Economic operators providing waste management may no longer have to pay the environmental pollution tax in the near future. But the Environment Ministry needs to come up with an adjusted legal framework for this.

The subject was discussed by representatives of the business community and state institutions at the Economic Council during the meeting of the Working Group on Facilitation of Cross-Border Trade led by Mariana Rufa, executive director of the European Business Association in Moldova.

Currently the law obliges all economic agents in Moldova who place packaged products on the market to pay the environmental pollution tax.

However, some companies individually or collectively manage waste, i.e. collect it from consumers, deposit it, recycle it or send it to specialised companies for processing. But they still pay the environmental pollution tax, along with other economic operators who do not apply the so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle.

Entrepreneurs are calling for the abolition of this tax for companies that apply the EPR principle. Attending the meeting, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Vladimir Bolea says that the tax will still be collected in 2023, but the issue is already being considered by the relevant ministries to adjust the relevant legislation. The draft law will also be debated at the Economic Council.

The state gets 200 million lei annually from the collection of the environmental pollution tax.

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.