is not yet in force and its concrete provisions are still under parliamentary discussion, its impact remains prospective at the time of this assessment.

Armenia has established a structured and evolving data governance framework. Data governance requirements are clearly defined and legally binding across the public administration through Government Decision No. 1093-N of 31 August 2015, complemented by secondary regulations enacted by the Information Systems Board, such as the Data Classification and Data Mapping Methodologies, which ensure data quality and availability. While the legal obligation to share data across institutions is not yet in place, this decision and the methodologies mentioned reflect a clear direction towards broader inter-institutional data sharing. Moreover, a comprehensive and publicly accessible data inventory exists via https://data.catalog.hartak.am, and public bodies are legally required to register metadata of their datasets, ensuring transparency and coherence in data management. Finally, in August 2025 the Government approved the draft Law on Public Information (LPI) and submitted it to Parliament. If adopted, this law could provide a legal basis for state bodies to make public data available to other government institutions, although this would introduce an additional, standalone regulation on access to information, separate from the existing LFI (see the analysis of Principle 15).

In parallel, Armenia adopted a national interoperability framework, also through Government Decision No. 1093-N of 31 August 2015. The framework is binding for the entire public sector and covers all four layers of interoperability: legal, organisational, semantic and technical. It establishes clear requirements for design and operation of electronic systems and mandates compliance for all public institutions. While the current framework is broadly aligned with the EIF in structure and principles, it does not yet address cross-border interoperability. Full alignment, including the cross-border dimension, is foreseen by 2026. ISAA has prepared an Architecture Vision and Implementation Plan, which outlines the intended integration of a national Metaregister (Data Catalog) and the future adoption of the X-Road platform and to adopt a revised framework fully aligned with the EIF requirements Armenia has advanced notably regarding the usage of the interoperability platform since the last SIGMA assessment in 2019, when the interoperability platform was still in its pilot phase and information exchanges were based on bilateral agreements between institutions. In contrast, 36 out of 40 central government public institutions are currently connected to the interoperability platform, and usage is expanding fast. The number of transactions increased from 214 million in 2022 to 895 million in 2024, a 4.2-fold growth.

Secure electronic identity solutions are currently offered through the YesEm platform, including Mobile ID SIM cards and national identity cards with electronic chips, both of which have been available free of charge since February 2025. These solutions enable the use of electronic signatures, which are accepted across all major public information systems. Building on these foundations, the authorities plan to introduce a mobile ID app-based eID solution under the YesEm platform. This upcoming development reflects the state's commitment to aligning its digital identity ecosystem with EU standards. A check conducted by SIGMA found that 70% of ten public administration service portals feature a visible link on their main page to the YesEm single sign-on mechanism. Nevertheless, the use of electronic identification remains modest. In the past year, only 139 900 individuals, representing approximately 6.3% of the population aged 18 or over, have used their eID to authenticate via the YesEm platform.

Armenia has established a government-wide enterprise IT architecture that is legally grounded, strategically guided and structurally defined. Government Decree No. 1093-N of 31 August 2015 provides the binding foundation, setting both the architectural principles (such as interoperability, open standards and user-centric design) and the technical requirements applicable to all public bodies. These provisions have been further developed in strategic and methodological documents issued by the Information Systems Board and the ISAA. Adoption of cloud computing and open-source technologies remains modest in practice, with 10 out of 67 central government IT systems hosted on cloud platforms and 4 based on open-source technologies. The government anticipates establishing a so-called “service marketplace” where typical cloud services will be available: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service).

The Government has taken initial steps toward aligning with international standards on artificial intelligence. By Decision 2063-A, adopted on 27 December 2024, the Government approved the proposal to sign the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law. In parallel, the Government is conducting a study of international best practices in AI legal regulation. Based on this research, a roadmap will be developed, which is expected to include provisions for regulating deepfake technologies. Another relevant initiative is the Virtual Institute for Artificial Intelligence (https://ai.gov.am), which aims to promote research, innovation and education in AI. However, the Institute's focus is not on public sector adoption or regulation. Therefore, at this stage, there is no evidence of an adopted strategy or roadmap for the uptake of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in the public sector. Moreover, there are no legal acts regulating the use of algorithms in decision-making in the public administration in general.

Armenia adopted a Law on the protection of personal data in 2015,32 and a Personal Data Protection Agency is in place to oversee its implementation.33 This regulation is not fully aligned with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The Government approved the draft Law on Cybersecurity, along with related legislative acts, at its session on 14 August 2025, and subsequently submitted the package to Parliament for consideration. At of the time of drafting this report, the laws have not yet been finally adopted by Parliament.34 Cybersecurity is extensively covered in the digital strategy, including milestones, but there is no evidence of an implementation report assessing the practical implementation of cyber-security in the public sector. On the positive side, the government has established a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for businesses and individuals to report cyber-security incidents.35 Finally, only 42% of public servants who responded to the SIGMA Survey of Public Servants on the functioning of public administration 2025 reported having received sufficient training on cybersecurity skills to understand the risks and know how to avoid them.36

Armenia has taken initial steps to develop digital talent in the public administration, although key elements remain underdeveloped. Government Decree No. 2-N (2019), amended in 2025 (Order No. 384-N), empowers the Civil Service Office to provide training on horizontal support functions, including digital governance and information technologies, but this will only enter into force in 2026 and is far from constituting a comprehensive framework aligned with international models such as the EU DigiComp.37

The Digital Strategy for 2021-2025 foresees the appointment of Chief Information Officers at the deputy head level in each institution tasked with co-ordinating digital transformation efforts. The strategy does not include any broader objective or action plan to attract or retain individuals with high-level digital skills in the public sector. Despite these limitations, survey data from the SIGMA Survey of Public Servants on the functioning of the public administration 2025 indicates that 91.2% of respondents “agree” or “strongly agree” that they possess the necessary digital skills to perform their job functions. This suggests a relatively high level of self-assessed digital competence among civil servants.

The Government Decree on the Security of electronic systems used for the provision or execution of electronic services by state and local self-government bodies (Government Decision No. 1093-N) establishes the principle of reusability, encouraging public institutions to re-use and transfer technical solutions. This principle is further developed through guidelines and standards issued by the Information Systems Board and the ISAA. While the ISAA is not legally mandated to facilitate re-use, it performs this function in practice. However, the absence of a public repository or inventory of digital solutions limits the practical implementation of this principle.

Digital government tools

The current legal framework for publishing legislation is exemplary. The requirements for publication that took full effect on 1 July 2019 require mandatory consolidation of laws and their publication in the online legal registry. All primary and secondary legislation in Armenia is publicly accessible online and free of charge via the official legal database https://www.arlis.am. The platform supports advanced search functions, allowing users to filter laws and regulations by type, sector, date of adoption, entry into force, and issuing authority. These features ensure a high level of transparency and usability for legal information.

Armenia operates a central public consultation portal, https://www.e-draft.am, which enables the publication of draft laws and sector strategies for written public consultation. The portal is functional and supports advanced search features, allowing users to filter consultations by title, date range, developing institution, policy sphere and document type. However, no data was provided on the share of draft laws adopted by the Government in 2024 that were consulted through the portal, making it impossible to confirm consistent use.

Armenia has a Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) in place, but its use across institutions remains limited. The system is not yet interoperable with the document management system or the payroll system, although it does connect with other relevant databases, such as the population registry and Tax Authority records. Many human resources processes are still conducted on paper or in semi-digital formats, and several institutions maintain parallel records in both physical and electronic form. The HRMIS does not comprehensively cover institutions outside the scope of the Civil Service Law and is not well adapted to their operational needs.

Armenia has not yet adopted legislation on the re-use of public sector information in line with Directive (EU) 2019/1024. No central open data portal exists currently, and therefore no unified access point is available for datasets (although ISAA has recently approved a plan to develop a national central open data portal). However, some datasets covered by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 are available through sectoral websites, such as statistical data38 and data on company ownership.39 Moreover, the already mentioned draft Law on Public Information approved by the Government in August 2025, and currently awaiting Parliamentary approval, is intended to facilitate the re-use of public information.

Digital tools are in place in several public institutions to support internal control functions. Authentication systems with multiple levels of security regulate access to digital management IT systems, with procedures defined in internal regulations or ministerial orders. However, while some institutions, such as the Ministry of Health (which holds an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification) and the Statistical Committee, carry out regular assessments of data security and integrity, there is no evidence that such assessments are conducted systematically across all of the central government bodies analysed by SIGMA.

Digital tools are used to support the public financial management processes. Bank accounts are reconciled with accounting data at least weekly, and there are no suspense accounts. However, an IT audit of the central public financial management information system has not been conducted in the last three years.

Armenia’s electronic procurement platform, ARMEPS,40 supports key stages of the procurement cycle, including publication of notices, tender submissions and communication with the bidders. The system enables public access to procurement data and offers multiple search criteria, but the data is incomplete, not always machine-readable, and cannot be fully mined or downloaded. It is important to note that the use of electronic procurement is not mandatory for all contracting authorities, and as a result, a number of them are not using the system. According to official data, in 2024, only 40.8% of procedures used e‑submission.