The Government is trying to fix an older mistake by allowing owners of vehicles imported into Moldova before November 1, 2016 to register these with a 70% discount off the excise value, but not all are satisfied with such a solution. The issue was developed in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1, IPN reports.

“Any mistake costs. They allowed the people to invest and bring these cars and we cannot force them to abandon their property. On the other hand, those who paid all the taxes and registered their vehicles are disadvantaged. Those who allowed the Moldovans to use cars with foreign registration numbers by paying only the vignette pursued political goals and aimed to obtain more votes. The Government found a compromise solution, but this solution does not satisfy everyone,” stated economic expert of the independent think tank “Expert-Grup” Dumitru Budeanski.

Dorel Noroc, head of the Policies and Fiscal Legislation Division of the Ministry of Finance, noted that about 35,000 vehicles will be registered overall. “There are approximately 165,000 vehicles with foreign registration numbers in the Republic of Moldova. But 35,000 of these are used by Moldovan citizens who live here and have Moldovan driver’s licenses. The losses sustained by the budget as a result of the vignette law came to over 150 million lei,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure Vitalie Rapcea said the non-registration of the units of transport became a phenomenon. “In 2013, the number of those who travelled by paying the vignette only was of 6,000, while in 2014 the figure rose to 14,000 and doubles each year,” he stated.

Under a recent Government decision, the people who bought vehicles abroad before November 1, 2016 will be able to register them in Moldova during January 1 - April 1, 2017 by paying 30% of the import excise duty.