Armenian parliament passes bill allowing access to phone data

The National Assembly adopted late on Tuesday the controversial legislative package regulating procedures for tracking citizens through mobile phone calls.

The measure, proposed as an amendment to the laws "On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency" and "On Electronic Exchange", received a final approval with 71 votes "in favor" at the parliament's special session.

Only members of the ruling political bloc, My Step, were in attendance.

The bill obligates mobile operators to fix subscribers' calls (including the date, and the beginning and end of the conversations) in times of national emergency to access the necessary data or the phone number to which the information was transferred (in case of redirected calls).

The package passed the legislative's first reading on Wednesday morning but fell short of securing the necessary number of votes at a hearing convened later (with the parliamentary opposition refraining from vote). Also on Wednesday, the cabinet met for a special session to approve the bill in the first reading.