The first legislative package on deregulation of entrepreneurship was publicly discussed on the platform of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova within the working group “Advisory Council on MSMEs,” headed by the Minister of Economy.

The proposed amendments are aimed at reducing bureaucratic red tape and a number of unreasonable requirements that currently economic operators are forced to comply with.

Among other things, it is proposed to amend the Labor Code to make it unnecessary to register daily working hours, annual vacation schedules, etc. To replace the medical card – the so-called blue medical passport – in the catering sector with a medical certificate from the family doctor. It is proposed to facilitate the development of telecommunications networks by excluding certain installations from the category of immovable property requiring complicated and unreasonable permits.

With respect to economic operators operating for less than three years, the current rule requiring regulatory authorities to conduct only advisory inspections and not to apply sanctions if violations are not very serious was unclear and did not work. Thus, it is proposed to clarify that during scheduled or unannounced inspections, sanctions are applied only in case of serious violations or repeated violations. For all economic operators, the inspection body will be obliged to send “control sheets” to the economic operator, informing the counterparty of what is subject to inspection. At the same time, the right to video and/or audio recording of the inspectors’ actions will be granted.

The amendments drafted by the Ministry of Economy, with the support of UNDP experts and the Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, have been positively received by the business community.

Liliana Busuioc, deputy chairwoman of the “SME Advisory Council” working group and executive director of the Alliance of Employers of Small and Medium Enterprises in Moldova, said at the meeting that the entrepreneurs, especially small enterprises, had long awaited these changes and welcomed the decision signed by the Prime Minister on the reform of the regulatory framework, which paved the way for the development of regulatory packages such as the one discussed at the meeting.

Ana Groza, executive director of the Foreign Investors Association in Moldova (FIA), said she welcomed the proposed changes, which included suggestions from both FIA and other business associations.

Vladislav Kaminski, executive director of the National Confederation of Employers of Moldova, welcomed the development of the legislative package on deregulation, but also called for a more thorough discussion of certain provisions related to the Labor Code to ensure the promotion of the most beneficial solutions.

Minister of Economy Dumitru Alaiba, presented at the meeting, said that the legislative package will be promoted only after quality consultation with all stakeholders and collecting all opinions. “With these changes, we want to “free” as much space as possible for entrepreneurs to develop and work without all kinds of paperwork with stamps. If we want to have money in the budget, we have to support economic reforms, then we can raise money to redirect it to social needs. We will try to move this package forward as quickly as possible. I want to tell you that there is a great appetite for economic reforms, and I can assure you that we will carry them out,” the minister said.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council will gather all opinions on the legislative package and include them in the final version of the document. During 2023, the following packages of regulatory changes will be prepared.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.